The two played in the same team when the club were back at Level Five between 2009-12, Stapley then spending three years with neighbours Henley Hawks.

Rams endured a tough start to life in National Two South during the 2015/16 campaign, but the No. 8’s return in December inspired a rejuvenation and survival.

Three seasons later Rams were again promoted to their highest-ever standing despite the skipper missing the last four months, and he went onto lead them to a trio of runners-up finishes at Level Three.

Among his finest moments was the decision to turn down a shot at goal in the maiden game with park, a five-metre scrum yielding a second penalty try in three frantic final minutes for a memorable 27-20 victory.

Commenting on the former captain, Seb beamed: “Robbie’s been amazing and I’m not too sure what to say about him! He’s a good friend and one of the only players still around who I was in a team with, along with his brother Connor for a brief spell.

“Robbie’s evolved over the years, he was a hustle-bustle, all-action No. 8 as a youngster – he played in the wide channels for Henley during his time there – but he’s been a titanic leader since coming back.

“He’s taken the club to new heights and what he’s done will be hard to match – I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done and wish him all the best for retirement.”

Turning his attention back to tomorrow’s second-placed opponents, the DoR continued: “They’ve had a fantastic season, played some brilliant attacking rugby when we went there and have continued that recently.

“They are looking to go from all around the park – they are extremely dangerous, and it will be a tough game, but one we’re looking forward to.

“Games with Rosslyn are always special and for the first couple of years we were considerable underdogs – not expected to beat them – and one of our biggest moments in National One was beating them here the first time.

“That’s because they’re such a quality outfit and to win it in the final play with a penalty try was brilliant.

“Then things changed a bit and there was more expectancy on us, but the cyclical nature of squads means they’re probably the favourites again – they’ve had good consistency.”

Rams make eight changes to the starting line-up with Connor Stapley back on the bench for his brother’s last dance – an extraordinary achievement following his triple leg break in the season opener.

Seb said: “It’s wonderful for Connor to have got fit – we didn’t know if he might have to retire, but he’s done incredibly well.

“There have been some amazing efforts with recovery this season, Ben Atkins with his broken ankle, Nile Dacres with his thumb, and we’ve had some knocks.

“It has though meant we’ve found players we might not have expected at the start of the campaign, most notably someone like Ollie Hodgson.”

The scrum-half is joined among the three-quarters changes by Oli Rhoads and Tomek Pozniak, while Ioan Emanuel, Jasper Spandler, Ryan Lomas, Dan Swain and Mikey Duda all go from the off in the pack.

And Seb concluded: “I felt our young guys gave a great account of themselves in a tough Friday Night trip to Richmond last week, and our last home performance against Rotherham was excellent.

“We want to back it up because the support has been remarkable all season – at Richmond I think it was potentially a 50/50 crowd.

“The backing the guys get at home is sensational and all the players mention it, even those who are on loan or haven’t been here a long time.

“The fans have been with us through good and bad this season and we want to give them a top performance to finish with.”

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