CANDID Seb Reynolds was honest as ever in admitting Rams had been their own worst enemies in falling to a brutal 34-33 National One defeat at Sedgley Park.
Despite going into the contest on the back of a four-match losing streak, the visitors were superb in opening a 21-0 lead via tries from the magnificent Axel Kalling-Smith, Zach Clow and Dan Swain, Fraser Honey with a trio of conversions.
Lewis Bradley rumbled over at the back of a rolling maul to get Tigers on the board with the final play of the first half, Warren Seals with the extras, but normal order seemed to be resumed as Kalling-Smith again provided an assist for a converted Andrew Lamb try.
Things unravelled from there, however, Matt Sturgess, Ben Gregory, Connor Scanlon and Austin Downham all touching down as Sedgley scored 27 unanswered points, seven coming from the boot of Seals.
In a helter-skelter finish Rams gave themselves a dramatic lifeline when Honey’s cross-field kick was collected and dotted down by Oli Rhoads, only for the conversion attempt to drift wide before the final whistle blew.
And Director of Rugby Reynolds said: “It’s a very tough one to take. The way we battled back to give ourselves a winning opportunity was admirable, but we should never, ever have been in that position.
“Credit to Sedgley who came back well and always looked dangerous – we handed them a couple of tries which they took – but from a game management perspective we didn’t manage to get our set-piece going in the second half and there was no scrum until 71 minutes, which was a shame having brought James (Baker) on at half-time.
“The (second-half) drop off is where we’re at currently. Like anything in sport it’s great when you’re on top, in clutch moments you can deal with anything, but right now the lads are lacking the ultimate confidence to go and fully get the job done against a strong side who came back well.
“But we enabled them to do that, and we were our own worst enemies at stages – when you open the door to those kinds of situations you create a close game we fell on the wrong side of.”
He continued: “Things aren’t going our way at the moment and it’s a test – when you’re winning it’s all well and good but having lost five in a row which we’ve never done at this level, you find out whose truly going to battle through it.
“It’s not easy to think clearly under pressure in the heat of the battle, and as coaches we must remember what it’s like to be players.
“It’s hard in the chaos of the moment and under fatigue to make the clear and correct decisions, and while sometimes I don’t agree with them, I’ll always back the lads.
“It’s one of those things and we had an honest conversation straight afterwards, we’ll be better for this, and things will improve.
“We’ll move on, get back to smiles of faces on Tuesday and take heart from some of the stuff in the past two weeks, which has at times been outstanding.”
Key in putting the visitors in a game-winning position were Kalling-Smith and recent scrum-half signing Sam Boxhall, with the head coach adding: “There were positives. Axel was just outstanding in the outside flanks, gliding through and falling off defenders and he just always gets over the line. Superb.
“Sam was also fantastic. His service was brilliant, he managed the game well – especially in the 22 – and he did some very good stuff. He’s a feisty nine which we love, and he’s come in on short notice and done incredibly well.
“And finally, the support was again wonderful. I want to thank everyone so much for coming, we’re so sorry for not getting the win, but our supporters are just incredible, and we’ll look to put things right next week.”
Rams travel to Blackheath on Saturday (3pm).
