More than a week on from Spartans’ amazing 32-19 win over Old Whitgiftians that booked their place in the National Junior Vase final at Twickenham, scrum-half Shane Gardiner admits that he is still pinching himself to make sure that it actually happened.

Words like “unbelievable” and “unimaginable” trip off the 30-year-old’s tongue when asked how he feels about the club booking their place at the home of English rugby on Saturday, May 6.

They will play Yorkshire Division Three side Goole on the big day and Gardiner added: “I never thought we’d get anywhere near Twickenham, it’s just incredible. It’s like a dream, everybody’s the same.”

For someone like Gardiner, the achievement is extra special because his family are Spartans born and bred.

His dad Lloyd, also a scrum-half who played for Gloucester in the late 1980s and early 1990s, started off at the club, and won a life member award for his commitment to the club once his playing career was finished.

“He spent almost 10 long years managing the side to keep them going through some tough years when we were falling down the leagues year by year and into Gloucester Two,” Shane said.

Shane’s brothers Sean and John have also lived and breathed the club for much of their lives.

Sean, 32, in particular, was a good player. Another scrum-half, he won an England schoolboys under-18 cap and played for Spartans for many years before injuries and family commitments saw him retire from the game.

For 27-year-old John the trip to Twickenham will, in some ways, be bitter-sweet. He would almost certainly have been lining up in the centre against Goole but for an achilles injury sustained in the first part of the campaign which has ruled him out for the season.

Like the club’s many hundreds of supporters, he will be cheering on the Gloucester One club on cup final day on what is by far and away the biggest game in the club’s 90-year history.

It has been a remarkable season for the club because their cup run is just a continuation of their dominant league form under captain Ethan Badhams.

It seems almost impossible to believe that as recently as three years ago the club was almost on its knees, struggling for players, results and any kind of feelgood factor.

Gardiner takes up the story.

“Things were pretty bad,” he told The Local Answer. “I took over the captaincy three seasons ago and I remember that first game really struggling to get 15 players on the pitch.

“We decided to change things around. We cut training from two nights a week to one night a week and introduced a dress code on match days - shirt and tie, that sort of thing - to make people feel part of the team.

“The changes worked. We started getting results and things have just got better and better.”

So much so that the club have fielded two senior teams this season and next season expect to run a 3rd XV as well.

“We’ve slowly been building,” Gardiner said, “although this year has helped massively. Success breeds success and now when players say they are going to come to the club they do.”

Any new faces with the right playing pedigree will be performing in Gloucester Premier next season after Spartans clinched the Gloucester One title with victory over closest rivals Brockworth on Saturday.

Gardiner believes the step up in standard should hold no fears for the vibrant club.

“I think we’ll do well,” he said. “We’ve only lost one game in the league all season. That was against Gloucester Old Boys when their pack was just too strong.

“But we beat Hucclecote in the Combination Cup and that made a lot of people sit up and take notice.

“We got beaten in the semi-final by Coney Hill but only lost by a point and it was a game we should have won.”

Spartans’ trip to Twickenham will not be the first time a club representing the Red Ants has played on the hallowed turf graced by so many great players over the years.

Their under-14s team, which included Shane’s brother Sean, played there in the late 1990s. “I think they lost 5-0,” said Shane.

It will also be a special day for Shane’s dad, who never got to play at Twickenham. He was part of the Gloucester squad that reached the final of the Pilkington Cup in 1990 but was an unused replacement as they got thumped 48-6 by Bath. “They should have got him on,” laughed Shane.

Shane has happy memories of watching his dad play in the cherry and white shirt. “We lived just over the wall from Kingsholm,” he said. “We used to have our lunch and then just hop over the wall. He was obviously a good player and I’ve still got all the old videos of him playing.”

These days it’s not video cameras but mobile phones that are used to record all the special moments and they will all be trained on hooker Badham and his team when they walk out at Twickenham.

Badham is in his first season as captain having taken over from Aaron Fowke, the nephew of former Gloucester player Bobby.

“He’s only 21 and I think he’ll be one of the youngest ever captains at Twickenham,” said Shane. “He’s a very good captain. He’s very dedicated and he’s not one of these captains who goes round shouting at people. He always gives you a pat on the back and it certainly works. He’s got an old head on young shoulders.

“We’ve got a good bunch of lads and a lot of them have been at the club for a long time.”

Badham is a relative newcomer to the club but had already made his mark on rugby in the city before joining Spartans. He was one of the youngest captains to ever lead a side out in a Combination Cup final at Kingsholm a couple of years ago when he was with Matson.

The Gardiners are not the only family that is as much part of the club as rucks and mauls are a part of rugby union.

Brothers Phil and Paul Sutton - who play in the centre and in the back row respectively - will both be involved in the showpiece game at Twickenham. Their dad Andy is another Spartans stalwart who will be cheering on the club against Goole.

In this season of all seasons, it is difficult to pick out a player or players who have outperformed everyone else but Gardiner was adamant that two deserved a special mention.

“Luke Foran and Elliot Mayer,” he said. “They play blindside and openside and have been outstanding. They’re both neck-and-neck for player-of-the-year. From my position on the pitch I can really appreciate what they do.”

The back row duo, like every other first-team squad player, will be desperate to avoid injury in the club’s final league game on Saturday - the postponed fixture at Southmead.

“We’ve got a few injuries creeping in,” Gardiner said. “We’ve been playing two games a week for the past few weeks.

“Nobody wants to get injured now, nobody wants to miss Twickenham.”