DELIGHTED Director of Rugby Seb Reynolds saluted his Rams players as they overcame a tough opening quarter to eventually overrun Rosslyn Park’s galaxy of stars 43-10 on a memorable afternoon at Old Bath Road.
The hosts were on the back foot for the opening 20 minutes, but a brilliant defensive rear-guard set the scene for a sixth consecutive National One victory.
It was Connor Hayhow who opened the scoring with a try converted by Will Partington, and after Craig Holland landed a penalty for the visitors, Axel Kalling-Smith grabbed a brilliant individual try before another Hayhow seven-pointer made it 19-3 at the break.
Park hit back through former Ram Cam Zeiss at the start of the second half, but after Zach Clow went over, Partington’s kick making it 26-10, the home side added three late tries through Max Hayman, Ellis Jones and Kalling-Smith to send the bulk of another strong crowd of 953 home happy.
While the Rosslyn Park squad featured players with appearances for the likes of Saracens, Exeter Chiefs, Harlequins, Gloucester, Bristol and Worcester Warriors, their hosts had trodden a less glamorous path and Reynolds admitted: “At one point when we were getting scrum penalties, our front row was Wallingford, Newbury and Maidenhead – and that’s what we want to do here.
“We want to represent the area as best we can – they’re Rams now, but they’ve come from local clubs and are playing for the whole area in National One against professional players. They’re a credit.”
Further reflecting the local nature of the side, captain Robbie Stapley made his debut as a teenager and is closing on 200 caps, two-try star Hayhow came through the Bracknell Minis and Juniors section while scrum-halves Ollie Cole and Ollie Monye were educated at The Forest School and Oratory respectively, with James McRae an Eton College product.
Rams partnership with Reading University was also on show with Sean McDonnell-Roberts, Jones, Ollie Moffitt and Rowan Grundy all ex-alumni, while Ollie Taylor and Josh Collis joined the club from Bracknell and Henley respectively.
Analysing the game, the DoR continued: “It was one of the more unique performances of the season because it wasn’t overly impressive at the start, although our defence was outstanding and we forced errors from them, the first 20 minutes was odd and a bit to-and-fro.
“Then it was a bit disappointing to have multiple penalties in our favour, two yellow cards for them and only be 7-0 up, but then the performance built during the game, and we finished well.
“I was most impressed with the period in the second half when we went 26-10 up – if they’d scored it would have been game on, but we spent most of that spell in their final third building pressure
for a score which eventually told at the end.
“We took the sting out of the game and it’s something which has really improved from last year.”
There were stand-out performances across the board, with Ant Marris winning a string of penalties at the set-piece on his 50th appearance, Henry Bird imperious at full-back and Monye – fresh from a one-day loan at Leeds Tykes – also doing a fine job.
Reynolds added: “Ollie did really well. He was on early, hasn’t had loads of National One rugby this year, but you could really see his quality and he controlled things well in the final third, helping us build pressure.
“I apologised to Leeds and (DoR) Jon Callard – it’s the nature of it – having lost Ollie Allan we had to recall him, but we’re very lucky to have the depth to call on Ollie Monye.
“Hopefully this is the spark for him – he’s helped us see out our best-ever win against Rosslyn Park and we want him to kick on. He’s got all the talent in the world, we absolutely love him and hopefully this is the moment.
“The pack were also excellent in getting the upper hand, Vinny Everitt at the breakdown was superb and Will Partington controlled the game.”
With the opening quarter having been a tense affair, the Director of Rugby concluded: “It was a slow burner, but the party built towards the end, and that shows it was a different sort of game to anything else we’ve had.
“There was a slightly different feel to the Friday Night game, maybe a little bit of a hangover.
“Last week the energy and vibe of the squad was just there, and I knew they would turn it on, but I was disappointed with the warm-up – I felt we weren’t focussed.
“But actually, you could argue I was incorrect in that because the guys went onto perform – they built the pressure and had a very good performance.
“I must credit (captain) Robbie (Stapley) and the way he brought the guys together, vice-captain Josh Collis and James McRae, the way he brought energy off the bench – they were superb.”
Rams travel to Birmingham Moseley next Saturday (3pm).
By Richard Ashton
