“We’ve got to give them a typical nice Gloucester welcome!”

Those are the words of Longlevens director of rugby Andy Deacon ahead of their game at home to all-conquering Trowbridge in Regional 2 Severn on Saturday.

Trowbridge have swept all before them this season, winning all 15 of their league games and scoring 715 points along the way.

They beat Longlevens 52-0 back in mid-October and Deacon is fully aware of the size of the task facing his side, who have dropped to eighth in the 12-strong division after winning just one of their last five games.

“Obviously we’re the underdogs,” he said. “They’re a good side, they’ve got a good platform, a good half-back pairing and pace out wide. They play a good brand of rugby.

“But we go into every game believing we can win. It’s a challenge but we’ve trained well and we’ll be very well prepared, that's our ethos.”

Longlevens may be in the middle of a tough run but they've made huge strides in recent years.

This is their second season in Regional 2 Severn after winning promotion from Counties 1 Western North in 2023/24, the same season that they won the Papa John’s Community Cup Counties 1 Championship final with a 25-19 win over Widnes at Twickenham.

The previous year they won the North Gloucestershire Combination Senior Cup for the first time since 1961 when they overcame Matson 42-32 at Kingsholm.

This season has obviously been tougher and Deacon said: “We need to put out a side that is competitive. We’ve had a lot of injuries and unavailability but everyone is in the same boat.

“We’ve got a big squad but we haven’t had that consistency of selection and we’ve lost a bit of confidence.”

Deacon remains upbeat, however, and it wasn’t so long ago that Longlevens were enjoying an unbeaten home run in the league that stretched back five years.

“I fully expect us to put in a performance against Trowbridge and if we do it’s a game we can win,” he said.

It doesn’t get any easier for Longlevens after they play Trowbridge because the following week they travel to second-placed Chippenham.