YOU have to feel a tad sorry for former Thornbury Bronco Mako Vunipola this week.

The England prop had a bit of a nightmare in the rain of Wellington on Saturday as the British and Irish Lions won the second Test against a 14-man New Zealand by 24-21.

Vunipola wandered around the Wellington pitch after the game with his cousin, Bath and Wales number eight Toby Faletau, and both posed arm in arm for one of the official photographers on the pitch with wide smiles on their faces.

But Vunipola seemed unable to celebrate. He had been penalised numerous times by French referee Jerome Garces, particularly when he caught All Blacks fly-half Beauden Barrett in the first half plus was accused of dropping a scrum, leading to points for New Zealand.

And when Vunipola tackled Barrett a tiny bit late around 55 minutes but did not change his angle of run to avoid the home stand-off, Garces had enough and sent him to the sin-bin.

It was the last action the Saracens front row would see in the game as Ireland’s Jack McGrath came on instead of the ex-Thornbury Bronco when the sin-bin period was up.

Vunipola may get some action off the bench in the crucial series deciding third Test in Auckland this Saturday.

But, on a night when the Lions roared against a New Zealand outfit who had giant centre Sonny Bill Williams sent-off for a reckless challenge on England wing Anthony Watson within twenty minutes of kick-off, you could almost feel the Saracens and England prop’s frustrations.

Let’s hope he can come back fighting on Saturday and his tour is not remembered for this under-par display.

Back home, Gloucestershire have made a fantastic signing for the new T20 Blast season. They have landed SRI Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera, a T20 World Cup winner who has over one hundred appearances for Sri Lanka in One-Day Internationals and 56 international T20 appearances.

After losing Australian Andrew Tye from T20 action with a shoulder injury picked up during the Indian Premier League, picking up Perera is a tremendous coup for the county.

While on Gloucestershire, what happened at the Cheltenham Festival opening day on Monday?

Gloucestershire ran riot in Glamorgan's first innings, skittling them all out for 117. But any thoughts Gloucestershire had of putting the Welshmen to the sword were soon put aside as they were hammered themselves, finishing on 141 all out.

Glamorgan could have dug in during their second knock, but again, they lost cheap wickets and ended Monday on 59-5. So 25 wickets fell in one day!

Blame the pitch? Well, Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson said it was nothing to do with the Cheltenham College crease but more to do with some dismal batting from both sides.

We all like to see a couple of wickets during a day's play, but we also like to see batsmen scoring some runs here and there. It is a marked difference to Gloucestershire's last match against Sussex at Hove last week where both skippers had to try and conjour a result on the final day of a rain-ruined clash.

This time, the game could be over before the fourth day which will be sad for those who have paid good money to see the game that day.

It has not been quite either at The New Lawn where Forest Green Rovers have sold defender Ethan Pinnock to Barnsley with Rovers manager Mark Cooper believing he is destined for the Premier League.

If that is the case, then I am sure an astute chairman Dale Vince and Cooper would have tied-up sell-on fees in case Pinnock moves on up to one of the giants of the English game. As clubs have found in the past, sell-on clauses can provide real windfalls in future years.

At the other end of the pyramid, Yate Town and Slimbridge are back in training ahead of the Southern League Division One South and West division, and it was great to pay a visit to Thornhill Park to see the Swans looking forward to getting back into the groove.