Another strong crowd is on the cards after the Berkshire boys smashed their previous ground record against Richmond a fortnight ago, and as the second-placed side look to recover from three consecutive National One defeats, the DoR said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming Esher for the last game of the year and it should be a good one.
“They’re a decent side who attack very well and have threats for any opposition, but they’re also very dogged – National One is a very tough league, attritional every week and so you must battle all the time, which they’re doing.”
Having won their opening 10 games of the campaign, Rams have suffered a trio of narrow defeats at Rotherham Titans (21-14), home to Richmond (5-7) and last time out at Rosslyn Park, where they hit back from 19-0 down to lead 26-24 before a late penalty dashed their dreams.
And while disappointed with the recent run, which leaves his side six points adrift of leaders Richmond, Seb backed his players to turn things round as he continued: “I’ll only get at them if I see a lack of effort, and it’s three games where we’ve lost by a combined margin of 10 points – but we’re working hard to put it right.
“We must give credit to Rosslyn Park for the way they played last week, especially in the first 15 minutes when they threw caution to the wind.
“It took us a bit of time to settle, but five more minutes or a slightly better performance and we’d probably have got the game won.
“However, we weren’t good enough on the day and we must live with the reality, albeit I can’t fault the players because they play with a smile on their face, bring physicality and their effort is superb.”
Five changes
The hosts make five changes for this evening’s game with props Ioan Emanuel and James Baker, flankers Ben Atkins and Mikey Duda, and centre Solodrau Radianirova all restored to the starting line-up, Liam Bishop also back on the bench as front-row cover.
With it being Duda’s first start of the campaign, Seb commented: “Mikey’s a dynamo and it’s great to be able to give him the opportunity. He’s replacing a quality player in Tom Vooght, who has had a fantastic first half of the season since returning to the club and I’ve been amazed at just how good he’s been at this stage of his career.
“Mikey has some big boots to fill, but he brings his own unique style and we’re looking forward to seeing him.”
Thanks to fans
Lastly turning his attention to what he hopes will be another fabulous OBR atmosphere for the Christmas contest, Seb ended by saying: “Friday night games are always extra special and the one against Richmond was fantastically supported – it was genuinely amazing.
We’ve talked this week about the noise when Mikey scored his try and how we want to tap into that – we want to give the crowd something to get excited about.
“We fully appreciate the support the group is getting right now – 1,200 against Leicester Lions for the Centenary game, 1,800 versus Richmond, the players truly feel it and get tremendously energised by it.
“So please bring the noise and everyone will be ready to make their best effort tonight!”
