Past glories helped fire up Bridgnorth

The All Blacks won the trophy for the first time courtesy of a thrilling 20-17 final win over Dudley Kingswinford.

Victory ensured a fine season which has also seen Bridgnorth battle near the top of the Midlands Premier Division will always be remembered.

Smallman admitted that was one of the key messages delivered during a pre-match talk which also included a short film of the club’s past achievements.

He said: “One of the motivational tools we used to inspire the players was a four-minute movie we had put together, showing the other finals Bridgnorth have won.

“The message was a simple one: ‘Make history and get yourself in the picture.’

“Traditionally the Midland Plate, Shield and Cup finals were always on the same day. As a club, we have played in Plate and Shield finals before and then watched the cup final later in the day.

“This was a chance for us to take the big prize. On top of the film, we had our former coach Gareth Harris, who has done so much for this team, in attendance.

“Finally, our chairman of rugby, Lance Taylor, came to his first game since suffering a major heart attack on New Year’s Eve.

“All of those things came together to inspire the players.”

Bridgnorth, it turned out, would need every inch of their mental reserves to overcome a DK team who took the showdown at Stourton Park right to the wire.

The Heathbrook club, who play one level below the All Blacks in Midlands One West, went into the match on a seven-game winning streak and duly scored the first try, Matt Squires finishing off a flowing move with Sam Vaughan hitting the extras for an early 7-0 lead.

Bridgnorth kept their cool and quickly levelled matters thanks to skipper Cal Madden’s converted try.

They then briefly took control, Llew Williams sending over two penalties before Afe Hasilia went over to make the half-time score an apparently comfortable 20-7.

But DK were a long way from finished. Vaughan kicked a penalty to reduce the deficit, before scoring a converted try of his own to cut it to just three points and set up a thrilling finale.

A draw would have seen DK take the cup courtesy of having opened the scoring. Vaughan almost delivered, with a penalty which drifted just wide of the upright, as Bridgnorth clung on.

“It was a terrific cup final,” said Smallman. “It had just about everything you could ask for.

“We had to defend like Trojans at times in the second half.

“In the end it was a fantastic and emotional night for me and the players.”