Feeling the disappointment but also with pride in what they had achieved in the ED Senior Vase National Competition in 2008, under the very effective coaching regime of Head Coach Matt Nevitt and his staff plus the positive influence of Club Captain Steve McCormack, who led the club through three very successful seasons (2009 to 2012), Sutton continued to perform at the highest level and in 2010 they won the Warwickshire Cup for the third time, again 7 years after the second time, winning the trophy again in 2011.
In 2001, they finished 2nd in Midlands 1 West, earning a play-off against Mansfield for promotion into the National League 3 Midlands.
Devastatingly, Sutton do not have a good record in playoff's having lost all previous ones dating back to the early leagues, when they lost their first to Leamington and so it was in 2011, they lost the game and were denied promotion. Mansfield winning promotion into the National League and Sutton who had to wait another year...

Knowing their aversion to playoff's, in the 2011-12 season, Sutton had a simple plan to make sure of outright promotion, by starting the season with a big win taking them to the top of the table then staying there by winning all their games over a full season they could avoid the dreaded play - off and this plan they executed perfectly by going on a spectacular winning run, which saw them complete 26 league victories in the season, scoring over 1300 points for with less than 300 against, with an average of 50 points per game and a difference of over 1,000 in their favour. As a result they won automatic promotion to join Mansfield in National 3 Midlands, as League Champions - a splendid achievement under club captain Steve McCormack plus outgoing chairman Geoff Fletcher.

But the winning run did not end there as although moving to a higher level of rugby at National 3 Level 5 in 2012/13, under a new captain Brook Davies (2012/13), this remarkable team continued winning for a further 9 games into the new season before they were finally beaten after 35 consecutive victories by Leicester South in a league fixture at Sutton and even then Sutton only lost by 3 points gaining a losing bonus point and at the end of the season they finished in second place and as runners up they found themselves in the dreaded playoff's again for promotion to National 2 Level 4 after only their first season at level 5.
With the real prospect of entering the semi-professional national leagues, the received wisdom asked if the Sutton players and club were ready for this 'large' step up in playing levels and expectations of an amateur club but supported by the new Club
Chairman Jim Haywood & his Committee, it was agreed that if the team could win the playoff they were ready and the club would cope accordingly, if Sutton lost the play-off the players and club were not yet ready for the step up in standards and so it proved.

The embryo of the current very successful Ladies team was first formed around 2014 thanks to the efforts of Hannah Haywood, who had the vision and started things off followed by Sammi Allwood and Liz Fletcher plus Molly Worthington who contributed first as a player then after injury retired to the very effective role of social media manipulator. The efforts of the
aforementioned, moved things forward to the point that the project was viable. Thanks to the uncompromising efforts of Charlie Bryne and Emma Cluett as leading players and their partners Nathan Burchell and George Ord respectively, providing valuable coaching skills, aided by Liz Fletcher a player and member of the RFU admin staff plus Tom Foulsham, a willing Sutton rugby man and team manager Gerard Shanahan, they made the break through and in 2017/18 they felt ready to engage in the RFU Ladies League...and quickly became Suttons most successful team in this era with successive unbeaten league seasons gaining them promotion into the National Leagues when they return next season 2021/22, after the Covid break.

As a mark of their rapid success, the Ladies section are now developing a youth section as they are tired of seeing young talent have to go to local clubs to progress their careers. The 1st XV with many promising youngsters in their midst and although the 1st XV faced a stern test when they competed in the National League next season under the captaincy of Katie Gregory, past evidence has shown that they used this challenge to make a positive mark in the new league!

Having missed out once again in the dreaded playoff lottery, in the 2013/14 season Sutton continued to impress on the National 3 stage and under a new captain Dave Edwards (2013/14) the team had another excellent season finishing in the runners up place for the second consecutive season, this time behind a high-flying Ampthill outfit, who had had an injection of cash and improved their player base accordingly. The promotion playoff this time pitted Sutton against a Stockport RFC side, who were looking to make a quick return to National 2 after being relegated the previous season and although the Manchester club were very good hosts, the game went the way of previous playoff dramas, with Sutton just failing to make the grade against experienced and rugby wise opponents.
Sutton returned home as National 3 players and whilst they continued to compete at the National level through the 2014/15 season. The very successful, all beating side started to splinter as jobs and families took players away and older more established Sutton players were starting to drift away from the game to be replaced by young talented players, who had come up through the Sutton junior ranks. Whilst they were gifted players, their bodies and their playing and judgement skills were still developing. Around this time Matt Nevitt, who was Head Coach during the purple patch had become Director of Rugby and understandably his newly appointed replacement player/coach Alex White, who had played a key role at centre and occasionally at fly half in the all conquering team, found that he had a much changed side that was hard to balance with youth, age and experience.
It was during this period of change that Sutton had a succession of club captains, who contributed well whilst in post but moved on in turn for different reasons. 2014-15 saw Fraser Tait take the captains armband but his job took him to London, 2015-16 prop Chris Hanley took on the role but having served Sutton for many seasons man and boy Chris decided to move on and in 2016-17 Jack Woodcock took up the challenge and having led the side superbly from the No.8 position, at the end of the season the enterprising young man decided he and his girlfriend were off to see the world. Happily he is now back in Sutton so fingers crossed for a return to rugby in a green shirt.
After this steady flow of good but passing captains along came club stalwart Sean Harrison, who provided the example and inspiration needed to steady the ship, which he did over 2 seasons, 2017-2018 and 2018-19 before handing over to Dean Ginn in 2019. Dean has recently held the team together'through some difficult and challenging times when faced with adversity the team has always found the power, skill and commitment to overcome previous lapses and save the day with some outstanding performances, the mark of a good captain.
With the Sutton team going through a rebuilding exercise and struggling for consistency in the high powered National 3 environment it was not surprising in 2015/16 when Sutton slipped out of the National leagues back into Midlands 1 West and the ground opened up for a new coaching team to take over the reins. Geoff Fletcher returned to the role of Club Chairman and a new committee in place, the time was perfect for the new coaching set up led by Head Coach Joe Gavin, with Sandy O'Hare as backs coach and Gregg Henderson as forwards coach, to take the players and the club forward into a bright new future.

The immediate future beckons for the Sutton Club with new plans revealed by the RFU;
The recent disrupted seasons in Midlands 1 West have seen fluctuating performances by Sutton's 1st XV players ranging from outstandingly good to disappointing but consistency is growing and in each of the past three seasons Sutton have produced enough good results in the season, for example winning 6 of the last 7 games in 2019/20 to finish in 10th place in a league of 14 teams, above the relegation zone with 3 teams destined for the drop each season. Sutton could not continue to resist 'the drop' however and finally in 2023/4 they succumbed to relegation. A new Director of Rugby, Sean Harrison and a committed group of coaches led by Nathan Burchall and Gem Porteous are spearheading a campaign labelled, 'Rise of the Rose' to attempt to return the club to the heady days of successful National League rugby.

Throughout the decades there have been many excellent Club Presidents but one of the most recent incumbents who presided over the most impressive period of play by any Sutton side was Paul (Bodger) Rogers, who held the post for almost 15 years from 2004 to 2019 attending almost every home and away game played by the 1st team, complete with blazer and club tie he represented Sutton in the most gregarious and light-hearted manner, creating the
best of impressions of the Sutton club amongst our opponents off the field whilst the team impressed on the pitch. Having been a founder member of the old Old Yardlians club many years before, Paul moved to Sutton and was a mainstay of the club as a player for many seasons continuing well into his later years and he even continued playing after he became president so he became one of the few if not the only, playing President in the league of which Sutton were very proud.
Alongside his presidential duties such as presenting the post match player awards after the home games, Paul also ran a very successful Friday evening Quiz in the clubhouse bar on the last Friday each month open to many local quiz teams, until forced to close due to the Covid virus restrictions. Hopefully the quizzes will resume at some point, once he knows we are clear of the virus.
After his many years of fine service, in 2019 Bodger handed over the Presidency of the club to another long serving club stalwart, Derek Green (Del), again an ex player and former team captain, who has served the club well over many years as a very effective chairman of the bar committee and house/function management, so much so that Del has been at the heart of all the good things to happen at the club playing many roles and now he has deservedly taken his place at the head of the admin structure, entering his third season as the Club's Appointed Honorary President - may he enjoy his time in office.