DURSLEY talisman Scott Udal believes that his club are ready for promotion from the Gloucester One League – and can go up as title winners next season.

The big lock forward will, however, not be around to captain the side in that assault on promotion as he is moving to South Africa.

It has been an incredible season for the club with the first team winning the Stroud Combination Senior Cup for the second successive year, and the second and third sides winning their respective cup competitions.

Dursley Ladies added to the glory by winning the Barcelona Rugby Festival title this year.

And, with a new top-class changing rooms facility under way at their Stinchcombe ground, which saw the groundbreaking take place on Saturday, Dursley’s star is rising.

And going up to the Gloucester Premier League in 2017, after missing out by a single point on the Gloucester One runners-up spot to Gordon League last season, would be a massive step.

Udal said: “It has been a great season for the club throughout.

“We have had a great influx of youngsters who have put the Dursley shirt on and they have come up trumps.

“We owe a lot to the youngsters and also the older ones who are putting the shirt on for all three senior (men’s) teams.

“There are second team players pushing for first team positions every week.”

Those youngsters are important to Dursley’s confidence for next season, and Udal added: “The first thing is to keep these players with us and go from there.

“If we keep this group of players together next season, I genuinely think we will be out-and-out winners and I hope that comes off.

“With the new changing rooms and other things happening at the club, it attracts new players as well so I definitely think next season is the right year to go up.

“A couple of years ago we were almost there but it probably wasn’t the right time to go up but now we are in a good place to do it.”

Dursley won two-thirds of their 22 league games last year and such was their attacking prowess that, despite Gordon League winning three more games than them, Dursley had ten more bonus points than the runners-up.

Two more points would have seen them promoted.

But Udal said the best match of the campaign, in his opinion, was retaining the Combination Cup with a 14-10 verdict last month against a Cirencester side which completed their Gloucester Premier season in second place.

The season before, Dursley, also big underdogs, beat Stroud, now in the Tribute Western Counties North Division, to win the Combination Cup and, in doing so, record their first competitive win over their Gloucestershire neighbours.

Udal said: “The best performance for me last season was definitely winning the cup.

“Ciren came down with a very strong team. We were massive underdogs in that game, as we were against Stroud, and we overcame it again.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t play because of a broken arm but, watching it from the sidelines, that was, for me, the best performance our boys put out.”

Udal will hand over the captaincy to someone else, to be announced this weekend, as he takes a year out from Dursley to fly to South Africa and a new life adventure.

The big second row said: “I am going at the end of August. I am going to Hazyview, which is just outside Kruger National Park in South Africa where I am working on maintenance of lodges and electric fences, that sort of thing. I deal in fencing and landscaping so it is sort of similar.”

Udal’s boots are big ones to fill at Dursley, but he reassured fans: “The club will be fine. We have captains’ selections this weekend so whoever takes it on, I’m sure they will do a stunning job of it and hopefully take the boys to promotion.”