HALSTEAD Templars Rugby Club celebrated one of their most successful seasons ever with their annual presentation night.

The evening, which was hosted by the Halstead Royal British Legion, celebrated the hard work put in by everyone at the club and recognised the achievements of individuals who went over and above the call of duty.

The first award, Clubman of the Year, went to Steve Arundell, who spearheaded the move to change post-match venue from the Bird in Hand to the Halstead Royal British Legion, which has been an overwhelming success.

Not only have the team adopted the HRBL as their home on a Saturday afternoon but mid-week meetings and Friday evening screenings of the Premiership rugby matches have all been well attended.

Coupled with this, he is also one of the coaching staff, organises the post-match food and is responsible for the advertising posters letting Halstead know what the Templars are up to.

Veteran Player of the Year award went to Phil Foster.

While there are a number of candidates for this award, none have had the season Foster has in terms of ill-health, only to keep bouncing back into his position at number eight or in the second row where his powerful scrummaging has been a key element to the team’s success in that area.

Next, newcomer Callum Smith collected Most Improved Player.

Having never played a game of rugby 12 months ago, he was put on the wing for his pace, however, his hunger for contact soon had him moved to flanker to keep him in the action.

His tackle-count for the season was second-to-none and he continued to improve with ball in hand.

Young Player of the Year went to Ryan Rainer.

Playing in either the second row or at prop, he has been tipped by skipper Adrian Illingworth as ‘the future of Halstead Templars’ and although he will undoubtedly be approached by many other teams, the hope is that he’ll stay with the club and continue his impressive start.

The penultimate award of the evening was the Coaches' Player, awarded to the player that the three coaching staff deemed to have been their most important or influential for the team’s success this season.

Winner Ivan Fellowes led the team on and off the field, during games or at training and, while not one of the big point scorers, without his work ethic and phenomenal line-out abilities the Templars would surely have seen tougher games go the wrong way.

The final award is seen as the most prestigious, with the Players' Player of the Year award voted for by the players themselves.

The winner, by some margin, was Ben Bird.

A surprised Bird said that he really didn’t expect the award, having only been playing for two seasons, however, he, along with Smith have made the fringes of scrums and rucks a no-go zone for opposition and again, his devastating running with ball in hand have often set up the team to score tries.

The next Templar event will be the AGM on May 5 at the Halstead Royal British Legion.