Bishopston go into tomorrow's RFU Junior Vase Gloucestershire area final expecting a real onslaught from visitors Bream (2pm).

The Forest of Dean side were none too happy at losing 25-23 the last time the sides met earlier this season in Gloucester One, in Lockleaze.

And Bream now head back to Bristol as clear favourites thanks to a run of victories which has seen them move up to second in the table while Bishopston have slipped after a promising start to currently sit in ninth place.

However coach Doug Harris remains confident that Bish are still candidates for promotion and can also march on in the RFU Vase and the Charles Saunders Combination Vase despite recent inconsistencies.

The 44-year-old said: "Bream are definitely going to be coming hard at us and we're expecting our hardest game of the year so far. They thought they were in for a walkover in the league so were pretty disappointed at the result when we played before.

"Despite where we are now, I still think we're more than capable of finishing in the top three ... we just need to do the work. We're not missing any of the pieces, we just need faces to show up.

"Numbers at training have dropped off recently ... if we had 25 guys there twice a week we would never lose, I'm convinced of that. It's frustrating because the potential here is absolutely huge. We've got some amazing talent."

American-born Harris is one of the more interesting characters to be found in the Combination. He arrived in Bristol 18 months ago, as a maths teacher at QEH, after spending five years in the London area, where the hooker played for clubs such as Staines, Rosslyn Park, the London Irish Geese and Barnes.

His first sporting love was American football, with the former quarterback not tasting rugby until he was 25 – "And I had no idea what I was doing for the first five years."

By this time Harris was midway through a 13-year career with the US Navy, flying in helicopters on search and rescue missions before joining an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit.

He's reluctant to talk in detail about the dangers of this military life – "I don't want the focus to come off the rugby" – but admitted that the badly torn hamstring he suffered against Ashley Down in October was "more painful than being shot".

Intriguing in a different way is Harris' approach to coaching and a desire to be unorthodox.

Ten-man line-outs close to the try-line are one tactic Bish have adopted with success this season while Harris has a range of more subtle ideas up his sleeve, including a ploy that induces opposing kickers to miss defensive kicks to touch which he sketches out in my notebook.

He added: "These aren't gimmick plays. Difference is good, change is good."