‘Toughest test’ awaits Caldy after historic title success
JUST a day after achieving promotion to the Championship, Caldy’s Gareth Davies and his coaching staff started planning for ‘the biggest test they’ve ever faced.’
Caldy achieved promotion to the second tier for the first time in their history last weekend as they beat Sale FC 13-9 in their last game of the season.
Director of rugby Davies recalls a difficult game that required the league’s top points scorer Ben Jones to step up and make the difference.
He said: “It was a really tough game as expected, Sale threw the kitchen sink at us in the first half, and we defended really well. We conceded two penalties but managed to get a try towards the end of the first half.
“Most of the rugby was played in the middle of the pitch as there wasn’t much between either team. They scored a penalty just after half-Stime which was probably one of their last attacks in our half.
“We managed to put a lot of pressure on them and scored two penalties. Ben missed the first one in front of the posts and then hit a spectacular kick from about 40 metres out, and he finished it off in the last play of the game with another one which caused the celebrations to begin.”
The match drew a record crowd with
3,000 fans creating a special atmosphere at the Paton Field.
“That’s easily the biggest crowd we’ve ever had at the club,” Davies said. “We had about 1,500 when we played Sale in a game to get back into Nat One four years ago, but this was another level.”
The Merseysiders faced stiff competition from Sale, Rosslyn Park, and Cambridge but Davies’ side won an incredible 17 games in a row to lift the title.
Davies credits his captain Josiah Dickinson and his coaching staff for their efforts in creating a real unity at the club.
“Josiah is unbelievable,” he added. “We appointed him captain when we were in National 2 North and he’s just a brilliant link between players and coaches. He’s the ultimate professional.
“The coaches are phenomenal, I consider them to be my friends but they are just an exceptional group of dedicated people. They leave no stone unturned. We train and do everything as a group with both our firsts and second teams and there’s no separation other than the team run through on a Thursday night. Our seconds haven’t lost in something like 60 games, so we’ve created a great environment.”
Davies recognises the difficult task on his hands with the likes of Ealing, Doncaster and Bedford facing them next season, but says he is ready to take on the challenge.
“The coaches and I are straight into it as we know we’ve got a massive job on our hands,” he
concluded.