Kingstone Press League 1 preview: University of Gloucestershire All Golds v Coventry Bears

University of Gloucestershire All Golds lost 46-6 at home to York City Knights in what coachLee Greenwood felt was probably their worst performance of the season.

“It was very disappointing last week,” he said. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance at all, we just didn’t compete from minute one to be honest. It’s was a bit of a learning curve for me and the players.

“We go into each week preparing to win each game. I feel I’ve got a squad who can do that but last week we let ourselves down. This week is just another league game and we need to improve from last week and look after our own performance.”

Scrum-half Courtney Davies is out with a broken collarbone.

Coventry Bears were beaten 52-10 at Keighley Cougars. Coach Tom Tsang said: “It was the third tough game we’ve had in a row and it was a similar sort of story. We were competitive in patches and for large parts of the game. We were pretty poor in the first 15 and the last 15 but in between it was pretty even.

“They scored their tries in bunches at the beginning and end of the game and that’s been the case against these ‘traditional’ sides where we are competitive but in the times we’re not we tend to let in a few.

“It’s just about working hard on the things we let ourselves down on and keep plugging away. Everyone’s aware of where we are and the need to improve to fix up those bits and pieces. I’m pretty confident we’ll get there eventually.

“It’s another hard game on Saturday. Gloucester have been really strong, they pushed Oldham all the way at Whitebank. Lee’s a strong coach and seems to have recruited very well not just before the season but he has brought in some strong lads in the last few weeks as well so they will be a good test for us, especially down there. Everyone’s looking forward to it.”

Half-back Billy Sheen is likely to return for Coventry.