Towcestrians finished the League campaign in fine style with their third straight league victory where they have scored in excess of 70 points, to finish as league champions with an impressive record of 21 victories and a draw from 26 matches, 19 with try scoring bonus points and points for just short of 1000
The Greens Norton Road clubhouse was packed to the rafters as the Club hosted its first ever Past Players reunion lunch and in excess of 250 supporters expected a home victory against bottom side Swanage, it was the visitors however who started the brighter, running off their long trip and taking an early lead with a penalty before soon afterwards James Falvey crossed for the first of Tows twelve tries, Swanage looked to keep the game as tight as they could with their bigger and more experienced pack looking to dominate at both set piece and breakdown, Tows were not about to let that happen leading to a scuffle involving a number of players and the referee sent a player from each team for a ten minute spell in the bin
Tows efforts to put on a show for the large crowd were stumbling thanks to the spirited display of the visitors which belied there league position, however, as they began to tire, Tows quicker backs started to exploit gaps, Pepe Nanci busting through several tackles to set up a walk in under the posts for veteran Hooker Richard Tustian, Swanage replied with a penalty but went further behind when Matt Yuill crossed, quickly followed by a Ben Roe break to put in Alex Chalcraft, both Yuill and Chalcraft in competition with each other to finish the Leagues top try scorer, Dave Stocks then going over, three conversions from Falvey and a Penalty from Swanage on half-time saw Tows turn around 31 - 9 up
The second half started with Yuill flying over from 40 metres and Chalcraft also crossing for his second, with the Swanage defensive effort falling away Tows began to run riot, impressive replacement Sam Neale stepping through for a score and second row Sam Sturley going in under the posts with a Sturley flop, the League top try scorer competition was finally settled when Chalcraft claimed yet another league hat-trick and Wes McGimpsey and Neale scored tries eleven and twelve, at the final whistle the Champagne flowed as Tows look forward to what will be an exciting and challenging season back in the National Leagues
After two seasons of failing to go up via the play-off system First Team Skipper Zac Osborne expressed his excitement at gaining automatic promotion "its a massive effort from everyone involved, all the coaches, management, physios and players, and after two years of narrowly missing out the whole squad are genuinely excited at the prospect of challenging themselves at a higher level, the work starts here though, well after tonight at least"
Editors Notes:
Tows can reflect on, with pride, what has been an hugely impressive campaign and season with not just the 1st XV gaining promotion but the 2nd XV also winning their league and the 3rd XV gaining promotion into the league just vacated by the Seconds, a win at Franklins Gardens in the Lewis Shield is always special and the Colts, despite a difficult start, came on strong to claim some excellent victories in the second half of the season, this is a season that should be remembered and one not easily repeated, huge credit goes to all the players, coaches, managers and support personnel for their efforts, it has been a terrific season and one that has been easy to write about, the Towcestrians Press Office would like to make special mention to our roving pitch side reporter, "Lord" Bob Price, for his contribution to these weekly reports.....See you all next Season!