Rams triumph in battle of the Thames

Henley Hawks 12 Rams 19

JAK ROSSITER scored two late tries as Rams won a thrilling clash at rivals and nearest challengers Henley.

The table-toppers made the short trip to Dry Leas looking to pull further clear at a ground where they have struggled in the past.

An enthralling, albeit lowscoring, first-half battle saw the hosts go in 5-0 up but a penalty try got Rams’ noses in front after the restart.

The Hawks responded to move 12-7 ahead, only for Rossiter to equalise with five minutes to play and then score again in the final play of the game to put Rams 13 points clear with a 13th straight win.

“I prefer comfortable wins but that was an example of true talent in the local area,” said Rams head coach Seb Reynolds.

“Henley are a young team and credit must go to Luke Allen and his group of lads, they have clearly improved throughout the season and it showed as they were much better than us for large parts of that game.

“All in all, we showed guts, heart and determination to come back and win, which was really pleasing to see.”

Dubbed “The Battle of the Thames”, defences were on top during the early stages for both sides.

The deadlock was broken on the stroke of half-time when David Hyde found space on the wing to feed in Dan Barnes to score in the corner.

Rams quickly equalised after the restart when their pack powerfully drove over the line and were awarded a penalty try

Roddy Giles looked to reply for Henley, only to see his penalty come agonisingly back off the post.

Rams were dealt a blow when Niall Kidd was given a yellow card to hand the numerical advantage to the hosts and they made it count, retaking the lead when Dave Manning scored. As the home fans sensed they could be about to close the gap on Rams and inflict just a second defeat of the season on Reynolds’ men, Rossiter popped up to level the contest. A misplaced pass was latched onto by centre Ellis Jones, who in turn kicked towards the line for Rossiter to chase onto and score. And there was still time for one more late twist. The Rams forwards pushed hard for the Henley line and having been held up in the centre, the ball was spun out wide with quick passes from Greg Illingworth, Alex Seers and Jones allowing Rossiter to burst through and collect to score the winning try.

Rams host Old Albanian on Saturday (2pm), the only side to defeat them this campaign.

RAMS: Duffelen, Rossiter, Jones, Humberstone, Corrigan, Seers, Illingworth, Kidd, Henderson, Baker, Taylor, Guttridge, Wolf, Vooght, Crame.

Reps: Drew, McDonnell-Roberts, Stapley, Richardson, Cole. Attendance: 1,160