DIRECTOR of Rugby Seb Reynolds was left to rue self-inflicted errors as Rams nearly upset the odds against National One table-toppers Rotherham Titans.
The hosts mixed the sublime with the ridiculous as they went down 35-31 at Old Bath Road, falling behind in the third minute as Titans returned a long kick with Travis Gordon crossing, Lloyd Hayes adding the extras.
But titanic second row Liam Elston, scoring his maiden first-team try from 40 metres in which he skipped past visiting full-back Isaac Shaw on the way to the line, helped levelled matters as Mike Cooke converted.
Rotherham, though, regained command as Hayes landed a penalty and John Okafor touched down, only for a marvellous Zach Clow grubber kick to send Oli Rhoads away for 15-12.
Two more avoidable seven-pointers from man-of-the-match Jackson Barling and Hayes gave the visitors a 29-12 half-time lead, the latter landing a penalty 10 minutes into the second half to extend the advantage.
Yet Rams replied, the irrepressible Harry Stone wriggling his way over from close range, Cooke on target, before Axel Kalling-Smith sealed a try bonus to send the home fans wild.
The Yorkshiremen kept their heads above water with a Rob Povey penalty following a high tackle, Hayes in the sin-bin following the same fate some early in the third quarter.
A vociferous OBR crowd were in full voice when Clow crossed with two minutes remaining, but Rams were unable to complete the comeback and Reynolds was as honest as ever when reflecting on the defeat.
He confessed: “In the first half-an-hour we gave them too many opportunities to get into our 22, mainly from not controlling the kicking battle, and we also dropped off too many tackles which gave them a head-start.
“We felt we could come back at them in the second half, and I was pleased the lads did that, but there’s a frustration in the naivety of what we did which meant we weren’t able to get it done.
“Credit to Rotherham, though, they deserved to win, and they were very good at capitalising on the chances we allowed them – those opportunities are not easy to suddenly say ‘here’s an error, we’ve got convert it’ – but they did.”
Having retrieved the situation at 32-26 and a special win on the cards, he continued: “We got the four minutes after that wrong. We didn’t deal with the kick-off, then our tackle height isn’t right, and it’s an easy three points which takes them beyond two scores.
“Then with a minute to go we also get it wrong, we should have kept the ball and have a go at them – unfortunately we let them control the finish of the game and they did that.
“Even before the last play we should have had more of a pop at them.
“But it’s where we’re at right now. I’ve said it before, but we’ve got a lot of new faces battling their way through some developments and we’ll move on and get better for it as a group.”
Despite defeat there were plenty of positives, the likes of the outstanding Elston – who nearly scored another solo stunner in the first half – and back row trio Stone, Aaron Tull and Willo Bicknell rising to the task.
Fellow reinforcement Mikey Duda also caught the eye off the bench with a dynamic display of carrying and chop tackling.
Paying tribute to the former, the head coach said: “Liam was great – and to gas the full-back on the outside was pretty unbelievable. He’s pacey, has come from Reading University, developed as a player and had an exceptional game.
“He was outstanding in the collisions; his chop tackling was excellent and he can kick on now.
“We got two bonus-points against the league leaders who are doing tremendously well – they had a strong side with depth on the bench, but there are so many things for us to be pleased with.
“We now need to kick on.”
Rams travel to second-placed Rosslyn Park next Saturday (3pm).
