Varsity Preview - UOG Captain Lloyd wants varsity victory to cap off the end of an era
- Charlie Hynes
- Mar 25, 2019
- 2 min read
University of Gloucestershire captain Jon Lloyd is looking for the perfect farewell in his final Varisty game vs Worcester.
UOG head into the game looking for their fourth win in a row under Director of Rugby Chris Downes after beating Worcester 34-7 last year.
Glos will be the favourites heading into the game at Birmingham Moseley RFC on 10th April after winning the Western 1A title after only losing two games all season. However, Downes is aware of the threat Worcester pose to his side.
“We’d like four. We’ve been on the other side of this as well, we’ve been the under dogs against Worcester and managed to turn them over a couple of times when they were in a higher league.
“We’re fully aware it is a one-off match, and anything can happen so we’re very focused on ourselves and what we want to do right,” said Downes.
“They focus on physicality, they try throw you off your game with that physicality. It means just as much to them as it means to us, so we know they’re going to bring fire and physicality and it’s up to us to manage that and impose our game on them and manage the game correctly.”
19 members of Gloucester’s 31-man Varsity squad have not been involved in a Varsity camp before which brought questions of inexperience and nerves.
“They’re still all young men and still all developing that emotional control. The big thing we said for players was control the controllable, don’t worry about the outside things that you can’t control.
“It doesn’t matter about referees, opposition all those sorts of things, it’s just if we can concentrate on what we want to deliver.”
It will be the last game for a number of the squad on 10th April with a large percentage of them being in their 3rd or 4th years. Included in this number is 4th year captain Lloyd who feels this will only add more motivation for the side to secure their fourth Varsity victory in a row.
“It is probably my last game and you want the send off from University after four years after it being such good years. It’s probably means it’s quite vital for us to go and get that win now.”
Lloyd also spoke of the positive mood in varsity camp, saying: “At the moment it's a really good environment surrounded by players having a laugh but when it’s time to get real and serious everyone just flicks that switch.
“Focus and concentration is at an all-time high and we’re just progressing through every training session as we go on and hopefully by the end we’ll be at our peak and ready for it!”
Images by Dan Hill Photography. Follow him on Instagram @danhillphotography1
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