Their RFU National Bowl triumph ranks as one of the finest achievements in the club's history and the team did it in style, brushing aside Marlow Under 17s 22-7 in the final at Worcester RFC's Sixways ground on Sunday.

But despite the landmark win, head coach Mark Badham insists it will have been a waste of time unless the club uses it as a platform for future success.

Melton's First XV suffered a torrid season, finishing bottom of the Midlands 2 East with just one win all campaign after losing key players to other clubs.

Melton RFC has paid a high price to the large number of well-established clubs on their doorstep such as Syston who also reached RFU National U17 finals day, but were beaten 29-13 in the Shield final by Bristol RFC, one of the top clubs in the country.

He said: "Development is the key thing here because we have a good team coming up in the year behind us, too. Melton is a big town and getting bigger and lends itself to a top rugby team.

"We have had a meeting with the officers of the club and we intend to keep all of our players and get the players back that we have lost. Otherwise all of this has been a waste of time."

A physical final saw Melton's forwards win their battle, but not without a few bruises, exemplified by Lewis Glover who needed 10 stitches in a mouth wound.

Hooker Marcus Badham, who returned from Leicester Tigers Academy because of lack of gametime, played a true captain's role with two tries. Winger Matt Richards and stand-off Jack White also crossed to seal a fine win.

Coach Badham paid tribute to his coaching team of Steve Richards, Paul Hardisty, Neil Durrant and Phil Curtis, Jeff White, Paul Badham and Willy Murdoch.

He believes the result more than made up for their disappointments in the County Cup and County Sevens last season: "Nine years of hard work has gone into this and after the downs of last season, losing the County Cup final and County Sevens final, at last we have got something to be happy about.

"Next season they will be the Colts side, but the most important thing is that the season after they are pushed through to first team squad to make Melton strong again."