Oli Aherne won a dramatic Cheltenham Combination Senior Cup final for Smiths with the very last kick of the game and later admitted: “I’ll never experience anything like that again.”

Aherne’s history-making penalty earned his team a thrilling 30-29 win over Cheltenham North that saw the club lift the trophy for the first time in their 71-year existence.

It was a remarkable end to a remarkable game, a game that saw loads of big hits, plenty of spectacular running and some scintillating tries.

But in the end it all came down to one kick with Mark Spreadbury, who does so much off-the-field work at Smiths, saying the hero of the hour had “nerves of steel”.

He certainly did because the kick wasn’t an easy one by any means, 40 metres out and just to the left of the posts, with Aherne admitting that it was close to the edge of his range.

The 23-year-old fly-half, who had converted just one of Smiths’ five tries, looked the calmest man on the pitch when he prepared to take the kick, but he confessed afterwards that he was anything but.

“I knew it was down to me when we were awarded the penalty,” he said. “It was probably the worst moment of my life, I was still shaking when I put the tee down, it was horrendous.

“I was so nervous, all I was thinking was, ‘Just kick it straight, give yourself a chance’.”

Once he’d kicked the ball he knew he’d made a good connection, but it hung in the air for what seemed like an age before the touch judges finally raised their flags,  sparking wild celebrations among Smiths’ supporters.

“It was the best feeling,” said Aherne. “I’d not been great kicking from the tee but the one that mattered went over.”

He was absolutely right, of course, and the only disappointment for Aherne was that his brother James wasn’t at the Newlands to celebrate the victory with him.

The 31-year-old would have been Smiths’ scrum-half on Saturday but for a serious injury which he sustained last month.

“He fractured and dislocated his hip against Clifton 2nds,” said Aherne. “I rang him straight after the game, he can’t walk at the moment. He was gutted not to be playing and gutted not to be at the game.”

Those who made up what was a good-sized crowd, which included Cheltenham MP and new Secretary of State for Justice Alex Chalk, were treated to a game that was a fine advert for rugby in the area.

Smiths were dominant in the scrums and were ahead for much of the game but the North, with their flying Fijians very much to the fore, were always within touching distance and it looked as though they had done enough to win it before Aherne’s late heroics.

“It was an amazing game,” said Aherne. “Their Fijians were unbelievable, they were so fit and so good in open play. Some of their tries were phenomenal, they played the game like it was 7s. It was back and forth throughout, we scored some good tries too.”

Earlier, Old Patesians won the Junior Cup with a 45-24 win over Smiths 2nds, while Cheltenham Civil Service/Norton Combined were too strong for Smiths 3rds in the final of the Minor Shield, winning 60-5.