Five league matches, five wins. Only one remained - an away game at Ruislip to write the final chapter of our league campaign. A win would automatically seal us promotion while a loss would leave our fate in the balance.

They had the wind, but we had the determination. The whistle blew and the battle commenced. Ruislip looked more than up for spoiling the party with a definite size advantage over us. With the wind came many errors from both sides, and the first of at least ten scrums of the game. A No 8 pickup from Charlie Oakes gave me the ball to spin off. Despite our best efforts at exploiting gaps in their defence they were strong at tackling and in the ruck area. Soon it was their turn to attack and some space and a with a well-timed pass to their left winger sent us 5 points down. We had to stay composed and get right back into the match which we so desperately needed to win. However we still didn’t have that aggression that had been our strong point throughout every game this season. A gap in our line gave them another 5 and a conversion to stretch their lead to 12 points. We had to get our act together.

We came out in the second half with a stronger mindset than the one we had left with at the end of the first half. From then on in every forward hit the rucks, every back ran like the wind with ball in hand. We looked more aggressive now, more passionate, more like the team we are made of. With fifteen minutes to go we were in the perfect position to score, just ten metres out with an overlap there for the taking. Out the ruck I passed the ball and down the line it went to winger Ben Roxbee Cox – try! Just one more and we would be with them. Fly-half Cameron Mitchell slotted the kick calmly over as we stood waiting to receive. We worked through the phases to get another try and the ball came out to full-back Jack Charter who put through an expert grubber kick for Ben Roxbee Cox to pick up and… score! Two tries a piece and another conversion success from Cameron put us just two points ahead. A scrum on the halfway gave us time to regroup and plan an attack. The ball came into the hands of outside-centre Robbie Filleul who popped it off to the lightning feet of winger Ellis Bisgrove to add another five points to our tally. To cap it all off, Jack Charter got on the score sheet to complete the 26-12 win.

Huge respect for a fantastic opposition who made it quite a finale! After an unpredictable outcome Tring are undefeated league champions!
A fantastic effort from the whole team all season as well as all the coaches and parents.

Bring on next year!