HISTORY was made by Carrick Rugby Club on Saturday in what is becoming a dream 40th anniversary year for the Maybole club.

They set yet another milestone by becoming the first men's team to win the BT Shield three years running by defeating Hawick Harlequins 39-19 at home of rugby Murrayfield Stadium.

Head coach Gordon Brown was delighted with his team's showing and had particular praise for star man Lewis Clark, who celebrated a glorious try double.

He has played in all three finals, scoring seven tries in the process.

Brown said: "In the previous two finals we have gone in very much as underdogs. But this year we were the favourites but that brought with it a new pressure. At half-time we were trailing 12-7 so you could say we went into the break as underdogs and the players seemed to revel in that. We played really well in the second half and deserved our win, we had a lot of steel after the break. It really was a team effort but Lewis played really well and has now scored three tries in one final and two in each of the other ones. There was a party well into the night when we got back at Maybole Town Hall and we enjoyed that.

"Once again we had tremendous support through in Edinburgh with around 1,000 people travelling through in buses and cars."

Now groundbreaking Carrick Rugby Club are going all out to make yet more history in what is a landmark year.

They are hoping to win the BT West One title for the first time with just three games remaining.

First up are Greenock Wanderers at Fort Matilda this coming Saturday. Then on Sunday, May 13 they face Allan Glen's away, before concluding the campaign at home to Annan on May 19.

Brown said: "We have won promotions a few times in our history but never a league title and that's our aim this season. It would be great if we could achieve that on top of our Shield win.

"If we can win two of the last three games, that will be enough to take us up and hopefully we can do that."