Shelford enjoy double delight

SHELFORD have done the double this season, with both their men’s and women’s 1st XV teams winning their leagues and securing promotion.

The Cambridgeshire club has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years and this season will go down in their history books.

It’s the first season where both their men’s and women’s teams have topped their divisions, with each side losing only one game.

After an incredible 19-game winning run, next season will see the men move back into Level Five from London 1 North, with their goal of returning to NCA rugby remaining firmly in their sights.

The women comfortably took the league’s top spot to secure promotion to Level Three, after their 34-0 win over Wymondham Wasps secured the title with one game to spare.

Director of rugby, Will Cotterill, said: “From 2019 to where we are now, we have managed to get the men’s 1st XV back on track and promoted, we’ve got two women’s teams playing in leagues, and we’re so pleased our women’s firsts got promoted this season as well. It’s been an amazing turnaround.”

Cotterill looks positively towards next season for his men’s team, saying: “I think if we can find our feet in the new league, we don’t need to make any drastic changes to the squad that we’ve got. If we can end up in the top half of the league next season that would be fantastic.”

On his women’s section, Cotterill added: “The squad has grown and there’s some healthy competition for spots in the firsts which always helps. They’ve had an amazing year, they’ve only dropped one game as well having lost their first game but not losing since. They’ve really moved on as a squad and a team in the last few years and are playing some really nice rugby.”