Old Boys hoping for reunion with Southern Counties

7:30am Thursday 9th September 2010

By Sam Morshead

CONSISTENCY will be the key if Swindon College Old Boys are to secure a return to Southern Counties rugby after a seven-year absence.

That is the opinion of team manager Martin Peaple, who says Old Boys are full of belief as they look to build on a season of over-achievement last term.

A third-place finish in Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier was more than Peaple and the rest of the club had banked on during a campaign earmarked for consolidation, and the team boss now insists the side have the quality to go one further and earn promotion under the stewardship of head coach Tony Brant.

“Tony has had the boys working well in pre-season and we’re showing signs that we can keep going from where we left off last season,” said Peaple.

“We got third place and there’s no way we want to be going backwards from there now.

“As long as we keep together and get through that difficult period over Christmas, where you lose a few numbers and it gets hard to keep a run going, then we believe we should be challenging in the top two.”

Last season, Old Boys stormed out of the traps only to be outdone by themselves during the harsh mid-season.

Fluctuating form meant a fall from the top two into midtable, and although a spring revival saw them claim third, it could have been so much better.

With the loss of Ash Brown and Ross Saville to the Swindon juggernaut steadily gathering pace down the road, some could suggest Old Boys have a task on their hands to steady the ship after the departure of two hugely influential players.

But Peaple disagrees, insisting the core group remaining are more than capable of taking the fight to the rest of the division.

“We have lost a couple but we’ve also gained a few, which is going to mean good things for the second team,” he said.

“There are a number of good young players coming on board, and we also have recruited Charlie Drew, a good, strong second-row which can only mean good things.

“We are realistically looking at promotion and to get back where we used to be.”

Having reached the final of the Pewsey 10s, and held their own in narrow defeats to Wootton Bassett and Devizes in warm-up matches, Old Boys look well set to organise that reunion with Southern Counties rugby.