‘WE GAVE AWAY A 21-0 LEAD, ALWAYS A BIT TRICKY’
DIRECTOR of Rugby Seb Reynolds saw positives in defeat, but rued a slow start as Rams went down 38-17 to an impressive Cinderford side.
The visitors fell 21-0 inside the first quarter as Reece Boughton converted two Nathan Taylor tries direct from the maul, while a third from prop Tim Brockett came following a series of pick-and-goes near the line.
Ollie Cole converted for a score added to by Drew Humberstone as the away side rallied, but they were dealt a sucker-punch when a third Taylor try, again converted by Boughton, with the last play of the first period.
Ollie Taylor gave Rams hope, but Taylor’s fourth, Boughton slotting the kick, made it 35-12.
Again the visitors hit back, this time through hooker Ben Henderson, but Boughton’s penalty proved the last points of the day despite Rams having a number of opportunities to snatch a bonus-point.
Reynolds said: “In these kind of games you want a bit of a feeling out period where even against the wind you can be 0-0 after or even 5-0 to them, but unfortunately we gave them a 21-0 lead which was always going to be a bit tricky.
“You’ve got to give credit to Cinderford – they’re a very good side and they managed to get their platform going.
“They had strength at the scrum and maul and had good field position with the wind behind their backs (in the first half).
“But just before half-time I thought we were coming back nicely, and it was unfortunate we conceded again.
“And I thought if we could have nicked another score at the start of the second half, we could have got back into it, but they deserved it.”
He continued: “Obviously, you want to win, but I don’t think it was a poor performance and I thought our guys stuck at it really well.
“I credit our lads for the way they went to the end, we were knocking on the door, and we almost got two or three more scores which would have brought us back into it.
“The way Henry Bird chased down their line break at the end – the game is done, it’s 38-17 and yet he still went the length of the pitch to stop the try and that’s so important in teams.
“If you don’t have that, you’re done.” Despite defeat, which leaves Rams sixth in the table with five games remaining, Reynolds was not too downbeat.
“The positives were we got into good attacking positions and looked to off-load – some of those didn’t go to hand and went to ground instead, but that’s the risk you take when you play a continuity game,” he said.
“I don’t mind that, we’ll just look at it and try and improve the decisionmaking.
“Paul Englezos did really well – he had an interesting experience against Cinderford in pre-season when up against George Porter, but he got better and has definitely improved through the season. He’ll be better again for the experience.
“Alex Sparkes when he came on did a really good job. He’s been injured for a long time but had a really good tempo.”
Reynolds thanked the Cinderford supporters applauded Bird after he was down for a couple of minutes, concluding: “This is a great club – they play rugby the way it should be played which is hard, tough, hit you hard, try and dominate you at the scrum and maul.“But if you get an injury and get back on your feet, they’ll clap you warmly and it’s why there’s a great respect for this team.
“I really like coming here, they’re good people and it’s a big challenge, and we’ll get back to the drawing board for when we do next time.”