Medway tasted defeat at home for the first time this season as Camberley were crowned London 1 South champions at Priestfields on Saturday.

With both sides already promoted, a large crowd gathered for what promised to be an entertaining affair and they were not disappointed.

Medway coach Taff Gwilliam said: "The last few weeks have been difficult with injuries and illness but we showed our strength in depth with a performance our club can be proud of.

"We are promoted and that is a brilliant achievement for our club. Camberley are worthy champions and we congratulate them."

Camberley kicked off and dominated the early stages, playing a direct physical game with their large pack of forwards. A series of pick and drives narrowed the Medway defence and some crisp passing saw the visitors winger go over in the corner for a converted try.

On 12 minutes Medway responded. Some great individual work from Alfie Orris saw him kick ahead and regather to score out wide. Dan Harvey converted to level the scores.

The rest of the half belonged to Camberley. Their forwards were dominating the breakdown and forced Medway to concede a penalty. The visitors kicked to the corner and scored a converted try with a catch and drive from the line-out.

On 34 minutes Camberley won another line-out on the halfway line and a well-worked strike play from their backs saw them score an excellent unconverted try in the corner. Medway went into half time trailing 19-7.

The lead was extended to 26-7 on 51 minutes when a cross-field kick appeared to be covered but the unpredictability of the bounce wrong-footed Medway and Camberley pounced.

Medway once again showed they have pride and character in abundance as they picked themselves up and took the game to their illustrious visitors.

A good series of phase play saw Billy Humphrey held up over the line and Medway replaced props Richard Petch and Maik Timmerman with Dan Huntley and Jack Nickalls.

On 61 minutes Medway reduced the arrears. From a solid scrum platform, Billy Humphrey and Alfie Orris combined to put Sam Garofalo over in the corner, and Dan Harvey.

The score was 26-19 on 68 minutes when Garofalo, Antony Clement and Lordi Waqa combined to put Orris over in the corner for an unconverted try.

From the re-start Camberley recovered the ball and Medway were penalised for not moving away at the ruck, the kick extending their lead to 10 points.

Medway kept hammering away at Camberley and were within five points on 74 minutes. An attempted catch and drive was initially thwarted by the visitors but good work from Mo Pangarker saw the ball re-cycled wide for wing John Sipawa to power over for an unconverted try and the try bonus point.

With only a single score between the two sides, Camberley won a penalty just outside the Medway 22m. They opted for the kick immediately and it was successful. Medway’s hopes of a famous comeback were thwarted.

Although they pressed the visitors' line again in the closing seconds it was not to be and Medway’s unbeaten home record was gone.