On a glorious sunny afternoon, George Nattriss led his side out at Old Bath Road for possibly the final time in an inter-club game consisting of players from the three lower sides in the senior section.

The second row forward made his debut in 1968 and is completing his 48th season at Rams.

He has played against more than 160 different clubs in six different countries – including 40 against Reading RFC and 38 against Reading Abbey – and against teams from nine countries.

In the 1968/69 season, when he was still young enough to play for the Colts, he played for every senior and junior team in the club.

The club hero marked his 1000th appearance with a try on Saturday, helping his side to a 25-17 victory.

From the 927 games that Nattriss has scoring details for, he has won 442, drawn 47 and lost 438, and he has scored 98 tries with one conversion.

He has also played more than 200 games for other sides – including 37 as opposition to Redingensians.

Off the field, Nattriss was Bar Chairman at the tender age of 19 in 1969 and assisted with the running of the bar for most of the 1970s.

He was also the Veterans administrator from 1984-91 and has been fixture secretary since 1996.

Nattriss was awarded a club Honours Cap in 1978 and Life Membership in 1989. He has been chairman of the Thames Valley Invitation League since 2004, and was also honoured by the RFU as a Valued Volunteer in 2013.

At the players’ dinner following Saturday’s game, Nattriss was presented with an inscribed shield from the RFU president, Jonathan Dance, a framed action photo of himself, and a framed special ‘Captain Slogg’ cartoon - a regular item drawn by a Redingensians supporter which featured in Rugby World magazine – relating to the 1,000 games achievement.