Chris Downes wants to end his rugby career on a high.

And the 35-year-old, who told The Local Answer he is planning to retire at the end of the season, has every chance of realising his aim as the Old Patesians sweep all before them in South West One East.

Victory at home to lowly Swindon on Saturday will make it a sweet 16 for the ambitious club, after winning the first 15 games of a campaign that has exceeded all expectations.

The experienced Downes has more than played his part, of course, adapting to a new no. 8 role after spending the bulk of his career at tighthead or hooker.

It’s his second season in the back row after taking a six-year break from playing following a serious neck injury.

And although he is loving being part of a successful squad, Downes, who is also director of rugby at the University of Gloucestershire, says he has no plans to turn up for pre-season training ahead of the 2018/19 season.

“I’ve achieved everything I want to achieve,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed learning new skills over the past couple of seasons and I’ve loved playing with guys who I coached when they were younger.

“Guys like George Angell, who is now the club’s vice-captain, and Josh Stevens, who’s been the standout player this season. They were puppies when I first started and it’s been nice playing with them.”

Angell, Stevens and their pals are very likely to be playing in South West Premier next season, after their remarkable run of form over the past four months or so that has taken the Pats 10 points clear of Banbury with 11 games still to play.

While nothing is ever certain in sport, Downes is confident that the Pats will be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Brixham, Weston-super-Mare and Camborne next season, but while he will be delighted for the club if they realise their aim he insists it’s not for him.

“I don’t need all the extra travel, the extra conditioning and all the things you need to play in the national league,” said Downes, who played for the club when they were in National Two South.

He also played at a very decent level of club rugby in Wales back in the day.

“I played Premiership rugby for Ebbw Vale and Pontypool,” he said. “I played at the Arms Park, Bridgend, Pontypridd and played against some great players – Robin McBryde, James Hook and Gavin Henson.”

Very good players all of them, but they’d all be delighted to be approaching the business end of the season – any season – with a team that have won all of their games.

Not that Downes is getting too carried away by Old Pats’ unbeaten record just yet.

“We’ve still got some tough games to come,” he said. “We’ve got to go to Banbury and Chippenham and we’ve still got Old Cents at home, and they always seem to up their game at Everest Road.

“I don’t think it’s out of the realms of possibility that we could go through the league season unbeaten, but it’s not something we’re talking about in the squad.

“We’re taking each game as it comes. The target is promotion – that’s not a secret – but the target is not to go through the season undefeated, although if we did, that would be amazing.”

And if they did ‘do a Hartpury’ and win all of their games, there would be no-one prouder than Downes.

“None of the players get paid,” he said. “The training facilities aren’t the best but that’s what makes this club unique. It creates a bond between the players and everyone just mucks in.

“We all know that the pitch isn’t great but it’s our slope and it’s our paddock.”

That special grassroots feel at Old Pats has upset many a visiting big-name club over the years, and the Pats will need plenty to go their way if they are to survive and prosper at the higher level in the same way that they did a few years ago.

“It’s a strong squad with 25 or 30 players all capable of representing the first team,” said Downes. “We’ve had consistency of selection and availability, which is a big advantage over a lot of the teams in our division, but we won’t have that advantage at the next level.

“I’m sure that the club are already looking at players who they will need to bring in. They will need to bulk up in certain areas but they will also want to retain as many of the current players as they can. It will be tough but the players at the club have all the tools to survive at the level above.”

Downes won’t be part of that, of course, although he will still be very much involved with rugby through his role at the university and because, after all his years of involvement, you can’t just switch off from the game you love on a Saturday afternoon.

He can look back on his career with no regrets, but if there was one thing he could change what would it be?

“I should have moved to the back row years ago,” he laughed.