As befits a team who owe their name to a company that worked in the aircraft industry, Smiths Rugby Club are aiming high this season.

And to be fair, they’ve been aiming high for the past few seasons, so much so that the coming campaign will see them play at their highest level in their 70-year history.

The RFU reorganisation of the league structure means that their reward for romping to the Gloucestershire One North title last time out is a place in the 12-strong Counties 2 Gloucestershire North.

That’s Level 7 – a level above where they played last season – but far from being daunted by the prospect of going toe-to-toe with the likes of Coney Hill, Hucclecote and Old Richians, Smiths are relishing the opportunity and are targeting another promotion.

“We’re going to have a really good stab at this league, why not?” said impressive head coach Ben Parker, who is embarking on his third campaign in the role.

“We had a really good season last time out, I’m really excited by this league, I genuinely like what the RFU have done.

“It’s a genuine Cheltenham/Gloucester league. There will be real derby games, why not try to make an impression, we’re still improving. Why wouldn’t we go for Counties 1?”

Parker’s optimism is easy to understand. Smiths won their title with a playing record of won 20, lost two, last season and they took that form into the end-of-season Cheltenham Combination Senior Cup competition when they travelled to Old Patesians, who were playing three divisions above them, and pushed them all the way before going down 32-29.

And with four of the teams who were in Gloucestershire One North last season – Brockworth, Cirencester, Gordon League and Old Centralians 2nds – promoted alongside Smiths, it’s certainly fair to say that they aren’t going into the complete unknown.

The rest of the division is made up of Cheltenham Saracens, Old Cryptians, Ross-on-Wye and Spartans, and Parker – a strong-running, tough tackling inside centre for Old Pats from 1999 through to 2015, during many of their glory years – certainly knows what it takes to climb the divisions.

“Traditionally Smiths have always had a lot of quality,” the 42-year-old financial adviser said. “What we’ve looked to do is really step up the physical side of our game, the set-pieces, we’ve worked really hard.

“That area of the game will be key for us this season. We’re not just looking for parity, we want to dominate teams physically and if we can do that then our quality will come through.”

It certainly shone through last season when they won the title with a 29-22 win at Berry Hill with a game to spare.

“I asked some of the guys afterwards and they said they didn’t think Smiths had played at Berry Hill for 40 years,” Parker said. “That’s one of the motivations for us, we want to play teams we haven’t played before and we want to beat teams we haven’t played before. We want to set new records at the club, set new standards.”

They are certainly doing that and while there has clearly been a huge upturn in Smiths’ performances over the past few years, it’s not something that has happened overnight.

“Fundamentally, Smiths are still a real good bunch of guys,” said Parker. “They were your typical rugby club, they enjoyed the social side and enjoyed having a good time.

“But what we said to them is that you can have an even better time if you’re winning rugby matches as well and that means training hard and playing hard. If one of those things is missing, it doesn’t happen.”

Parker is certainly not taking all the credit for the current feelgood factor at the club, far from it.

“The foundations were put in place by Chris Raymond, Chris Long and Rob Nock,” said Parker. “They put the focus on the rugby.”

All three played for Old Pats back in the day alongside Parker – Raymond also played for Gloucester, Worcester and Moseley – and although Raymond and Long are no longer involved with Smiths, Nock remains an integral part as Parker’s right-hand man and skills coach.

The two are good friends and enjoy operating at the Prince of Wales Stadium, which has been home for Smiths for several years now.

“The facilities are unreal, it’s great for Smiths to be playing at the stadium, it’s a great pitch,” said Parker, who wants to see it being used a lot more in 2022/23.

“Getting a regular 2^nd XV out is key for us, that’s very important,” he continued. “We’ve been getting a 2^nd XV out sporadically, usually in partnership with Cheltenham Civil Service or Westbury, but this year we want a regular 2^nd team.

“We’ve entered the Merit Table and the aim is for the team to play in the national leagues. The more people you have training and playing the bigger the buzz around the club.”

There is certainly a good buzz around the club at the moment, helped in large part by skipper Ben Hawker who Parker says “is a real force for everything that is good at Smiths”.

And while Hawker is clearly a driving force on and off the pitch, it could be said that Parker is too because even though he is now in his early 40s, he is still getting minutes on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon alongside players half his age, including in that title-winning game at Berry Hill.

“I came on as a replacement,” he said, before adding with a laugh, “I played fly-half, let me say now that I am not a fly-half!”

His playing career at Pats included that never-to-be-forgotten day at Twickenham in 2001 when the club won the RFU Intermediate Cup.

Former Bournside School pupil Parker was still in the early days of his playing career back then and he went on to enjoy many stellar times with the club over the next 14 years.

When he eventually finished playing for Pats he drifted out of rugby for a while before being encouraged by Nock to get involved with Smiths.

“I fancied a bit of exercise, just throwing a ball about,” said Parker. “But you know how it is, I ended up on the bench just to help out and I played a few games although I never started, that was my choice. I’m still enjoying the cameo roles.”

He also got involved in the coaching side when he joined the club and coaching is something that he’s clearly pretty good at. He’s ambitious too.

“Yes, I am,” he said, “but hopefully I can realise those ambitions with Smiths. I’m very happy at the club, I very much enjoy what I’m doing and want to do it for as long as I can.”

And when he’s not involved with rugby, he can often be found just up the road from the rugby club at Lilley Brook Golf Club where he’s a member and plays off 15.

Nock, meanwhile, was a very good badminton player back in the day and was good enough to play for Great Britain.

“He won back-to-back Czech Opens, he mentions it quite a lot,” laughed Parker.

Parker, of course, would love to secure back-to-back titles at Smiths come the end of 2022/23.