Things are finally starting to look up for Whitehall, on and off the pitch, after one of the most traumatic seasons in the club's 78-year history.

Former treasurer Louise Evans was jailed in June for eight months after stealing more than £56,000 from the shell-shocked Gloucester Premier outfit which came close to folding.

But chairman Iain Pring said the court case has helped unite the club which is once again looking to the future with plenty of hope.

He said: "What happened has definitely brought us closer together. There's a great social side to this club and that's what has kept us afloat."

The stolen cash, added Pring, represented Whitehall's savings and a hefty deposit on £300,000 plans to extend their Speedwell clubhouse by 50 per cent and provide improved changing rooms as well as separate facilities for women and referees.

That project is now on hold but Whitehall are ploughing ahead with a commitment to install floodlights by the end of October. A total of £10,000 has been repaid and officials are hopeful that the remaining £46,000 will also eventually be returned.

Pring said: "We had a players' meeting in the summer and I said we could basically carry on playing pub rugby, which is fine, or we could show some ambition and aim to be in South West I within five years. To be where we want, we need to have better facilities and that's something we are now working on.

"The players have bought into that aim and the response has been fantastic, our training numbers have been very good.

"We've also got a very strong junior section and I'm hopeful that in five years time some of the lads in our Under-13s will be knocking on the first-team door."

The new coaching team of Peter Polledri and Dave Pike are playing their part with the current senior squad. Polledri said: "The players are working very hard, we can't fault their commitment."

The pair have been together for the best part of 20 years, first at Clifton and then at St Mary's before joining Whitehall in the summer. "No one's really in charge," said forwards coach Polledri, "we just muddle along together."

And Pike, who looks after the backs, added with a smile: "We bounce a lot of stuff off each other, and because Pete's bigger than me I bounce further."

Pike must be the busiest coach in the Bristol area. He's at Whitehall on Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well as on the touchline with the first team on Saturdays, helps St Mary's Ladies on Mondays and also works with St Brendan's on a Wednesday.