SEB Reynolds believes RAMS played some of their best rugby of the season in the 43-21 National One victory at Darlington Mowden Park, a result which took them back to the top-of-the-table.
A remarkable seven-minute burst towards the end of the first quarter saw the visitors surge 28-0 up on the back of converted tries from London Irish loanees Tarek Haffar and Ollie Allan, alongside two from Axel Kalling-Smith.
The final one was a try-of-the-season contender as James McRae’s lengthy break was followed by a pin-point cross-field kick from Alex Seers, but having wrapped up the bonus-point, RAMS let the hosts back into the contest with a quick-fire double from Chris McTurk and Henry Hadfield.
Matt Minogue added the extras to both, but Seers crossed for a 33-14 half-time lead.
Connor Hayhow went over to further the visitors’ advantage, and while Callum Pascoe dotted down for DMP, Jak Rossiter provided the final score of an entertaining afternoon.
Reflecting on his side’s opening assault, the Director of Rugby said: “It was very impressive. It was nice coming here, a magnificent stadium, good atmosphere, a good surface to play on and both teams wanting to play rugby – the first half-hour produced a roller-coaster of a game.
“I thought we established a good platform with very good defensive sets and at the set-piece, and then we got on the attack and took the game away from them quite early.
“But then we took our foot off the pedal a little, fell off a few tackles and lost our defensive shape. We made a few silly decisions, and it gave DMP the front foot and they came back well.”
He continued: “All the crowd were enjoying it and while perhaps the second half maybe didn’t live up to that, in a way I was quite pleased because we just managed to get the game won.
“Overall, it was a really good performance and we probably played some of our best go-forward rugby of the season in patches.
“We couldn’t sustain it for the full 80 minutes because we switched off in parts, but we also had a quality opposition who played some good rugby.
“A side like them will always fight back so we never felt completely comfortable, and it was up to us to see the game out which we did very well.”
Indeed after the fireworks of the first hour, the final quarter was a scoreless affair albeit RAMS had to defend manfully towards the end, holding their opponents up over the line.
And Reynolds was pleased with his side’s determination, concluding: “I thought it was important. I’d have liked us to have finished on their line with maybe a try to take us to 50, but when that didn’t happen we lost our discipline and had to defend ourselves.
“We didn’t want them to have the final score and we defended very well – but there’s lots to work on from the game and that’s also a positive.”
RAMS next host Chinnor for Friday Night Lights (7.45pm). With a large crowd expected, supporters are asked to book their tickets in advance through the club’s website – www.ramsrugby.com and then click the ticket office at the top of the page
By Richard Ashton
