Stourbridge Saxons 26
Worthing Raiders 28
Some clubs have a flair for drama, others a self-destructive predilection for making life uncommonly difficult for themselves and sometimes unbearable for those who care about them.
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And then there's Stourbridge, a sporting organisation that should come with a health warning. 'Watching Stourbridge rugby club can cause anxiety, irritation and inflammation. Take in small doses, seek specialist psychiatric advice if symptoms persist'.
So for them merely missing out on promotion was never going to be enough. They like to prolong the agony for as long as possible.
They like to fill their followers with hope, that this season bordered on certainty, before shattering those dreams with a hair-pulling, tear-inducing let down.
To them a Shakespearean tragedy isn't nearly tragic enough, not by half. Not enough trauma, not enough despair, in the context of this continence-inducing disaster Romeo and Juliet was a jolly little Veronan romp.
Nineteen points clear at the top of the league in January, it should never have come down to a promotion play-off.
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Five points clear, with the ball safely tucked away in their forwards inside the Worthing half, it should never have come down to a last-second 5m scrum. But this is Stourbridge and it did.
Your heart has to go out to every one of their crest-fallen players, coaches and supporters because Stour did more than enough to win this game. More than enough to win the league, in fact.
That is not to dismiss the splendid achievements of Hull Ionians who pipped them to the National Two North title. The 18 straight victories with which they finished the season deserved recognition.
And no-one can really argue Worthing were undeserving. They played on Stour's nerves and took their chances superbly and in centre Kiba Richards and scrum half Joe Govett they had two of the better players on the day. They've had their own crises this injury-hit season and they warrant this reward.
But poor, poor Stourbridge. The heart bleeds. In the cold light of day, if they can bear to watch the recording they will see they made far too many mistakes.
Their kicking game was never better than adequate - at times it was woeful. Their defence turned from stone to jelly and back again, their ball retention was not as precise as it should have been.
Yet they were winning. Tries in either half from the clinical Nathan Bressington and the barnstorming Will Hurrell and 16 points from Jamie Hearn's excellent boot had them leading 26-21 with only one play to go.
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For their part Worthing had contributed three converted tries from Jack Maslen, Govett and Scott Barlow - and they never, ever gave up hope.
And when they were awarded a 5m scrum, when the next stoppage would be the last and Stour would be promoted, they mustered one final piece of accuracy.
Richards picked his way to within 1m of the line and quick ball had loosehead Pete Cleveland barreling over by the sticks for 26-26.
Govett was never going to miss the decisive conversion from straight in front and Stour had grabbed disaster from the jaws of victory. And to think they've got to go through it again in September.
STOURBRIDGE: Jarvis; Bressington, Hurrell, Barkley (Dipple 52), Hearn (Baker 79); Tu'ipulotu, White; Sturdy (Brown 59), Pearl (Page 69), George, Stott, Hurrell (Hughes 48), Uzoigwe, Rodley, Mukurati
WORTHING: Leeming; Maslen, Richards O (Peters 73), Richards K, Jordan Burns; Hopkinson (Dudley 34), Govett; Cleveland, Ponting (Heaver 63), Joseph Burns, Stutchbury (Arthur 63), Barlow, Redmayne (Smith J 77), Hewick, Smith R
Referee: Nick Cockburn (RFU)