NICK Todd believes Littlemore’s Oxfordshire Shield triumph was the perfect reward for several years of hard work.

The BB&O Premier side beat Wheatley 23-10 at Iffley Road last Saturday to win the competition for a third time.

It highlights what has been an impressive revival since 2015 when the side publicly marked their 40th anniversary as the rebirth of the club.

They had just been expunged after being unable to fulfil at least three league fixtures in the Premier, but they won 19 of their 20 games last season to win the Championship title.

Littlemore are now fighting for promotion to the seventh tier of English rugby and head coach Todd was thrilled to see his side win their latest piece of silverware.

He said: “It’s good.

“It kind of puts the cherry on some of the work we’ve been doing for the last few years.

“And after last year’s promotion, but not quite achieving the 20 wins in a season, it’s a nice exclamation point in the onward history of Littlemore.”

The Oxford Academy-based side now have five matches remaining in their bid to win promotion to Southern Counties North.

Littlemore sit second in the table, ten points ahead of third-placed Tadley, but it is the only promotion spot available with leaders Slough already having secured their place in the seventh tier.

Despite the advantage over their rivals, Todd will not let his side rest on their laurels.

He said: “We look forward to five more games in the league, including Wheatley.

“We’ve got Slough next, so it’s a tough run-in.

“We’ve got to target winning every one of them, but if we don’t we’ll just keep trying to stay in second place.”

OXFORDSHIRE suffered their second defeat in Division 2 of the Jason Leonard U20 County Championship.

They fell to a 32-7 defeat at home to Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire & Derbyshire.

The loss leaves Oxon bottom of Pool 2, with Leicestershire their next opponents on March 18.