GLOUCESTERSHIRE All Golds, or the The Golden Fern as they are known to their loyal supporters – of whom there were six in a dismal crowd of 696 last week – came to Barrow looking to make it three wins in a row.

But were put in their place by Raiders, who kept up the pressure on Toronto and Whitehaven at the top.

I was having a chat with a couple of their supporters and said: “Long way to come.” To which they replied: “Not too bad, we live in Wigan, we're here to support our son Brad Hargreaves, who plays second row.”

Apparently, Brad burst on to the scene in late 2014, when he scored a hat-trick for Ireland against Wales in the 2014 European Championships.

He enjoyed a fine 2015 season with Rochdale Hornets, but left to set up his own business but was now able to get back into the sport.

Three tries early in the first half gave Raiders a 14-0 platform, and I thought it was going to be a cricket score. But although looking comfortable throughout, we just couldn’t keep up the momentum and it was all a bit stop-start. A swirling wind and heavy rain made for a scrappy game, with plenty of knock-ons and handling errors.

All Golds head coach Lee Greenwood wasn’t too despondent at full-time though. He said: “I can’t knock the effort from our players, we were just beaten by a much better side.”

Tonight, All Golds play the Toronto superstars in Canada, and I bet the six supporters won’t be following Brad!

We welcome Oxford back to Craven Park after our convincing victory in the League One Cup semi- final a couple of months ago, when they put in a great first-half performance before running out of steam.

I expect the same tonight, as last week they were well beaten at home by North Wales Crusaders, who ran in nine tries to complete a 52-20 victory even after kick-off was delayed by two hours after their bus broke down.

On Wednesday, Oxford also had to travel to Featherstone to play Doncaster in a rearranged game (due to the Keepmoat being reseeded), and were beaten 34-16.

Richard Horne was delighted to get his first points as head coach of the Dons having suffered defeats to rivals Whitehaven and Newcastle in his first two matches, and Doncaster have virtually assured their place in the play-offs.

With phase one almost complete, and only the trip up the coast to Whitehaven to come next week, we need to put in a professional performance and give the supporters a lift with some expansive exciting rugby as we prepare for the play-offs.

North Wales are at home to Haven tomorrow, and Carl Forster’s men will now be looking to tighten their grip on second place.

However, Crusaders want to keep their own hopes of a top-eight finish alive and might well spring a surprise if they can replicate the form they demonstrated against us.

No matter what the result is, next week’s encounter with Haven will determine who finishes second, although it won’t make much difference as both second and third have to visit Canada – which has angered a number of Raiders regulars, who feel going to Canada twice is totally unfair.

However, if you finish top after phase one, the reward is home advantage over the teams just below you, and so it should be – shouldn’t it?

See you tonight.