In-form Old Cryptians have made club history in this season’s RFU National Junior Vase – and the best may yet be to come.

The Gloucestershire One side are three games from a showpiece final at Twickenham having reached the South West Counties final of the 2018/19 competition.

They booked their place with a 22-15 home win over Tor at the start of the month and now host Newquay Hornets on Saturday 23rd February.

If they win that they’ll be in the South West Division final where they’ll play either Lytchett Minster or Chipping Norton on 16th March.

After that it’s a semi-final in April before the final at the home of English rugby in early May.

That’s still close on three months away, of course, and Old Cryptians Chairman Martyn Langbridge, while admitting that the game against Newquay Hornets is “pretty big”, is nevertheless determined not to look too far ahead.

A former player with the club, he said: “We’re not getting carried away. We’re in ground-breaking territory because we’ve never got this far before but we’re taking each game as it comes.”

Langbridge, who has been chairman for the past five years, is quite right to point out that there is still a long, long way to go of course.

“We’re in dreamland,” he continued, “but there are still a lot of good teams in the competition. There are still a lot of tough games and a lot of potential tricky away games.”

While Old Cryptians have home advantage against Newquay Hornets, the venues for the South West Division final and the national semi-final are not yet known and a home draw is obviously very beneficial.

But home or away, Langbridge, like everybody else at the club, is certainly enjoying the ride.

“It’s a very exciting time,” he said. “There’s a good feeling around the club, I just don’t want to put too much pressure on the team.”

Newquay Hornets are second in Cornwall One, having jumped ahead of Bodmin after winning 20-17 at Bodmin on Saturday. They trail unbeaten leaders Veor by 14 points although they have a game in hand.

Old Cryptians are fourth in Gloucestershire One after losing 22-7 at leaders Ross-on-Wye, who they trail by nine points, on Saturday.