Royal Wootton Bassett RFC Director of Rugby Alan Low said that the club’s title win was a fantastic achievement with all of the challenges they have faced this season.
Bassett have romped home to the Regional Two Tribute Severn of South West Division title, winning 20 of their 21 games so far to bounce back at the first time of asking and scoring over 1,000 points for the first time in the club’s history.
Low said he was very proud of what the team had accomplished this season to overcome so many hurdles.
He said: “It has been fantastic. When we sat down we knew this was our aim, but we have had a lot of bumps along the road.
“We lost our captain just before Christmas and there have been an awful lot of injuries for us to contend with this season.
“The big bit has been the growth and the learning from some of these really young players, at the moment we have got four under-18 players playing regularly between the first and second team and they are guys who are going to be around for a long time to come.
“I think the players have had a really enjoyable year and hopefully we will be taking that in at the end of the season and we will have a decent party in a couple of weeks’ time.”
Bassett confirmed their title against Chippenham two weeks ago, and now turn their attention to competing at the next level, which comes with its challenges, but Low is confident they will have what it takes.
He said: “I am still in contact with a lot of the coaches from last season and certainly after Christmas, we showed we were able to compete each week at that level.
“With our results after Christmas, we would have finished fourth if we started the league from then, but we had not put ourselves in a strong enough position.
“It is a completely different standard, and the player commitment does need to go up with the travel involved.
“With all of that player preparation, as a completely amateur squad, it is a huge commitment for the players and the club to support them.
“We have a lot of work to do between now and then off the field to put us in a position on it to be able to perform.
“But we will be in a more confident position then.”
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