BROMSGROVE Rugby Club did the town proud on Sunday when they clinched the North Midlands Cup with a 34-10 victory over Midlands Two West rivals Newport.

After narrowly missing out on promotion, the Finstall Park outfit gained some consolation by lifting the cup at Stourbridge RFC -- a trophy they last won in 1982.

Skipper Andy Bridge beamed: "It is important for a club like Bromsgrove to be winning things and hopefully now we can carry on and get promotion next season."

Newport and Bromsgrove had endured tricky fixtures to reach the final and both teams were intent on finishing the season on a high.

Newport kicked off and put Bromsgrove under ten minutes of pressure, which they coped with well.

Bromsgrove steadily edged up the field and a mazy run from Dave Wilkinson saw him score under the posts, which was duly converted by James Udy.

Bromsgrove lifted their game another gear and some great handling skills from lock Tom Churchill gave James Robson a 30-yard sprint to the line, which he finished in style.

Newport fought back well, and after a few minutes of terrotorial advantage they came away with a sweetly struck drop goal courtesy of fly-half Trevor Powell.

This three points was soon cancelled out when Nick Copson scored a typical poacher's try from the base of a ruck.

Bromsgrove finished the first half in control and Wilkinson intercepted a ball 40 metres out and won the race for the line. This was once again converted by Udy.

The second half started with Bromsgrove in the ascendancy, Udy keeping the scoreboard ticking over with a well struck penalty.

This was followed by Wilkinson completing his hat trick after some great work from Copson and Steve Phillips.

This try was superbly converted from wide out by Dave Wellavyze on his first team debut.

Newport fought back well, although a late consolation try by left-wing Ben Hay and the subsequent conversion by scrum-half James Simpson was to no avail.

A special mention goes to Neil Brighton, who finished his career with a winner's medal -- a unique achievement considering he also has one from Bromsgrove's previous cup success in 1982.

It rounded off a superb end to the season for the first team, whose record over the season reads as follows: played 33, won 25, drawn 3, lost 5, points scored 954, points against 343.

The cup success puts Bromsgrove into a pre-qualification round for the prestigious national tournament, The Tetley Bitter Cup

A good run in that, which will be 'Grove's first match of next season on Saturday August 25, would look great next to the league championship.

Bridge added: "We have been in Midlands Two for a while and just missed out on promotion so we feel it is time for us to maintain our developoment and take that extra step."