The UoG Gladiators opened their season with a 41–2 defeat away to UWE Bullets 2s. The scoreline was hard to take, but the squad left Bristol more determined than when they arrived. An improved defensive display after half-time and a game played without a single flag against them gave plenty to build on.

The Gladiators travelled with 27 players, many of them rookies playing their first competitive game. Preparation had been far from ideal: the team’s only preseason fixture was cancelled because of an administrative issue, so for most of the roster this game was their first live action against another side.

That lack of preparation showed in the first half. On offence, timing was off and the run game struggled to get going, and UWE’s defensive pressure forced the quarterback into mistakes, including an interception. On defence, blown coverages and a lack of contain on the edges let UWE build an early lead. Things got harder when Joe Barnabas, a key two-way contributor at RB, OL and DL, went down injured and couldn’t return. Losing a player who features on both sides of the ball stretched an already young squad, and the whole team wishes Joe a speedy recovery.

After the break the Gladiators were a different side defensively. They settled into the game, tightened up and kept UWE to far less on the scoreboard than in the first half. The offence, though, still struggled to get anything moving, as the lack of game time and timing issues from the first half carried on. That’s an area the coaching staff will be working on in training ahead of the next game.

Just as impressive was the team’s discipline. The Gladiators went the full 60 minutes without a single flag thrown against them. For a squad with so many first-timers, playing their first competitive game with little preparation, a penalty-free performance is a real achievement. It shows a group that has listened, understands the rules and stayed composed even when the scoreboard was against them.

The Gladiators also got on the board. With UWE punting from deep in their own territory, the ball went out the back of the end zone for a safety and the Gladiators’ first points of the season.

The standout performer was #7 Vaughn Balchin in the return game. Balchin produced most of the Gladiators’ yardage from kick returns and looked dangerous every time he touched the ball. He was repeatedly just a block or two away from taking one all the way to the house. With a little more work up front on return units, those big plays look close.

No one in the camp is happy with the result, but nobody sees it as a setback either. For a squad this new to the sport, the game was a stepping stone: a clear look at the standard needed to compete, and proof, from a clean, penalty-free performance and a tighter second-half defence, of what the team can do once it settles. The players aren’t treating it as a failure but as a lesson. The rookies in particular have come away hungrier, and that energy has carried straight into training.

Heads are now turned to the next fixture, a trip to Aberystwyth Tarannau. Aberystwyth come into the game off a 50–0 defeat to UWE this weekend, so both sides will be looking to bounce back and get their season moving. For the Gladiators, the message in the camp is simple: show up and handle business.

The Gladiators thank UWE Bullets for hosting and everyone who made the trip to Bristol to support.

Next up: Aberystwyth Tarannau (away), Sunday 15 November, 1pm kick-off, Blaendolau Fields, Aberystwyth, SY23 3TL