Wallingford captain Olli Henderson hailed his players' skill and spirit after they captured the BB&O Premier Division title.

Saturday's 48-7 victory at Gosford All Blacks meant no other team can catch Wallingford, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary, despite the champions having three matches left to play.

Henderson had to watch from the touchline after being concussed in their previous match, but didn't let that dampen his excitement.

"It's the best team I've been involved in," he said. "We have had the same core players since I have been captain and have now built around them.

"In the past we have always struggled in the big games. That came to a head when we lost to Littlemore in the Shield final.

"But now we have proved we can play good rugby in the top-of-the-table games against Bicester and Slough."

Henderson said going up had always been the target for his team, who have won 17 matches out of 17, and stressed the importance of hard work.

But he admitted to being surprised at the manner of their promotion to Southern Counties North.

"We knew we could get promotion," he said. "We've had a couple of near misses in recent seasons and now it's happened.

"At the beginning we said this is the season where we are going to go for it.

"We thought if we win all our home games and do ok away from home we would have a chance, but to win every match has been far more than we could have expected.

"I suppose we were lucky that we had a lot of the harder games at home in the first part of the season.

"We have a great surface and always play well on it."

He added: "Everyone in the first team has got pressure put on them from everyone in the seconds, which is good.

"If I start on the bench or in the seconds when I come back from my sister's wedding in New Zealand, then so be it."

This is fly half Henderson's fourth season as captain and he feels things have really clicked this time.

Henderson said: "We had a slip-up in the cup against Trowbridge and I think we learnt a lot from that.

"It was important that after Christmas we started getting a settled team with the same people at nine, ten, 12 and 13.

"That consistency showed when we were able to put away our closest rivals Slough.

"It will be nice now to see if we can go the whole season without losing."

Henderson added: "It was just a shame that I couldn't play, but I'm sure I will forget about that.

"It has been great to play with these guys for the rest of the season."

Wallingford's attacking style has seen them cut many teams apart.

Henderson said: "We have been able to get the ball into space and get our fast guys in the back three running.

"We've never been a team to kick to the corners and play boring rugby and maybe that has been our downfall in previous seasons.

"Our game has been about pace, which is how rugby is going.

"The teams that trundle up the middle of the pitch aren't succeeding any more."