THE season might still have a few weeks left but for one rugby club, promotion has already been achieved on two counts.

Take a bow everyone connected with Ipswich YM first and second XV, with both sides now looking to new challenges in a new league next season.

The second team, Ipswich YM Hawks, pipped the firsts by claiming promotion a week before in the Suffolk Merit League Division Two. Six points clear of Colchester IV with two games in hand, the league title is surely all but a certainty.

And the same applies for Ipswich YM firsts who have been a class apart from day one of the Eastern Counties 2 season. They secured promotion on Saturday with a hard-fought 23-10 victory over a vastly-improved Hadleigh side.

And similarly, the title seems set to be coming to Ipswich - unless nearest rivals Broadlands score a whopping 386 points in their last three games and YM slip up.

Understandably, Andy Moore, chairman of the playing committee at Ipswich YM, was delighted with how the season has progressed for the club, which also now runs a third team.

He said: “I would be lying if I said we didn’t have high hopes for the first team this season after ending last year so well. We were definitely targeting promotion but we never expected the success we have had with both sides.

“As well as the leagues, we are still in a few cup competitions and at one stage were the lowest ranked side left in the national cup. It has just been a phenomenal season.”

Both sides have largely built their success on a fantastic attack with the two sides accruing an incredible 1103 points in just 28 games, Very much using my calculator, that equates to almost 40 points scored every single match.

And Moore revealed that it had come on the back of a five-year plan, which actually saw the focus start with the seconds before concentrating on the first team.

Moore explained: “A few years ago, we had lots of young players come to the club who were relatively new to the game. We stuck by them rather than look for a quick solution.

“We developed a strong second team, who won the Eastern Counties Cup, and built the firsts around them. We are such a grassroots club that our second and thirds were just as important if not more so.

“I think the success has been down to the team spirit within the club. A lot of the players socialise together and do a lot of fundraising so they know it is much more than just 80 minutes on a Saturday.”