After dropping to fifth place in National One following a run of eight defeats in 11 games – the Berkshire side having won their opening 10 after a season’s best 33-14 triumph against Club – Seb admitted his charges must stand up in the face of an unprecedented losing run since being promoted to Level Three back in 2019.
He explained: “This is a great challenge for the team and the club. You always want to be up there battling for the top prize, we’ve done that for five seasons, and we still are in a weird, weird, season, but now we’re stripping things back and looking forward to seeing the lads go out and show what they can do.
“Blackheath was one of our best performances of the season, mainly because they were going so strongly ,and they were the best team we’d played at that stage.
“It was a great win, but things have changed and now we’re not on a run like we were then – it presents its own challenges though and one we’ll take on.”
He continued: “They’ve been racking up points, their nine (Jordan Burns) has been playing some superb rugby and they were 19-0 up at Sale in about seven minutes last week!
“But (defence coach) Danny (Batty) and the guys are excited to try and stop that.”
Milestone for Vooght and Jack back
Former Mini Tom Vooght will celebrate his 175th first-team cap at Well Hall, with Jamaican Sevens star Jack Rampton coming in on the wing as Rams seek victory, with Seb beaming at two players at differing ends of their careers.
He commented: “Tom’s amazing and he’s put so much into the club – just incredible. He’s led the side, been a class act and again stepped up this year.
“He’s a different player to what he was which happens as you get older, but he’s an absolute warrior and I congratulate him on the achievement.
“Jack’s been unlucky to not get more opportunities. He was in a development phase early in the season, but he’s come on so much.
“He was over in America recently for an NLR (Australia rugby league) trial and his career is very exciting. He’s got a great natural talent and it will be brilliant to get him on the park – I’ve no doubt he’ll go well because he’s had a wonderful attitude all season.
“You could argue he’d have expected to play more, but to bring him in now is great.”
Congratulations to Colts
And while it has been a tough run for the first XV, positivity abounded at Old Bath Road last Sunday as the Colts sealed back-to-back OBB Division One triumphs with a nail-biting 22-20 victory against Windsor, the DoR ending by paying tribute to head coach Dave Cox his fellow coaches and the players.
He ended: “They were brilliant. Windsor were a very strong side and it’s always great to have encounters where the league is on the line – it was a fantastic crowd because they brought so many, we had our own and it was just a superb advert for Colts’ rugby.
“I congratulate all the players and coaching staff on their efforts and hope to see them progress in the years to come.”
