Dover Rugby Club are already planning for next season after finishing their gloomy London 1 South campaign with another defeat.

Sharks, already relegated, did at least claim a bonus point at CS Rugby 1863 on Saturday but were beaten 82-26 and ended the season with just 12 points from 26 league games.

Player-coach Martyn Beaumont, who scored one of Dover’s four tries at Rugby, admitted dropping down a level was necessary for the club to rebuild.

He said: “This season was the culmination of three or four years where the club has bounced around towards the bottom of London 1 and we now can’t sustain it.

“Going down is going to help us rebuild. We know London 2 is still a tough league but we’re confident we’ve got the players to do it.

“A few of us moved on about five years ago. I went to Canterbury and others went to Australia. Replacing them has been difficult and a lot of the older heads have got a lot older and disappeared.

“The average age of the team, if you take me and a couple of the others out, is about 20.
“We had three step up this year who have done really well, learnt a lot and will definitely be fine in the league next year."