Having lost six of their past eight games the visitors were seemingly down and out at the break, Max Hayman’s try the only glimmer of light as braces from TJs wings Nathan Earle and Tom Kendrick put the Kent men in complete control.
But a thrilling second half saw Mike Cooke convert scores from Zach Clow, star man Willo Bicknell and the irrepressible Mikey Duda to nudge the visitors two points clear.
Earle completed his hat-trick to put TJs back in front, but James Baker’s late score – his 50th for the club – and Cooke’s metronomic boot fashioned a fabulous success.
‘The guys were magnificent’
And Seb confessed: “It was an amazing game. I’d love to say I thought we’d come back and win, but I’d possibly be lying!
“They had a very muscular back row, all physical ball-carriers and I thought Vinny (Everitt) was outstanding. They missed him when he went off because he was slowing our ball down and was an absolute menace at the breakdown.
“(Former Ram) Lucas Brooke played well and at times we couldn’t contain them, but we stayed in the fight, were physical and we just had to believe.
“Yet I felt a comeback was always there in the way we’re coming on in games, the quality comes through and the opposition fatigue – it puts us in a good position.
“But the lads needed to believe.
“In the first half we showed good guts and determination against a quality side and considering all the circumstances with the changes – we lost both wings (Oli Rhoads and Luke Graham), guys in the pack (Aaron Tull and briefly prop Paddy Harris) – I thought the guys were magnificent.”
Coach chuffed to get over the line
The average age of the starting line-up was just 24 and Seb continued: “It’s in the hard times you find out who wants to take the team forward and the guys needed this.
“We never want to lose matches, but you have to go through a spell where it’s not perfect, and you have to come through it.
“I’m not interested in losing six in eight – I’m interested in the group developing into a quality rugby team and we made a step forward.
“It’s a massive, massive win in terms of the development of the side because they now know they can come back like that and also finish the game off – we managed the last minute beautifully.”
‘Ed was superb’
Amid one of the finest comebacks in the club’s history, the Director of Rugby was quick to praise Head of Strength & Conditioning Phil Hoy as well as half-time substitutes Baker and Ed Hoadley, the latter duo two of only three players older than 30 in the matchday squad.
Seb reflected: “Phil’s changed things round but he’s done it with a smile!
“There’s a bit of an affection whether the players admit it or not – they love to hate him or hate to love him – but they’ve bought into it and worked hard.
“Conditioning was a massive factor probably from 10 minutes into the second half, and we came on strong.
“Then Ed was superb and added a massive voice when he came on.
“We’ve asked him to add a little more tempo around the breakdown and I thought he was brilliant.
“He’s an experienced player, a leader in the group who understands what we’re trying to do, and he was simply outstanding.
“Baker is Baker, he’s just brilliant. He understands how we want to use him, but his impact also comes from how Ryan (Lomas) and Paddy (Harris) built great pressure in the first half.
“James added and built on that and got their set-piece going backwards, which gave us a platform to kick on.”
‘It all went right in the end’
In something of a Jekyll-and-Hyde display, a poor first half was replaced with a magnificent second, with a couple of the home faithful describing Rams as the best side they had seen this season.
Reflecting on a game of two halves, Seb admitted: “It suddenly clicked. In the first 50 minutes if you said, ‘Rams are meant to have an off-loading game’ people would be asking ‘where is it?’
“Early on we didn’t have good ball retention, and you could say it was poor from us, but you have to credit what they were doing.
“Then it all went right, and we ended up winning an outstanding game.”
Rams, now just eight points off a play-off spot, host Leeds Tykes next Saturday (3pm).
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