THEY may have finished rock-bottom of Southern Counties South, but Supermarine boss Gavin Russ insists the South Marston side are still able to take plenty of positives from their 2012/13 campaign.

Marine only managed three wins from their 22 games in their first season since winning promotion from Dorset & Wilts 1 North, which saw them finish six points adrift of Oakmeadians who ended second-bottom.

The club are still waiting to hear whether they will be relegated or earn a reprieve due to restructuring of the leagues, and although they finished bottom, Russ is keen to take the positives from a tough 12 months.

“There were positives for sure, and towards the end of the season we realised that if we had a little bit more know-how we could have competed better than we did,” he said.

“Looking back I think the boys realise that with a little bit more commitment it could have been Oakmeadians at the bottom and not us.

“It was a massive learning curve which took us a little by surprise, but by the end we got a lot better and we have to be pleased with that.

“We still don’t know where we are going to end up because we could go down, stay up or move divisions, but we have to wait to find that out.”

Supermarine had to wait until the middle of December to pick up their first win when they defeated Oakmeadians 31-19, but Russ believes his players made steady progress throughout the season.

“The high point has to be the first win, and there was a bit of relief there although it was also a good confidence boost for all of the guys, and we realised if we applied ourselves we could perform,” he said.

“It was about consistency as well as a few other things, but we improved along the way and we all have to be pleased with that.

“I don’t like to pick out players, but all I can say is everyone did their best and played to the best of their ability every time and did the best they could.”

The club expect to discover where they will be playing their rugby next season in June, but if Russ has his way the club will be given another chance at Southern Counties level.

“Ultimately we would like to stay at this level of rugby, but if we have to go back down we will do it and rebuild before hopefully coming up again,” he said.

“We have some good young colts players who can come up and train with the seniors, so it’s looking good for the future.

“If we go down we will do so as a much stronger side, and if we stay up we now know how to win games and we know the areas we need to improve on in order to win games.

“If we stay we have put all the right things in place to make sure we stay properly, and if we go down the same things will be in place for us to come back stronger.”