Bob Ellis has always had a good way with words, but he was happy to use just the one to describe Smiths’ historic 34-12 win over Cheltenham at the weekend.

“Unbelievable,” he exclaimed, a word he also used to describe Smiths’ remarkable season and their dramatic upturn in fortunes over the past three or four years.

Saturday’s win at the Prince of Wales Stadium – Cheltenham’s former home – was the first time that Smiths had ever beaten their neighbours’ flagship team, and it also put them in the final of this season’s Cheltenham and District Combination Senior Cup.

“It was fantastic,” said Ellis, the club’s president and ex-player who played his first game for Smiths more than 60 years ago. “I remember the days when Cheltenham used to play a Cheltenham Combination team, now we’ve beaten them, it’s incredible."

Smiths will now face Cheltenham North in the final of the Senior Cup at the Newlands on Saturday. The North, serial winners of the competition back in the 80s, booked their place in the end-of-season showpiece with an emphatic 51-12 win over Stow-on-the-Wold.

Ellis will be on the sidelines cheering Smiths on, of course, and he may have lost his voice by the end of the day because the club’s 2nds and 3rds are also through to the finals of the Junior Cup and Minor Shield, respectively.

“I’ll be a very proud man,” continued Ellis, “but I’m already very proud. We’ve won the Junior Cup and the Minor Shield before but we’ve never won the Senior Cup.”

Mark Spreadbury, Smiths’ representative on the Combination and also the Combination’s impressive competitions secretary, reckons it is the first time Smiths have had three teams through to finals day, and their success in the competition follows their fine league campaign which saw them win the Counties 2 Gloucestershire North title.

That followed their championship-winning season in the old Gloucestershire 1 North and Ellis said: “We’re flying high, it’s great to hear people talking about Smiths with some awe.

“We’ve attracted some good players, we’ve got good facilities at the Prince of Wales Stadium, we’re central, we’ve got a good fixture list and we’re well coached by Ben Parker and Rob Nock.

“We’ve also got a very good committee, very active. I’m no longer hands-on but they’ve always got time to talk to the old boys. We’re an attractive club to play for these days.”

Smiths won’t have it all their own way on Saturday, of course. Cheltenham North have had a tough season – they finished second-from-bottom in Counties 1 Western North – but belied that form to turn over last season’s Senior Cup winners Stow, who play a division above them in Regional 2 South Central.

“We were delighted, it was a real surprise to us,” admitted ex-player and current club president Paul Balmer. “I suspect Stow had a few missing but we’ll take that.

“We got our better players fit enough to be on the pitch at the same time.

“We had a number of Fijians playing for us – five or six – and they play an open and exciting brand of rugby. They play 15-a-side rugby like seven-a-side, lots of dummies and throwing the ball over the head.

“It doesn’t always work but when it does it makes for an exciting spectacle. We had a good crowd, it was a good day.”

And Balmer is looking forward to another good day on Saturday.

“I like Smiths a lot,” he said. “We’ve always had a good relationship with them, especially when they were at their old ground, we’ve been quite close over the years.

“They’ve recruited well and they’ve engendered a really good team spirit, I take my hat off to them.

“They’ve got three sides through to the finals and it’s not easy to run three sides. We run two and that’s not easy.”

The North have been playing in the division above Smiths this season, so who does Balmer think are favourites?

“Almost definitely the Smiths boys,” he said. “I watched them in their play-off game against Clifton 2nds and was impressed. I know they lost but had it not been for the injury to James Aherne I think they might have won, he was a real influence on the game.

“They’re flying high at the moment but we want to be a fly in their ointment.”

The Senior Cup final is the last of the three finals and will kick off at 4pm. The first two finals have been switched around, with the Junior Cup the first to take place at noon and the Minor Shield starting at 2pm.

The switch is to accommodate Junior Cup finalists Old Patesians who also have a home Papa John’s Community Cup Counties 3 and Below South Plate semi-final against Widden Old Boys on Saturday afternoon.

Cheltenham Combination results
Senior Cup semi-finals:
Cheltenham North 51 Stow-on-the-Wold 12
Smiths 34 Cheltenham 12

Junior Cup semi-finals:
Smiths 2nds v Cheltenham 2nds, HWO
Stow-on-the-Wold 2nds 5 Old Patesians 25

Minor Shield semi-finals:
Tewkesbury 2nds v Smiths 3rds, AWO
Cheltenham 3rds 29 Cheltenham Civil Service/Norton Combined 41

Saturday 29^th April
Junior Cup final:
Smiths 2nds v Old Patesians (noon)

Minor Shield final:
Smiths 3rds v Cheltenham Civil Service/Norton Combined (2pm)

Senior Cup final:
Smiths v Cheltenham North (4pm)