A game of 2 halves....quite literally is how Clifton's performance was described by the Lavender & Black faithful on Saturday as Clifton eased through the gears in the second half to pile more misery on their cross-town rivals.

The first 40 was an entirely different game; yes derbies are typically brutal arm-wrestles that are nip and tuck most of the way, but Clifton went into the sheds at half time knowing that they had not even got out of first gear, holding a slim 15-11 lead. Something not lost on the players when they emerged from the second half after a stern few words from Head Coach Salter.

40 minutes later, 41-11 and 5 points saw Clifton claim the final victory in their derbies this season. Played 4, won 4 against Bristol sides in National 2, by some considerable margins.
A second sussesive win sees them hold onto 5th place and close the gap on Redruth; their form is returning and with that, this weekends trip down to strugglers Bournemouth is being targeted as another vital clash by Salter.

"This isn't about beating Reds, this is about us being as good as we can be. We were downbeat and a bit flat after the game on Saturday, the boys know we didn't perform to the level we know we can and that is what as a group we are aiming for. We have been hard on ourselves in training, there is a huge amount fo potential here and we know we are good enough, we just need to get into that mindset week in week out and perform - consistently."

"This weekend, looking at the table, we know what we need to do. They are scrapping for their lives, as Reds were; we need to be good enough to weather that storm and stick to our game and be confident in what we do in the week. We are enjoying ourselves, but we recognise a desire to keep perfuming consistently."

Bournemouth have found life in National 2 South a struggle since they walked promotion last season; but a good performance against an improving Westcliff last week in a 20-20 draw will have given the side a boost.

'They can cause you problems if you're not on it, we toiled against them when they came here. They have a big pack and some threats in their backline plus its a new environment we are heading down to on Saturday. They have got better as the season has progressed; they will target us, we know that form their chat last time we payed them, so we need to ensure we go there with the right mindset and exert our tempo and physicality on them both sides of the ball."
Mike Barber, Defence Coach

Clifton will be without Jack Clement this weekend as he has been called into the final squad to prepare for the England U20's opening Six Nations game against France on Friday as well as second row Joe Quinn. Fin Sharp will also be absent due to the knock he sustained against Reds last week.

However, Henry Harper and Luke Stratford are making good progress following their injuries on Saturday and both are in line to be fit for the weekend. Tom Stanton, who has shown real quality this season is also available this week as is influential backorder Tom Wilson who was rested. Niall Gibbons is still receiving on-going treatment and no set time has been given for his return but Gloucester Academies Harry Butler is back training this week and is hoping to make a return against Bournemouth.

With a tough block coming up in February that features Taunton and Worthing, Clifton know that it will be vital to continue their positive performances against Bournemouth when they travel south this Saturday.