DIRECTOR of Rugby Seb Reynolds praised the resilience of his 14-man Rams side despite them falling to a first National One home defeat of the season, Blackheath victorious 26-7.
An early Zach Clow try was converted by Mike Cooke, but Charlie Robson then saw red on 13 minutes before Billy Hading’s double and a Raff Hollister effort pushed Club 19-7 up at the interval.
Outstanding No. 8 Finn Osborne extended the lead a minute after the break, Matt Dalrymple making it three from four off the tee.
But Rams then rallied and arguably had the better of the second period, Morgan MacRae and Clow both coming close to scoring despite the numerical disadvantage.
Reynolds began: “We’ve spoken to the group about the different experiences they’re getting each week, and this was another one because you never expect to play with 14 men for so long.
“Credit to Blackheath they thoroughly deserved the bonus-point win, but our resilience was fantastic and I’m very proud of our guys.
“When they went 26-7 up the game was basically done, but we dug in, did some good stuff and finished the game strongly.”
He added: “I didn’t feel their scores came from us only having 14 men, it was more little moments where we missed a tackle – we’ll need to get back to the fundamentals.
“We’ve had eight games and have learnt so much. With lots of new faces it’s been a brilliant first block.”
Leading from the front was second row Harry Stone, with debutant Pete Austin and Rowan Grundy also catching Reynolds’ eye.
The head coach continued: “Harry’s bringing an abrasive edge and he’s doing a fantastic job, at times having to call the line-out and maybe playing out of position in the No. 5 shirt.
“Pete was superb, he’s not had a first-team game but he came in and performed very well under pressure.
“Similarly, Rowan Grundy slightly out of position at 13 was excellent and did a great job with his tackling and off-loads.
“And finally, the crowd understood what was going on and when we had our line breaks they truly got behind us.
“They knew we were up against it with 14 men, but they stuck with us so thank you to them.”
Rams drop to fifth in the table and have a week off before travelling to Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday, November 8.
