FAST MAN Josh Watkins has vowed that Luctonians will return stronger than before under the leadership of his brother.

Watkins who had two previous spells at the club from Worcester Warriors returned in November in a bid to help head coach Ryan Watkins keep his side in the league with a host of tries.

The 24-year-old started at full-back on Saturday after also playing on the wing earlier in his career having made the switch from playing football in his younger years.

"It was obviously gutting and I'm lost for words after the boys put in a massive shift and it would have been nice to finish off the run we had but it wasn't to be," said Josh Watkins.

"We are going to bounce back a lot stronger and we know what to do now as a group to actually get results. We just changed a few things towards the end of the season which seemed to work our way. We were possibly a bit naive mid-season and not turning up to games well enough but hopefully we can bounce straight back up now and go from there.

"We set ourselves a massive challenge and had no choice but to pick up results and it's not the best position to be in. We would have rather been in mid-table and not faced this position but that's what it was and we nearly did it but it wasn't to be today.

"We have shown throughout the year with Stourbridge, Tynedale and Hinkley that we can run these teams pretty close and it's just getting in the right mindset. We know we can compete with the best teams in the league but it's those mid-table games where we seem to have slipped up where we should have taken points and it's not gone our way.

"It's a shame we left it a little bit too late.

"I joined half-way through the season and finished on a good try tally, obviously I would like to score more with a full season ahead but we will see how it goes. More importantly I would have rather got the team stayed up rather than my own doing but that's the way it is and it's team first as always.

"It's the first time I have been relegated so it's not the best feeling in the world right now and all we can do is look ahead to next season."