WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

As the domestic season comes to a close, we take a look across the English pyramid to see which community clubs have tasted success

- Chris Heal

THE LAST blow of the whistle. The last drink in the clubhouse. The last sweep of the changing rooms. 

The dust has not long settled on the community-game season in England and while the hive of rugby activity will be taken down a notch over the summer months, the emotion, the excitement, the thrills and the spills of 2023-24 will still be fresh in the minds of many.

So many clubs and individuals created headlines this season, whether it was Leeds Tykes stitching together a remarkable 22-match winning run in National Two North, or down in Counties Two Midlands East (South) where St Neots’ Bradley McKenna scored a ridiculous 48 tries in 19 league games.

No matter the level or the division, there have been bumper-to-bumper narratives across the past nine months, not least right at the very top of tier three in the men’s adult game, where Chinnor created a slice of history.

Back in December 2022, the National One club were set for a relegation fight. The Oxfordshire outfit were one point above the dreaded dotted line when former England No 8 Nick Easter walked through the doors of Kingsey Road.

That season Chinnor had won just two of their first 11 games, but ever since then the Black & Whites have been on an upward trajectory.

They have flourished under Easter and this year Chinnor clinched promotion to the Championship for the first-ever time.

Winning 22 of their 26 matches, scoring more than 1,000 points and conceding an average of just 15.5 points per game has been a culmination of Easter’s coaching methods, shrewd recruitment and a change in mindset.