DIRECTOR of Rugby Seb Reynolds saw plenty of positives as his side started pre-season with home victories against Bracknell and Aberavon.
Rams Blues initially overcame the Lily Hill men 33-12, Karl Quartey with a brace on debut as Tom Humberstone, Ryan Lomas and Mikey Annells also went over and Rowan Grundy and Cameron George added two conversions apiece.
The Reds then fell behind to an early Aberavon penalty try and also trailed 12-7 at the break, but roared back to take a 38-19 success.
Zach Clow was the star of the show with two tries, the second a 65-metre peach in which he beat several defenders, while Fraser Honey added the extras to his own debut score as well as Clow’s first.
Further tries came from Mike Hoyt, benefitting from a stunning no-look Ollie Monye inside ball -Max Hayman and Grundy, the latter also knocking over two kicks to round out the scoring.
Reflecting on a beneficial afternoon, Reynolds saw plenty of good work and said: “Our conditioning came through well which I’m pleased about. it’s something you always want to see and a lot of our guys did 70 minutes which traditionally we wouldn’t do.
“It’s a huge positive and as fatigue told and a bit more space opened up, our skill levels improved further, and I was pleased with our unstructured attack in the last 20 minutes.
“Credit the starting front row against Aberavon, they came under some pressure early on from an experienced and outstanding opposition.
“We conceded a penalty try but came back to finish the half on top and that’s impressive.”
Plenty of players were tried across a variety of positions with James McRae in the second row for the second half against Aberavon, Zach Clow superb at full back and Axel Kalling-Smith in action both in the centre and the wing.
And the DoR continued: “The players say ‘put me anywhere’ and sometimes we have to! It’s something to look at for Zach moving forward, I feel potentially he’s a full back although he’s also outstanding on the wing, so it will be interesting to see his development.
“It was a good run-out and the new guys coming in were great – Fraser was excellent, he had a good kicking game, communicated well and his passing was nice, and Ben Atkins really grew into the game, especially in the second half.
“There was a point where we were going to make a rotation to give guys game time, but then we felt it was better for him to stay on because he was getting better and better and better.
After a solid start as work continues towards a fourth National One campaign, Reynolds concluded: “I thought from all teams involved it was a really good afternoon of rugby.
“The weather held which was nice, there was some rain due and as a winter sport you have to do that, but in pre-season you want the games on a firm track with the sun shining because it gets people out.
“All sides played some fine rugby, Bracknell were superb, and Aberavon were a tough, physical challenge.”
Rams continue their preparations in Ireland this week, playing Lansdowne on Thursday (7.45pm) and Cork Constitution on Saturday (3pm).
By Richard Ashton
