They’re a very good club with nice people and it will be a real shame to lose them to relegation.
We’ve had many great games in the past three seasons, and hopefully they’ll spring back up quickly.
From our point of view, it has also been a very tough campaign, but it’s not been through lack of effort things.
Not once have I had cause to think any player has shortchanged the club or his teammates.
But sometimes it just doesn’t happen for you – and there are multiple reasons why we didn’t kick on how we wanted to.
We’ve had difficult injuries at difficult times, and it’s made it very hard.
Ben (Atkins), for example, is on his day one of the best back rows in the league and we’ve hardly had him on the pitch.
Oddly, I’m extremely proud of the boys – particularly the way they responded to the loss at Rotherham where we didn’t manage the conditions right.
The result was not as bad as it looks on paper, and you only have to look at Saracens sticking 85 points on Sale away. It can happen.
I said to the boys on Thursday Ollie Hodgson has epitomised the grit in the team, and with people like him around it augurs well for the future.
Thank you to Dexter Montague and all sponsors
I’m very happy to have Dexter Montague LLP again sponsoring today’s game.
Bill (Montague) is a friend who I met when his son came to play for the youth side I was coaching.
Mark is one of the hardest people I’ve ever met and now spends his time sorting charitable measures out in the most difficult places in the world.
They are a delightful family; Dexter Montague are great sponsors and we’re very grateful both to them and all the others who have supported the club this year.
Bank holiday trip to Cornwall
Moving on, I watched Berkshire Under 20s beat Gloucestershire on Sunday – earning a Bank Holiday trip to Cornwall!
I felt I owed it to the coaching team with Seb (Reynolds), James (Baker) and Ollie (Taylor) involved, along with plenty of our boys like Louis (Roumignac) and Matt (Cox) playing.
There were slightly mixed emotions because if they’d been knocked out, a few debutants could have been on show today.
But they didn’t. Will Hibberdine kicked superbly and three conversions from the touchline was the difference between the sides.
The trip to Redruth is the day after our Club Dinner, so Andy (Lynch) and I must be abstemious on the Saturday, then get up at the crack of dawn to make our way down.
We expect a typically friendly welcome from the Cornish – they’re a very knowledgeable crowd who know their rugby and follow the county passionately.
They’ll expect to steamroller us, but it will be a great experience for the guys because Redruth has been one of my favourite grounds to go to since we’ve been up the leagues.
Hellfire Corner is an experience and I’m looking forward to it.
‘Support this season has been magnificent’
Finally, as with the Cornish, our supporters have been magnificent this season.
There is a growing core who truly love the team, get behind the players and enjoy the experience of coming to Rams on a Saturday afternoon.
We and our opponents have played some superb stuff, and once people come, they truly appreciate it.
You are up close to grassroots rugby, can feel the impacts from the sidelines, and people love it.
When things are going well it’s obviously more of a product, you get more media coverage and if you’re in a title hunt, even the TV cameras.
We haven’t had that for the past two campaigns, but the following has still been strong.
To everyone we hope you’ve enjoyed your time at OBR and thank you – we’ll try and give you even more entertainment next season.
