Rams on a Rampage to knock off Hawks
RAMS’ blistering start to their campaign continued with a third straight win in the Thames Valley derby against Henley Hawks.
The league leaders scored seven tries for a third consecutive game as they maintained their unbeaten start.
After all the excitement of another bonus-point victory, Rams head coach Seb Reynolds said: “The efforts of the front five were outstanding. We slowly came into the game as we fought to get physical dominance.”
Meanwhile, Hawks director of rugby, Nigel Dudding, admitted the way Rams were able to dominate in the set-piece proved to be the difference.
He said: “Rams are a class side, but we coped well in the opening half an hour. Their superiority in the scrum in the opening exchanges set the tone of the game. Then they ground us down.”
Rams began in unfamiliar fashion as they found themselves in a physical battle. Quickly both sides found themselves gearing up for the first scrummage of the game as Henley’s No.9 Leo Webb fed the ball into the scrum, but Rams managed to win the shove and set the trend for the rest of the game.
Ten minutes into the game, the Rams skipper Robbie Stapley made a scintillating carry as he brushed off multiple defenders but it was the Hawks who hit the front with a Joe Butler penalty.
Rams weren’t fazed by Hawks’ early pressure and through some effective clearance kicks by the halfback pairing, the men in blue ground their way down into Hawks 22.
Alex Seers then threw the dummy to go through and score.
Hawks responded from the restart as Butler threw a miss-pass to winger Sam Portland who sprinted down the left touchline to be stopped five metres out.
This pressure caused the home side difficulties and Ben Henderson was sent to the bin. To capitalise on this opportunity, Hawks kicked to touch and organised a routine catch and drive to earn themselves five points as Tom Emery dotted down from the back of the maul.
As the half closed Rams extended their lead with a textbook maul, where Tom Vooght dotted down to make the score 17-8 at the interval.
The second half began similarly to the first as Andrew Denham gathered a high box kick to allow Rams to attack. Continued pressure led to led to a yellow card for Simon Perry and Colin Thompson scored to claim the bonus point. Hawks came back as captain Sam Lunnon broke through tackles to score in the corner.
Hawks didn’t trouble the scorers again and the final quarter belonged to the Reading men with Stapley, James Baker and Joe Duffelen crossing.
Reynolds added: “I’m very pleased with the maturity displayed by the squad.”