After finishing in mid-table last season the club added a few new players and the youngsters used their first-team experience to launch their own charge for the title.
And with 20 wins under their belt this season, they beat Newport HSOB to the summit by nine points.
“It was very exciting for the whole club,” explained Hapgood.
“It was very much a two-year process; last year for development and this year hitting some form.
“[A lot of] work was put in by the coaching staff, headed by Craig Everett.
“We had a few new players in key areas and some level of maturity in the side. It’s a young team and they matured that much more.
“In terms of winning the league we had a very difficult run in and played nine games in the last five weeks of the season.
“That was off the back of the WRU National Bowl, which is often a double-edged sword because the progress you make in the Bowl, we made the quarter-finals, puts your league program behind.
“However, having lost to Abercwmboi in the Bowl we were able to concentrate our efforts on playing nine games in five weeks and we won eight of them, and against good teams.
“We were able to clinch the league against Chepstow with one game spare.”
Hapgood believes the players were well led by captain Zen Szwagrzak but pointed to their try-scoring centre as one of the star players.
“Amosa Nove had an outstanding season scoring nearly 30 tries,” Hapgood continued.
“He scored eight in one game against Machen. Against RTB [Ebbw Vale] he scored three tries in the first seven minutes of the game.”
