How Bognor’s rugby season turned into a remarkable one

This marks a truly remarkable end to the season especially considering they had spent the majority of the first half second from the bottom and genuinely worried about relegation.

Despite Basingstoke being 25 points better off than Bognor at the start of the game the visitors started the match looking confident and they immediately put pressure on their opponents. They were rewarded with an early penalty, kicked by Kurtus Dent, and they utilised the wind well to gain territorial advantage.

The backs, well marshalled by the veteran Dave Sweeney, impressively sun-tanned after his recent break, sprang into action and looked dangerous every time the ball was moved wide. Man-of-the-match Sid Lewis made his presence felt with some trademark bone-crunching tackles and great offloads.

Lewis’s partner-in-crime Connor Herrington soon continued his scoring run when he flew over for Bognor’s first try, Dent’s conversion giving the visitors an early ten-point lead.

Tom Orchard, enjoying the dry conditions, crashed over for Bognor’s second try and, with Dent again adding the extras, his team went into halftime a healthy 17-0 in front.

The second half was a very different story, the much heavier forwards wisely deciding to slow the game down, keep it tight and drive hard from every lineout. This they managed to do with some degree of success and they were rewarded with two tries, both the result of short-range driving mauls.

Superb defence by Bognor allowed them to keep their noses in front and see out a well-deserved victory which was celebrated well into the night back in the clubhouse.

It is worth reflecting at this point on the reasons for the transformation in the second half of the season:

- Despite several losses, some of them heavy, numbers at training held strong, indicating the potential and enthusiasm of the young group and the respect they have for the excellent coaching team of Karl Flinn, Billy Toone, Paul Mitchell and Nick Baker.

- Players such as Connor Herrington and Charlie Weller, returning from long-term injuries, combined with the all-round strength of newcomer Sid Lewis, added to the growing confidence of the team, and the welcome return to the club of the hugely experienced Dave Sweeney at fly-half was the icing on the cake.

- On December 21, away to Havant twos, despite being well behind against the champions, who scored an average of almost sixty points per game during the course of the season, Bognor fought back strongly to score four tries and gain a bonus point.

Many of the players and supporters present for that match are convinced that, despite what on paper looked like a heavy loss, the defeat marked a real turning point: there were clear signs that the group was definitely maturing from inexperienced young men who had frequently been overpowered by much bigger opponents, to a talented, fit squad, steadily growing in confidence.

The fact that they are close-knit, loyal, respectful and always display a welcome degree of humility, is another undoubted reason for their success over the last three months.

So, they have earned themselves a well-deserved rest for a couple of months but, if they are to build on this promising spell and hit the ground running in September, they will need to put in a huge amount of hard work in July and August.