THE University of Gloucestershire are still waiting for their first win of the season after their 28-12 loss to Northumbria at the Prince of Wales stadium.

However, they could point to a huge dose of bad luck that robbed them of two players through injury in the pre-match warm up and a third a few minutes into the game.

The reshuffled side performed well in an entertaining game played in wet and windy conditions but were unable to contain Northumbria’s marauding forwards and lively scrum half Will Bate.

UGRL were under pressure for much of the first period. Their best chance of the half came after nine minutes, Luke Etheridge breaking tackles to take them into the 20 but with an overlap waiting for the pass, Josh Riggall was tackled in possession.

Northumbria broke the deadlock after 22 minutes, Connor Sheridan crossing in the corner for an unconverted try. They extended that lead with six minutes to go to the break as Richard Squires’ low kick to the corner was touched down by Josh Taylor.

The second period began badly for UGRL as, following a mistake early in the tackle count, Gary Sargent forced his way over. Chris Parker added the goal for a 14-0 lead.

UGRL then enjoyed a good period of possession but despite the efforts of Levi Smith and Lewis Warner were not able to break through.

Northumbria extended their lead to 20-0 through a converted Will Bate try before the Gloucestershire revival began.

Warner finally escaped the defence to score a fine try converted by Rory Trow. Minutes later, Andy Muir picked off a stray pass to run the length of the field to score. Trow added another well-struck goal and with an eight-point deficit, UGRL were in the game.

However, they could not get any closer and Schofield scored his second as Gloucestershire were caught out wide to ease the visitors’ nerves and Sargent added a try near the end to secure Northumbria’s win.