Chinnor Rugby: Nick Easter backs Villagers to kick on in Championship

Chinnor Rugby Club's director of rugby Nick Easter says his club's first-ever game in the Championship "could not have gone any better."

They beat Cambridge 57-24 on Saturday for their debut in the second tier of English rugby.

"It couldnâ€TMt have gone better," Easter told BBC South Today.

"I think weâ€TMre now known to a lot of the sides after that result and that makes the challenge even better for us.

"I was really happy with how the guys got on, thereâ€TMs still plenty to work on and itâ€TMs all now about how we can grow together as a group."

The Villagers won promotion last season from National One to the Championship for the first time in their history.

Over the summer after their promotion it was announced that the upcoming season's Premiership Cup would not feature the Championship's two lowest-rated teams.

This excluded newly promoted Chinnor and last season's bottom finishers in the Championship Cambridge.

At the time, Easter labelled it "a pretty appalling decision" as the season before had seen all Championship and Premiership sides compete.

A spokesperson for the Rugby Football Union (RFU) told BBC Sport that the format for the Premiership Cup had been agreed by all parties.

As a result of missing out, the Villagers' season will have some large gaps in it where they would not have any games to play for consecutive weeks.

"Weâ€TMve already organised two friendlies against Cambridge for where we will miss out on the Premiership Cup." Easter added.

"We got about a quarter of the compensation we wanted to be honest. We had a forecast for incomings based off what we might get if we were in the competition, based off our successful home games last year and on the possibility of getting a big name at home.

"We made some very conservative judgements as far as where weâ€TMd be in terms of takings, now Iâ€TMll just focus on the rugby side. Weâ€TMre very fortunate we are able to stand on our own two feet."

Chinnor next face Ampthill away for the second league game of their Championship season.