BASINGSTOKE winger Gavin Dampies believes that he and his teammates are capable of securing the London One South play-off spot by beating champions East Grinstead on Saturday.

It’s a tough ask for ’Stoke as the Sussex side have won all 25 of their league games up to this point and claimed a 38-23 victory when the sides met at Down Grange on the opening day of the season.

However, Dampies, pictured above, says his side have improved a lot since they last met East Grin-stead and claims that confidence is sky-high after Saturday’s impressive 51-7 win over Wimbledon.

“Confidence is high after that performance so all we have to do now is take that into the next game and put in another good display,” he said. “It is going to be a really big game but I think we have improved since we played them at the start of the season.

“I know quite a lot about East Grinstead. I have played sevens with a lot of them but if we get our patterns right and perform the way we can then I am confident that we can do it.

“I do not expect them to ease up on us because it is the last game but we have got players capable of beating them. It’s not going to be easy but it would be nice if we could become the only side to beat them.”

Despite terrible conditions at Down Grange, Basingstoke made light work of a strong Wimbledon side on Saturday, with Dampies one of seven ’Stoke players to claim a try.

“That try has been a while coming,” he said. “I had gone quite a few games without scoring so it was good to get on the scoresheet.

“I think the game against Wimbledon was our best performance of the season. We played the conditions well and made it look easy against a good team. Everyone played their part.”

That result means that Basingstoke will contest a promotion play-off if they can avoid defeat away at the champions on Saturday – and Dampies is keen to get a taste of rugby at the next level up.

“Winning promotion would mean a lot to the club, the squad and me personally,” he added. “We have got a good record and feel we deserve the chance, while I have never played in the national leagues before.

“This is the highest level I have played at, so it would be good to see what the standard is like up there.”

Dampies was born and raised in South Africa but moved to England as a teenager 13 years ago. He played for Reading Abbey as a junior before getting his first taste of men’s rugby with Tadley.

Having made his name at Red Lane, Dampies returned to Reading Abbey, where he first came across ’Stoke director of rugby James Croker, who was then coaching Oakmeadians.

“We used to come up against James’ teams quite a lot,” the 27-year-old explained. “He has been hassling me to play for him for a while and I finally gave in last year.

“It’s been really good and I am enjoying it a lot. It’s almost a professional set-up we have here, which is different to where I have been before – but I really like it.”

Dampies’ enjoyment has shown on the pitch, the winger playing a big role in ’Stoke’s success this season – but he admits that competition is so high that he is not sure of his place in the side for Saturday’s season finale.

“We have got three good wingers and with Matt Guilfoyle coming in as well, you can say we have four,” he said. “One of us will probably miss out next week if Karl Buttle is back, which means that the coaches have a real selection headache – but fingers crossed it’s not me they leave out.

“The level of competition is really high across the squad and that’s great for the team. Nobody is guaranteed their place, which means you have to work really hard just to stay in the squad.”