AFTER two tough Shield games over the last couple of weeks, it was back to business as usual for Preston Lodge on Saturday when they faced Langholm in their last league game of the season.

Although it had been practically three months since the East League 1 had been won for PL, they still had their unbeaten record to preserve, so they had to make sure that they didn’t fall at the final hurdle, especially as Langholm arrived at the Pennypit on the back of a decent win against Portobello the previous week.

As things turned out, though, there was nothing to worry about and PL put on a show of entertaining rugby that allowed them to top the 100-point mark for the third time this season, while scoring 15 tries in the process.

Paul Voy was top try scorer on the day with a hat-trick and Finlay Hughes got two, while Jonathan Brash, Darren Eales, Paul Glynn, Graeme Patterson, Euan Higgins, Blair Robertson, Dave Lockie, Dale Gordon, Chris Dixon and Jason Riley all chipped in with one each.

Patterson was on target with 13 conversions and his 31 points on the day now gives him a total of more than 300 for the season – a fantastic personal achievement and almost certainly an all-time club record.

Riley also became a record breaker because his try took him to a magnificent 24 for the season – he will be looking to add to that total in the RBS National Shield final at Broadwood next Saturday (April 19), when PL look to add that trophy to the league and Regional Shield gongs.

So the league season ended with PL as champions, having won all 18 games and taking 16 try-scoring bonus points in the process. They scored 929 points, which was 271 more than their nearest rivals and set them up nicely for what will be a much tougher campaign in the higher division next season.

Preston Lodge: P. Glynn, F. Hughes, J. Brash, B. Robertson, D. Lockie; G. Patterson, D. Gordon; P. Dixon, P. Johnstone, S. McLean, B. Stoddart, B. Cowan, P. Voy, C. Dixon, J. Riley.