Moseley 43 Launceston 12
Among the many hundreds of joyous souls who flocked to Billesley Common was a most welcome visitor. Sweet Redemption.
To be fair she'd taken her time in coming. Her first appointment was pencilled in for April 2004 but was cancelled at several months' notice.
Then there were mumblings of an appearance last year but the illustrious guest made no firm commitment and anyway one suspects the hosts were rather more intent on preparing for her arrival this time round.
But come she did and, let it be said, in glorious fashion too. What a welcome she received as Moseley claimed their National Two crown in the most appropriate of manners.
How distant the painful memories of relegation, bankruptcy and proposed moves to Oxford must seem now that their self-inflicted wounds have healed and that the piper has been paid.
It should have been clear from the outset that this was to be Moseley's day - even the sun came to witness their passing out.
Liberated by the absence of the customary icy wind and blanketing squall, Ian Smith's side pranced their way to the throne with a scintillating seven-try demolition of the only team to have given them a real beating this season.
With a bonus point secured by half-time and all five shortly afterwards, Moseley were utterly dominant. Some of their counter-attacking was as incisive as any produced in half a decade.
Wing Nathan Bressington was the chief beneficiary as he scored a hat-trick for the second time this campaign and brought his personal haul to 22 for the term, 20 of which have come in the league - a club record.
His partner on the opposite side, Carl Colvin, grabbed two as well. One an opportunistic effort, the other from a seemingly hopeless position with a gaggle of assailants closing in.
And fittingly the other two went to men at opposite ends of their careers but who, in some ways personify the new Moseley.
No 8 James Rodwell, undoubtedly the find of the season, typifies the homegrown nature of this current line-up, while Daren O'Leary, brought in last summer to add experience to a raw back-line, contributed a try as well as the usual calm on-field assurance.
Whatever Moseley tried not only worked, it worked well. They were intelligently prompted by Greg Macdonald at fly-half with his sound decision-making and attention to the gameplan and led superbly from the back by Andy Binns until a tight groin curtailed his fun.
For Binns this victory, this season and the National Two title, will be sweeter than most. He was one of the older heads when a young team was battered out of the first division in 2003. He was watched them grow into champions.
And he was at the heart of everything positive on Saturday, from the moment he took a fearfully late hit in the first minute, to the warm applause he received when hobbling off in the 59th.
It was his chip to the corner that led to Colvin's opening score. As Richard John dallied with his clearance Binns raced through and forced the scrum-half to spill the ball. Colvin merely had to fall on it. Macdonald added a brilliant touchline conversion as he did with Bressington's first touch-down on the half hour.
Launceston had caused a little consternation when Marc Dibble responded to Colvin's opener to slide in close to the flag. An upset? Surely not.
Indeed not. Binns straightened an attack and off-loaded for Bressington to stretch over. At 14-5 it was just a question of how many.
The duo repeated the trick six minutes later when Colvin fielded a poor clearance, set off infield and fed Binns. The former captain found half a gap once more and released Bressington as he steamed past.
The fourth, all important, try came late in the half as Neil Mason purloined a line-out only to be held short. Rodwell burst from the resulting scrum five metres out. Macdonald's conversion was to be his last.
All too often this season we have seen Moseley dominate the first half only to become marooned after the restart. This was not one of those occasions.
They were not as fluent in the second period but lost none of their cutting edge. Eight minutes had passed when Colvin shrugged off former Moseley wing Nigel Simpson and arced his way to the corner.
Six minutes after that came the try of the game. Rodwell took a quick free kick, found Mark Evans - enjoying one of his best displays of the year - and the blindside drew the last remaining defender to give Bressington clear sight of the line, albeit 50 metres away.
Stuart Alred raced in from similar distance four minutes before the end but it was the home side and O'Leary who had the last word as Evans set in motion another long-range assault.
The ex-Worcester centre appeared at Gareth Taylor's shoulder to complete a sweeping attack and Moseley's long-awaited return to level two - as champions.
