Marcus Cattell was proud of his players as Bishop’s Stortford secured their National 1 survival on a drama-packed last day at Cinderford.
Stortford went into the contest in Gloucestershire needing two points to stay up while their opponents had to win and hope other results involving fellow bottom-four sides Leicester Lions and Taunton went their way.
And head coach Cattell saw his team build up a 24-0 advantage before digging deep in the face of a Cinderford comeback to register a nail-biting 27-22 victory.
Victories for both Leicester Lions and Taunton meant the former stayed up with Stortford while the latter were relegated with Cinderford.
mpu1
“It’s massively special,” said Cattell after Stortford preserved the National 1 status they gained in 2017 and maintained their record of never being relegated in their 104-year history.
“You can ask any rugby club in National 1 over the last 10 years about how difficult it is to come here, but that first half was just unbelievable.
“In the second half we had to hold on a little bit as they came back into the game and we knew how dangerous they were going to be. I’m just hugely proud of the boys.
“I want to thank all the supporters and sponsors and everyone involved with the club for supporting us the whole way. Even when it wasn’t looking good this year I felt more supported than ever.”
Captain James Ayrton missed the match at the Beavis Memorial Ground due to injury, but was delighted to see his team-mates do the business.
“I’m gutted to have watched from the sidelines, but it was such a proud moment to see the boys put 80 minutes of hard work in there,” he said.
“They’ve done the supporters proud and they’ve done themselves proud.
mpu2
“The club worked hard to get into National 1 and we feel we’ve worked even harder now to stay in it.”
Australian No 8 Will Rogers donned the armband for the afternoon in Ayrton’s absence and scored the fourth try which secured a bonus point.
“It was always going to be tough coming away to Cinderford,” he said. “We knew they were going to maul it and we did counter that.
“We made it very difficult for everyone who came to watch, but we got the job done.”
Winger Chris Smith was unable to add to his tally in the Forest of Dean, but did end the campaign as the team’s leading try scorer with 18.
And he was thrilled to make the away contingent happy – around 60 Stortford supporters traveled on a coach and lots of others were also in attendance – and felt it ranked as the club’s finest achievement.
“How many people came up to watch the game probably tells you everything you need to know about our club,” Smith said. “It’s ‘one club’ for a reason and everyone gets behind each other.
“It means a lot and there were a few tears at the end of some of the boys.
“It’s the best day for this club, despite being down the bottom of a league that’s pretty tough. “It’s been a good old season and I can’t wait for the next one.”
Back row Ollie Jones, who has been at Stortford for more than two decades, was impressed with the visitors’ strong start to proceedings.
And he had belief they would get the job done as time ticked by after both sides had a man sent off.
“It was a huge performance from the boys,” said Jones.
“I thought in the first 40 we wanted it more, came off the line harder, hit them harder and blew them away.
“In the second half we were a bit lax and kind of let them back into the game, but, to be honest, the more it went on the more I had confidence in us.”
Stortford can now look forward to another season in the third tier of English rugby.
And hooker Alex Rayment, who bagged nine tries this term, wants them to be higher challenging up the table in 2024-25.
“We’ve got to kick on next season and we don’t want to be in this position again,” he said. “This is only the start now.”
