Bournemouth’s man-of-the-match from their 47-17 South West Premier home win over Bracknell - Alex Bennett - said playing poorly but winning is the mark of champions.
Legendary Manchester United football manager Sir Alex Ferguson often said the same thing during his Old Trafford reign which yielded 13 Premier League titles in 26 years.
The Lions’ flanker said the most important thing at the end of the day was securing their 15th win in their opening 16 games to extend their lead at the summit to 12 points.
He said: “That was a strange one for us today that one because we did not really feel like we really played to our best but we have come away today with the five points at home.
“It is definitely a sign of the team improving - Will Croker just said to us there in the huddle at the end of the game on the pitch that this match will probably not live long in the history books but at the end of the day we got the result and we got the five points.”
When Bournemouth travelled to tenth team Bracknell at the end of September, they could only secure a scrappy 13-3 win in Berkshire having scored 137 points in their opening three games prior to that meeting.
The South West Premier leaders have broken the half-century mark a total of five times so far this season - including last week’s resounding 62-12 home win over ninth side Weston-super-Mare.
Following up on that comprehensive nine-score success - and showcasing perfectly the Lions’ commitment to their supporters - Bennett said it was disappointing the players could not repeat that feat.
He added: “It is always disappointing to not quite round it off with a half-century win at home, because the crowd always get behind us and they say they want more than we are giving them points wise but it was a good result for us at the end of the day.”