SEB Reynolds hailed a ‘pleasing’ first National One game of the campaign as Rams overcame Darlington Mowden Park 41-12 at Old Bath Road.
New captain Max Hayman bagged a first-half brace as Morgan MacRae – a replacement for Connor Stapley following a serious leg injury – and Zach Clow also dotted down, a Fraser Honey conversion making it 22-0 at the break.
Will Jones got the visitors on the board early in the second period, but MacRae’s second was added to by Honey.
Oscar Judge replied for DMP, Harry Read slotting the extras for 29-12, but Olise Monye went over for Rams before Honey’s fabulous touchline conversion was followed by Hayman’s hat-trick try a minute from time.
Reflecting on the opening-day triumph, the Director of Rugby began: “It was a pleasing first game, albeit we took a nasty injury to Connor and we wish him all the best with his recovery.
“We managed things well (centres Ellis Jones and Rowan Grundy also forced off with injuries), but we never quite got into a rhythm because of the changes. However, we always managed to maintain pressure, which was good.”
Skipper Hayman took the plaudits with a dream treble in his first game at the helm, while ex-Oratory School aces MacRae and Monye also impressed off the bench.
Reynolds continued: “The maul was in good shape – we felt we had a couple of improvements to make after the Chinnor game – but we showed those and Max finished them off well.
“Morgan was very good in the back row; we know he can do that as well as hooker and he’s got the pace of a midfielder.
“He added some dynamism and sometimes you have to turn an unfortunate situation into a positive, and Morgan did that by coming on as a debutant and getting two tries.”
Having lost 41-36 to the same opponents at OBR last year, conceding 29 first-half points in the process, the DoR was delighted to blank the Northerners in the opening 40 minutes and to keep the normally free-flowing visitors to just two tries in total.
He explained: “You have to be so wary of them because they’re so dangerous and early on they caused us problems getting in the outside channels, but we put it right and Ellis and the outside defenders started to get some good reads. They did a good job.”
While five of the hosts’ tries were scored by the pack, Clow and Monye’s efforts followed slick handling with Rams’ continuity game on show throughout.
While believing there is room for improvement, Reynolds ended by also thanking the 798 supporting from the sidelines as he ended: “It was decent because it was tricky with a greasy ball, but where we could, we got the off-loading game going. I felt we got good ruck speed and put them under pressure.
“The fans were brilliant – for everyone to come out for game one and engage so much, we can’t thank them enough and it was buzzing at times.
“The boys love playing here and hopefully it will keep on growing throughout the season.”
Rams visit Esher tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm).
Rams travel to Esher this coming Saturday (3pm), before returning to Old Bath Road against Sale on Saturday, September 21.
