As Sutton progressed steadily into the 2000's with consistent performances through the seasons, first under the 2 year captaincy of No.8 Ben Crook (2000/02), followed by a further 2 years from Michael (Nobby) Styles (2002/04), they were unaware that clouds were forming on the horizon and the 2002/03 season dealt an unexpected blow to their morale for after the team had finished in an acceptable mid-table position in the Midlands 2 West league and then ended a satisfactory season by winning the Warwickshire Cup for the second time, 7 years after their first success in 1996, the end of season smiles disappeared when the RFU announced that they were restructuring the Midland leagues and Sutton were relegated from 7th place out of a league of 12 teams, as 6 teams went down from Midlands 2 West and only 2 teams went down from the equivalent Midlands 2 East league; presumably it made sense to someone at the RFU but hard to see any logic...ironically Sutton had lost to Bedworth in the league fixture the week before the Cup Final to put them down to 7th then they beat the same Bedworth side in the Cup Final but if they had won the league match and lost the Cup Final they would have stayed up. but that's sport and Sutton had their name on the Warwickshire Cup for a second time!

Luckily the good news for the club as well as winning the Warwickshire Cup in 2003 was the re-invention of the Women's section. Sophie Dent and Jo Sullivan were encouraged to restart the women's side which they agreed to and were later joined by Ruth Walton and Marcia Daniels. This group has remained extremely close over the years and still return regularly to participate in club functions. Again the numbers of players led to a halt to the team until they revived again in 2014.

It was also around this time that Nic Sporcic stepped down after over 10 successful years at the helm which included 2 Warwickshire Cups and a promotion. With Sutton fielding 4 regular senior men's sides each weekend and a full Colts side as well as an occasional Vets XV, together with a flourishing Sunday morning mini & junior section; it was a prime opportunity for newly installed club coaches Matt Nevitt and Sandy O'Hare, who were part of the team of home grown coaches brought in with Stuart Ward, former Sutton and Coventry scrum half as Head Coach and Matt Nevitt former Old Salt's and Sutton centre as 1st XV coach.

After the shock relegation, Sutton bounced along in Midlands 2 West North for a few season's in mid-table under the continuing captaincy of Nobby Styles followed by Jon Baker, who was the players choice to takeover mid season when Nobby was injured and had to stop playing for a while in 2004. Jon served as captain for what remained of 2003/04 and the whole of 2004/05, noting ruefully that it is easier to stay in a higher league than it is to escape a lower league, when you cannot afford one off weekend, to be sure you have to win every week - a real challenge at any level.
Happily, Jon Baker brought Sutton successfully through this difficult period and things picked up again in the 2006/07 season under the captaincy of 2nd row Paul Finnemore ( 2005/07) when Sutton won promotion back to Midlands 1 West as they then hit a fine run of form riding high in the table through 2006/07 into 2007/08, which saw Sutton top of the table in March
2008 but the team also had a successful run in the EDF, Senior Vase reaching the semi-finals, just one win away from a final at Twickenham on the 10th May 2008!
EDF, Senior Vase successful cup run to the Semi-Final, on 15th March 2008.

The successful cup run came as the current club chairman Geoff Fletcher started his first successful tenure as Club Chairman from 2007 to 2012, making him the youngest rugby club chairman in the Country …and Sutton started their impressive run to the Semi-final under the captaincy of Michael (Nobby) Styles, now fully recovered and taking on the role for a second time over 2 seasons, covering 2007 to 2009.