LAST Saturday was a bye day for our lower-ranked clubs, but things got no better for Aviva Premiership basement boys London Irish.

The cellar-dwellers lost for a ninth straight league game – slumping to a 39-15 defeat as in-form Gloucester ran in six tries.

Exiles weren’t helped by the fact captain David Paice was given a red card at the end of the first half for an off the ball hit – I don’t blame Nick Kennedy for being unimpressed by that.

Irish will try and seek refuge in the European Challenge Cup when they visit Edinburgh this Saturday.

Things went much better for Redingensians Rams, who got the better of National Two South visitors Bury-St-Edmunds.

It was their their ninth win in 13 outings and leaves them fourth in the table, six points behind Taunton Titans, and should have put them in a good frame of mind for this coming weekend’s trip to Canterbury.

The Kent side are only one place and three points below Rams, so it should be a cracker..

With last week off for most of the other local sides, I am sure they will all be champing at the bit to get back into action this week as there are now only two games left before the Christmas break.

The problem in having these weekend breaks is not really helping sides with any continuity.

Anyway, putting that aside, my boys Reading travel to Southern Counties North basement club Drifters, based just up the M4 in Slough and yet to win in nine outings.

This is a great opportunity for us to rack up some much needed points. We should have a strong side out and, as we all know, points can make a huge difference in the closing part of the season.

Reading Abbey have a tough match against Thatcham, who have had a great season and sit very comfortably in third place. I’ve got to admit I wouldn’t want to put any money on the outcome of this game, but Abbey will have to put in a big performance to secure a much needed home win!

And there’s a good-old derby battle in the offing at Sonning Lane where Berkshire Shire Hall face third-placed Aldermaston in their latest BB&O Championship outing.