Pathway to the top is Caldy’s route to success

‘LITTLE old Caldy with a shed for a clubhouse’ are fighting for promotion to the Championship and director of rugby Gareth Davies is surprised as anyone after their poor start to the season.

Following a run of 13 wins, Caldy – who played third place Rosslyn Park yesterday – are top with three games to play.

Davies said: “If I had to sum up the season in a word it would be surprising. We had a very slow start, lost our first two and drew the second two.We had a serious chat and we haven’t looked back since.

“It’s a big deal for us to be competing to get into the Championship with little old Caldy, with a shed for a clubhouse. Whatever happens we’re happy to be where we are as opposed to fighting for relegation the last time we were in National 1 but we’ve got a huge April ahead.”

The Merseyside club cruised their way to the National 1 title in the 2019/20 season with an unbeaten campaign including 25 consecutive wins.

Davies says the pathway from their junior team to the seniors has been the foundation for success in recent years.

“We’ve been together for a long time as a group. Most of the lads have been here for five to six seasons. Sam Dickinson has come back to the club recently but he’s a Caldy boy and was here from 18-23, and he knows what we’re about.

“I’ve been here since I was 16, so it means everything to me. We have eight players in the first team who have played minis and juniors here, so there’s a pathway from the bottom to the top.”

Caldy are unbeaten on the road this season and Davies adds: “We do our away games differently to everyone else as other than to Plymouth, we travel down on the day and that’s worked for us.”

Caldy have the league’s top points scorer in fly-half Benjamin Jones, who has scored 222 points. Davies said: “He’s brilliant, he’s been at the club since he was nine and is a big character in the squad. He just seems to get better and better.”