HEAD COACH Gareth Llewellyn described Thornbury’s promotion to South West One West as a “relief.”

The former Wales lock has led the club to two second place finishes in Western Counties North since he took charge two years ago, but felt joy instead of heartache at the end of this season with the 54-7 play-off victory over Kingsbridge coming 12 months their defeat at the same stage by Wadebridge Camels.

“I’m really pleased for the boys, they’ve put a lot of hard work in,” said Llewellyn.

“People were disappointed not to pull it off last year so it’s a relief to get it done.

“It’s effectively the same group of players but we’ve had another year working with them, the pack have come on leaps and bounds and we’ve improved as a team.

“We play a fantastic brand of rugby and I think experience made the difference.”

Llewellyn’s aim when he took over at Thornbury was to take the club into the National Leagues and they will be playing just one division below that next season.

Old Redcliffians, who beat Thornbury to the Western Counties North title in the 2009/10 season, have just won promotion from South West One West and Llewellyn hopes his side can follow in their footsteps.

He said: “I had a text from (Old Redcliffians coach) Graeme Beveridge and he said congratulations and that there’s no reason why we can’t do it next year.

“If the boys play to their potential and give everything they have got to give I will accept whatever comes. There is no reason why we can’t be competitive.”

Llewellyn expects to remain in charge of Thornbury next season and has no plans to make mass changes to the squad as they prepare to make the step up.

He said: “I have always had an open and honest relationship with the committee and if something came along that would help me progress then I would think about it, but I’m happy at Thornbury and I’ve got a great relationship with the guys there.

“The side is a bunch of Thornbury lads, we’ve not pulled players in from all over the place to get promoted.

He added: “There are people from Thornbury who play for other clubs in higher leagues that have expressed an interest in coming back if we were to get promoted.

One player that Thornbury will be hoping to hang onto is winger Dan Hussey, who scored a club record 35 tries last season, but Llewellyn said it was a team effort.

He said: “Dan’s had a great season and he’s done well to finish with as many tries as he did and his brother Jack also had a tremendous season in the back row, but if I’m honest it hasn’t been down to any individuals.

“So many have played consistently well and bought into what they’re trying to promote.”