Garstang RUFC are one win from the title

A 27-20 win against a similarly unbeaten Birchfield side was enough for Garstang to gain promotion.

However, Ellesmere Port’s bonus point win saw them go second in the table, four points behind Garstang.

It means that Garstang now need to win in Ramsey on Saturday to be crowned as champions after gaining promotion with their seventh victory from as many outings.

That came last weekend in a match where they started well, taking the lead when Kieran Davies finished off Gavin Barton’s break for a converted try.

A marginal forward pass ruled out Sam Tomlinson’s effort before Birchfield worked their way back into the game with a try of their own.

Although Davies kicked a penalty to make it 10-5, the scores were level at half-time when Birchfield scored their second try of the afternoon.

An early second-half penalty gave Birchfield the lead for the first time at 13-10 but Garstang did not panic.

They were rewarded for this soon afterwards as Max Everest went over from close range to put them 15-13 ahead.

The game was now turning into a tense affair with no margin for error but it was Birchfield who went ahead again with a converted try making it 20-15 on the hour.

With 10 minutes to play, Joe Corless took the ball into contact and managed to offload to Edgar Nicholls, who charged through with the conversion putting Garstang 22-20 ahead.

A five-metre scrum then saw Ben Kelsall get the better of the last man to touch down, seal the win and spark wild celebrations.