Watton Rugby Club were praised by Eastern Counties RFU secretary Roger Pierson as he made the local presentation of their Accredited Club status award.

Pierson paid tribute to the extreme efforts the club had gone to to attain the award, with special thanksgoing to Louisa Bayley who headed up the whole project for the last 18 months.

A presentation was also made to Sue Pugh and Sophie Church of the Barbershop in Watton as thanks for sponsoring the club this year.

The presentations took place on an afternoon which also consisted of a hard fought presidents fixture in which the Under-30s ran out victors over the Over-30s.

The end of season presentations saw the following awards: Player of the year, Richie Brand; players player of the year, Nyall Duffield; second team captain’s player of the year, Matt Goodwin; First team captain’s player of the year Andy Duffield.

The clubman of the year award went to Connor Phillips for his hard work, dedication and commitment to the youth development. At 16 he is an inspiration to all the younger players and next season becomes eligible to play for the seniors.

The evening had a romantic twist with Andy Duffield proposing to his partner Nicki Cooper, who accepted to the delight of the room.

The club’s annual meeting is on June 18 at the Sports Centre (7.30pm), featuring the election of the new committee plus the election of first and second team captain and vice captains. All nominations should be submitted to secretary Carol Bayley by June 4.