The mood at the full-time whistle was jubilant to say the least. "Dry Jan ended at 4pm on Saturday! " laughs Davies. "We had a couple of beers on the Thursday night after training and JJ [Dickinson] our captain obviously said 'I am doing Dry Jan' and he just went home which is very unusual for him. Around 4pm on Saturday, it was a different tune! It was a good evening had by all. Let's put it that way! And surely the hat-trick hero joined in with the celebrations? "I'm not a heavy drinker! " Beer says.
As for Caldy, they are part-time. This is their first-ever season in the second tier but the club on the Wirral fought back from 24-7 down to create one of the greatest moments Paton Field has ever seen. "I am not sure we 100 per cent believed what happened would happen, " says Davies. "I'm still not even sure with a minute to go and with Ealing also having two players in the bin I thought we were going to win it like we did! " Despite Ross Kane's sending off after just 25 minutes, Ealing held a 17-point advantage heading into the final quarter but a stunning hat-trick from Caldy winger Louis Beer - which included a last-gasp try - sent the home faithful into raptures.
" For Beer, he joined the club in the summer. His family are originally from the Wirral so with that in mind, the winger signed from National One side Cambridge and has fitted straight into the Caldy environment: "They are a good group of lads. Look, when I joined, you have to earn that respect. You can't just walk in because these guys are close and I saw that from day one. "They look after each other and I had to accept I was the new boy on the block, but I have got a good bond with a few of the players here now and I feel a part of the group. "I think if you're a tight group, you're going to fight for each other.
We had loads of kids there at the weekend. That is as important as anything. It just means so much to the kids and encourages them to keep doing what they are doing. It is what it is all about. It is entertainment, isn't it? For us as a community club, it is about getting the next set of Tom Sanders' through or JJ Dickinson's through and that is our point of difference from most of the league and we will continue to do it for as long as we can. " — National League Rugby (@Natleague_rugby) April 26, 2022 Davies was keen to stress how 'sensational' the crowd were on Saturday with Beer describing them as Caldy's 'energy and fuel.
We had thrown a spanner in the works of the Championship. " Scenes of unbridled joy are becoming a recurring theme for Caldy. 2022 will never be forgotten by the club after they secured promotion to reach the second tier. Davies says the events on Saturday had similarities to April last year when his side defeated Sale FC to clinch the National One title in front of a packed-out Paton Field. On that day, swathes of local children joined in with the pandemonium after witnessing one of the all-time moments in Caldy's history and the same thing occurred at the weekend. Footage of Beer's decisive try showed a group of youngsters celebrating wildly in the background, something which didn't go unnoticed by Davies. "You know what it is like at Caldy.
The Caldy boss also feels their close-knit nature and sticking to their principles has been key to their rise up the rugby ladder. "We do have our own superstars, but we haven't brought in these superstars. Don't get me wrong, we had three lads from Sale Sharks last week [Elliott Gourlay, Rouban Birch and Joe Jones] who are exceptional and are really good lads but they know and everyone knows what we are about, how we do it and they are all happy to mix in which is great.
' 1, 150 people stood on the banks of Paton Field as they watched the drama play out in front of them and Caldy's journey to this point, in a way, is what sport is all about. Three years ago, Caldy were storming to the National Two North title. Covid-19 curtailed the season but Davies' charges had wrapped up the championship thanks to 25 wins out of 25.
In 2021-22, they made their return to the third tier and rather than banking their chips and solidifying themselves in National One, they were a revelation. An astonishing run of 17 straight victories culminated in the Wirral outfit securing promotion on the penultimate weekend of the season and they achieved history with a squad bursting with local talent. "We had eight or nine players in the side on Saturday against Ealing who have played mini and juniors at the club, " Davies says.
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