DIRECTOR of Rugby Seb Reynolds said both Sale and Rams should be ‘proud of what they produced’ after his side were defeated 25-22 in a thrilling National One slugfest at Heywood Road.
The Berkshire men found themselves 19-0 down despite arguably having the better of play in the opening half-hour, Joe Green, Alfie Longstaff and Tom Walsh all touching down for The Dogs as James Robins slotted two conversions.
Rams got on the board as Andrew Lamb touched down midway through the second quarter, but were left frustrated as they couldn’t force another score before the break despite their opponents being reduced to 13 men – skipper Andrew Hughes and second row Evan Mintern both sin-binned during a heroic defensive rearguard.
The visitors, however, blasted out of the traps in the second half, Morgan MacRae and Ollie Cole crossing before substitute Solodrau Radianirova’s intercept with one of his first touches saw him dive over on the left.
Fraser Honey landed a wonderful conversion for 22-19, only for Robins to strike a dagger through the Rams’ heart with a brace of final-quarter match-winning penalties.
Rams picked up two bonus points to maintain a narrow lead at the top-of-the-table, and reflecting on a fabulous showcase of Level Three rugby, Reynolds began: “It’s a tough place to come, and Sale have improved a lot from when we initially reviewed them at the start of the year – they’ve been going great guns the past couple of weeks and they’ve got a nice balance to what they’re doing.
“I actually thought we looked good early on even though we went 19-0 down, there were elements of the game working well, and I give tremendous credit to the lads for bringing it back and then getting into the lead – you could argue at that point we could and should have gone onto win, but credit to both sides and they nicked it at the end.
“It’s two points – literally a bonus – but overall, it was a tremendous game and both teams should be proud of what they produced. It was a fantastic game of rugby.”
He continued: “It was a good tactical battle. I think their bench reacted to what we were doing and vice-versa, both teams were trying to wrestle dominance and set some platforms, and at various times, one team got the ascendancy.
“It was a very interesting game, but one they deserved to win.”
A fourth defeat of the campaign was another where Rams picked up a losing bonus-point – the margins being seven (Rotherham), two (Richmond), one (Rosslyn Park) and now three – and the head coach admitted small errors prove costly in these tight-knit affairs.
After his side were stopped six times from the Sale five-metre line in the opening 40 minutes, including two crucial mauls being halted on the brink of half-time, Reynolds explained: “Our discipline was good early on, but a couple of free-kicks means you also have to wrestle back favour with the referee and put better pictures in his mind – it takes time although we got a couple of scrum penalties later on.
“Sale did well to defend the mauls, we felt we’d get over and we came very close. If we’d scored it would have taken it to 19-12, but it’s the way it goes sometimes and I back the decisions taken on the park – you could argue we might have gone for a scrum, but that could have gone a different way as well, you just don’t know.”
One stand-out performer for the visitors was prop Ant Marris, the loosehead coming on midway through the second quarter in a tactical switch which saw him particularly ferocious at the breakdown.
Commenting on the former Wallingford man and looking ahead to what promises to be a thrilling remaining nine games, the DoR concluded: “Ant was hungry for some rugby – he’s been on the bench the past few weeks and has probably only been getting half-an-hour, 40 minutes, but he got longer and did well.
“When you come here it feels like a big game, and that’s a credit to them – we’ve got a good relationship and have had great battles. It’s brilliant.
“We’d have loved to win, but in reality, to get two points we’ll take and move onto next week.”
Rams host Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday (3pm).
