Players and staff of a north Somerset village rugby club are jumping for joy after being crowned Club of the Year at a prestigious Crabbie’s National Rugby Awards at Twickenham.

Winscombe Rugby Club fought off competition from a host of other entries to claim the prize, which club members say is richly deserved for the immense amount of hard work which goes on behind the scenes.

The village has a population of less than 5,000, but the club is fast becoming one of the great success stories of rugby in the country.

And for Kevin Rosser, who is captain of the third team as well as the coach of the ladies’ side, it is a moment they will cherish for years to come and can be a catalyst for continued success.

“It was cracking and a just reward for everything we’ve done in the last year or so, with the seniors winning the league, and the girls team winning the under-15s and under-18s national championships,” he said.

“What has happened in the past, we’ve had players who are 16 or 17 who have gone off to the likes of Bath and Bristol and other bigger clubs.

“They’ve gone there to play, but then they might not make it and give up rugby. Whereas now we’ve got a pathway for senior boys and girls who will keep going for the whole time.

“What we’ve done recently is concentrated on the transition between the under-16s up to the senior side, we do a lot of work transitioning those people into the senior side.”

The Crabbie’s National Rugby Awards honours everything that is great about rugby from elite and international level to the grassroots levels of the game.

And for Olivia Ball, the girls’ under-18s captain of Winscombe, the development and success of women’s rugby in the country, coupled with the award, will only serve to strengthen the number of young women taking up the game.

“We started with four under-18s and now we’ve got at least 35, and now we’re national champions, it’s getting better and better,” she said.

“Hopefully it will encourage more and more girls to come and play rugby – that’s the whole point, everyone wants to come in and play.

“We’re getting more and more every year, so it will get bigger and bigger and hopefully expand our women’s team.”

Club captain Louis Hooper added: “Winscombe is a breeding ground for successful rugby players, we try to keep them in situ and with this village club, and we’re really going places.

“We felt we were getting there, we felt like we deserved it, we’re a hell of a club, a hell of a bunch of people and going around the stadium, it’s just been a brilliant day.

“If we didn’t win, it wouldn’t have mattered, but we did win, and what a day! It’s been amazing and we deserve it.”

Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer passionately support rugby at all levels. To help amateur clubs thrive, they have launched Crabbie’s Rugby Rewards. Find out how your club can earn kit for every bottle of Crabbie’s sold in your clubhouse at www.crabbiesrugby.co.uk