The former London Irish and Scottish ace was on point before being substitute on 50 minutes, Morgan MacRae’s two tries and a pair of conversions from Mike Cooke putting the visitors 14-0 up either side of half-time.
Clifton hit back in fine fashion, though, Tom Quinlan on target after Ollie Harris and Tom Hatch dotted down.
But Cooke maintained his perfect form after Luke Graham continued his try-scoring hot streak – now five in three games – to secure a sixth win in seven outings.
‘Nice to get back – I loved it’
Having played 40 minutes against Chinnor Under 23s on Wednesday, Ed admitted being back at Level Three was a pleasure – “I loved it.
“It was nice to get back and contribute to the boys – it’s a very young group so super exciting to be out there.
“We did well in a fiddly first half, Max (Hayman) had to come off and we had to manage the change in position, but we fronted up well.
“The team’s done well so far, and it was the same again versus a strong Clifton.”
Scrum-half hails teammates
While MacRae continued his remarkable scoring record since switching to inside centre – now eight in seven appearances – Ed was quick to praise match-winner Luke Graham, fellow wing Charlie Robson, full-back Zach Clow and the outstanding engine room of Connor Stapley and Harry Stone.
He continued: “Our back three are special – we just have to get them the ball.
“Fair play to Harry and Connor, they were class.
“Harry might owe a few drinks for the attempted 30-metre spiral pass, but you can’t question how hard those guys work, they front up every week, and you know what you’re going to get with them – it makes my life much easier.”
On a day of upsets, Rams climbed to third ahead of this Saturday’s Blackheath battle, with Ed continuing: “It’s a massive result. We’ve got one more game in this eight-match block and we’re six from seven, considering how many new faces we’ve had in its great.
“At times we’re very hard on ourselves, but we’ve had a top start and go into a huge game against Club.
“The support was amazing again – it’s a fairly easy journey compared to the last three, but everywhere we go, we seem to have more fans than any other club travel with.
“When you’re warming up, when you run out, they’re always there and it’s remarkable.
“Even on Wednesday for the Development game there were a fair few around and it’s so nice to see.
“Hopefully it’s more of the same on Saturday.”
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