LAST weekend certainly wasn’t one to live long in the memory of our local sides in terms of results, as all of them crashed to defeat.

That included London Irish who went down at Newcastle, even though they went close to pulling off a fine comeback for a losing bonus point.

The Newcastle defence proved too strong in the end and Irish face another tough test when the in-form Leicester Tigers – with three straight wins – visit on Saturday.

It was tough going, too, for Redingensians Rams at the Old Bath Road ground where they lost by a solitary point to visitors Cinderford at the end of what was described by one of Rams’ top officials as 80 storming minutes of rugby and probably the best game ever seen at the club.

Six tries to five in the hosts’ favour, but just one more successful kick would have seen Rams take the points. But that’s what sport is all about and, I’ve no doubt, we’ve all been in similar situations many times during our active playing careers.

They travel to Tonbridge Juddians on Saturday, who are one place ahead of them in the National Two South table.

As for my boys Reading, they were crushed by a very good Beaconsfield side who are currently top of Southern Counties North having won three from three.

On the day they played some great running rugby and executed some brilliant tries. I have no doubt they are the side to watch in this league and, if they can sustain this form, they have got to be promotion contenders.

As for my guys, we have got to play a lot better. We made a lot of mistakes which cost us dearly and I am sure there will be a few changes to the line-up for this week’s match.

It certainly doesn’t get any easier as we make our longest trip of the season to second-placed Stow-On-The-Wold.

Reading Abbey, however, enjoy the comforts of a home match as they entertain Drifters, coming off the back of a second-half collapse against Beaconsfield.

Finally, you may or may not have noticed last week that I mentioned England’s November fixtures have been confirmed.

Many apologies, they were for the 2018-19 season. Next month they face Argentina (11th), Australia (18th) and Samoa (25th).