Luctonians are told their National Two place is secure

Luctonians have never before played at National Two level

Luctonians have been told their place in National Two for next season is safe following a round of behind-the-scenes talks at the Rugby Football Union.

The club's spokesman Dave Thomas says that promotion had initially been in doubt but the issue has been resolved.

"The RFU expunged Ampthill's results which put us down to third and Luton up to second," Thomas said.

"Then Stockport's ears pricked up and they were saying 'Hang on, we have played off against the wrong team'."

Ampthill had initially won National Three (Midlands) by a distance but opted to contest a 10-point deduction for calling off a fixture without going through the proper channels.

At that appeal hearing they were found guilty of further misdemeanours and the RFU informed them they would not be promoted.

It was only when a decision was taken to expunge Ampthill's record that things became more complicated, as this led to Luctonians losing the five points they had earned from a 53-0 victory at Ampthill on the final day of the season.

There has been quite a bit of work done already although it is still very much a work in progress

Luctonians' Dave Thomas

This win had been enough to take them into the play-off showdown at Stockport which Luctonians won to seal their promotion to National Two.

But a number of clubs pointed out that the expunging of Ampthill's record would have left the Herefordshire club third in the league table, and Stockport claimed they had played the wrong club in the play-offs.

Dave Thomas says nobody had foreseen that the RFU's decision to expunge of Ampthill's record would cause such problems.

"That was never the RFU's intention as they were just trying to tidy up their housekeeping," he added.

"Obviously it didn't quite work as somebody just unilaterally expunged their results, but I believe that is resolved as of now and we are definitely up."

Now the uncertainty is behind them, the Kingsland-based club's officials can get on with the serious work of preparing for their first-ever tilt at National Two level.

"We have already had several meetings looking at squads, finance, sponsorship and all the other things you might imagine," Thomas continued.

"There has been quite a bit of work done already, although it is still very much a work in progress."