Seb satisified with Saturday success
RAMS Director of Rugby Seb Reynolds was left satisfied with a productive Saturday afternoon as both of his sides secured victory against National Two South rivals.
His Blues side overcame Henley Hawks 19-12 at Old Bath Road, while the Whites – marshalled by forwards and backs coaches Owen Root and Danny Batty – triumphed 33-7 at Dings Crusaders.
Reflecting on his side’s work, Reynolds said: “In pre-season you don’t want to get over-excited by winning, and you don’t want to get too down if you lose.
“The important thing is to focus on what we want to improve as we go into the season and hone in on those areas.
“The guys are pushing hard for places and are getting better each week which is important.”
In a contest played with 35-minute halves, there was little to choose between Rams and their neighbours in the opening half-hour.
It was the away side who broke the deadlock, though, the ball squirting out of the back of a Rams’ defensive scrum before George Amphlett ultimately dotted down for a converted score.
The hosts’ reply was immediate, however, as scrum-half Ollie Monye took a quick tap penalty midway inside the Henley half before off-loading to Vince Everitt for a try. Sam Nicholls’ conversion made it 7-7 at the break.
Rams came out firing at the start of the second period and moved into the lead when a delightful inside ball was collected by Carl Morgan to cross, Nicholls again adding the extras.
Both sides continued to battle away as the game went on, but it was a moment of quick-thinking by young hooker Max Hayman which proved the difference.
His short line-out throw five metres from the Henley line was collected by Joe Booth, who darted over to extend the lead to 12 points.
And while Henley had the final word courtesy of a George Wood try in the right-hand corner, it proved to be too little, too late.
The Whites, meanwhile, overcame plenty of travel disruption to secure victory in Bristol.
With the journey already lengthened by closures on the M4, their bus then broke down en route, resulting in kick-off being pushed back by halfan-hour.
However, Rams still made the early running and went into half-time with a 12-0 lead courtesy of tries out wide by wing Adam Porter and outstanding scrum-half Ollie Cole, perhaps the manof-the-match for the energy and intensity he injected into the contest.
Louis Ellis landed a fine conversion to the second score to make it 12-0, and despite some concerted pressure from the hosts towards the end of the opening period, Rams were able to repel their efforts and went into the break in control.
Dings struck back early in the third quarter, however, and got on the scoresheet when skipper Marcus Brooker went over before Ben Bolster added the extras from in front of the uprights.
That was as good as it got for the home side, though, with Rams’ excellent strength and conditioning coming into play in the closing stages.
The excellent Ollie Moffitt grabbed the visitors’ third try from the back of a trademark rolling maul, Jack Gapper’s conversion extending the advantage to 19-7.
It was then the backs’ turn to construct a flowing move which was finished off by Joe Bridger for his second try in as many weeks, Gapper was again on target from the tee, before Dings again tried to hit back.
A fabulous defensive effort eventually forced the hosts into forcing the game and Sam Boyland made a fine interception before racing in from 65 metres. Gapper’s conversion proved to be the last action of an encouraging afternoon.
Rams travel to Cinderford for their final pre-season game on Saturday (3pm).