Smiths will be close to full strength for arguably the biggest game in their 73-year history on Thursday evening.

They take on Dings Crusaders 2nds at the Prince of Wales Stadium (7.30pm) in the Counties 2 Gloucestershire play-off with a place in next season’s Counties 1 Western North the prize for the winners.

“It’s an enormous game,” said Smiths head coach Ben Parker. “It’s certainly the biggest in my seven years at the club and given Smiths’ history, it’s probably the biggest game for the club.”

Smiths, the Counties 2 Gloucestershire North champions, go into the game in great spirits after winning all 22 of their league games this season.

They beat Old Patesians 31-25 in the Papa John’s Cup Counties 2 Championship at the weekend and almost as important as the result was the fact that they avoided any serious injuries.

“We’ve got a couple with bumps and bruises but nothing that you wouldn’t expect at this stage of the season,” added Parker.

Smiths will have plenty of supporters on Thursday – they have home advantage because their league record this season is better than that of Dings, the Counties 2 Gloucestershire South champions – but it will be a huge test against a club whose flagship team play in National League 1.

Smiths were beaten by Clifton 2nds in the play-off final two years ago and they are determined to go one better this time around,

“We understand that Dings need their 2^nd team to go up and be closer to their 1^st team,” continued Parker. “They will be well prepared and very strong, so we’ve just got to be at our best.

“To win and get Smiths promoted would be enormous. We’ve won every game this season, I think we deserve to be at the next level.”

Smiths have a busy end to the season because they are through to next month’s Cheltenham Combination Senior Cup final and they host Oxford in the second round of the Papa John’s Cup on Saturday 26^th April.