Caldy

The National League 1 title arrived on home soil in May 2022, a 13–9 win over Sale FC at Paton Field in front of roughly 3,000 people, and it sent Caldy into the RFU Championship for the first time in the club's history.

Caldy was formed in 1924 in the Wirral village that gives the club its name, and the ground it has played on since carries its own condition: Sir Alfred Paton gifted the land to the National Trust in 1928 on the proviso that the rugby club would always have a pitch there. The nickname, the Ravers, is thought to come from dances held at the field in the 1960s.

Promotion in 2022 was built on a rise through the leagues rather than a single leap. Matt Cairns, a former Saracens and England hooker, took over as head coach in 2018 and was in charge for the climb through those final two tiers.

Chester RFC provide the fixture Caldy treats as its own, the Cheshire derby, and the Cheshire Cup itself has gone to Caldy six times, most recently in 2017. Paton Field holds 4,000, on Telegraph Road in Thurstaston, a short way from the village whose name the club carries into a division it had never reached before that Saturday in May.