DEFIANT Director of Rugby Seb Reynolds promised Rams will keep fighting for the National One title despite their 19-0 defeat at Birmingham Moseley.
A third consecutive loss saw Rams drop to third in the table with seven games remaining, tries from Ryan Roach, Will Safe and Aquile Smith doing the job for the Midlanders as the visitors failed to score for the first time in 404 matches and almost 15 years – a 16-0 reverse at Bournemouth on February 13, 2009 the last time they’d failed to register.
Reynolds admitted: “Moseley were very clinical when they got into the 22 – I’ll need to watch the game back, but my feeling is we probably entered their’s much more than they did ours and their maul and pick-and-go game produced two scores, along with a fantastic try from Aquile Smith.
“A positive for us is we had lots of pressure; the disappointment is we just weren’t able to capitalise on it.”
It was a heroic defensive effort which was crucial to Moseley’s success, Rams enjoying the majority of possession and territory as well as having nine attacking five-metre line-outs which their opponents were able to snuff out, benefitting from two scores of their own from a similar situation.
The DoR continued: “We never got the maul going – they disrupted it in the air, on the ground, and even through the middle on a couple of occasions. We couldn’t get comfortable and set, and it was a big factor in them winning the game.
“It was a good physical battle and credit to the grounds staff for getting the game on in muddy conditions – I’m still proud of our lads. There’s no lack of effort and it’s just a few things which didn’t go our way and that’s life sometimes.
“In wet conditions small moments become pivotal – any team who can get a lead is huge, and then when we’re 19-0 down it’s a long way back, but we kept fighting right to the end.”
While a sixth defeat in nine games leaves Rams trailing table-toppers Richmond and Rotherham Titans, Reynolds drew plenty of plus points, especially from the young guns trying to drive the team forward amidst a lengthy list of absentees throughout the campaign.
He said: “We’ve had injuries, but it opens the door for others to come in and they’ve produced some great efforts.
“We’ve had guys really step up. Harry Stone since he’s come back in has been so good, adding great physicality, the same as Mikey Duda who was getting round the park and chopping people for fun.
“It’s arguably not his ideal conditions but he was great, and I thought Nick Barry coming off the bench was superb – he had fantastic physicality and work rate.
“Especially in the first half (19-year-old scrum-half) Ollie (Hodgson) was excellent, stepping in for his first start and it’s not easy coming to Moseley in these conditions – he’ll learn a lot from it.
“Then Sam (Boxhall) came on and did a very good job. He added a nice zip around the breakdown, reads the game well, has a lovely box kick and for someone who came in during the week to look comfortable in the firing line, I praise him a lot.”
And despite a tough run, the head coach remained upbeat as he looked ahead to a week off and the chance to put things right in a fortnight’s time, ending: “This is a fantastic league and we’ve had some knocks recently, but we’ll keep fighting next against Plymouth and then for the rest of the season.”
