‘WE had the chance to put it right and I’m pleased we did.”
Seb Reynolds was emphatic after Rams defeated Bury St Edmunds in a five-try 27-7 National One success at Old Bath Road.
It was a second successive home success and came on the back of a poor display in defeat at Birmingham Moseley.
Axel Kalling-Smith’s double put the hosts on the front foot, albeit BSE cut the gap to 10-7 at half-time thanks to a Ruardh Williams try and Ben Penfold conversion.
A scoreless third quarter followed but Rams pulled away towards the end.
Zach Clow bagged a brace, Ross McKay with a super touchline nudge after his second, before skipper Willo Bicknell sealed the deal.
And Seb revealed: “The beauty of rugby is we had disappointment last week, but we had the chance to put it right and I’m pleased we did.
“The Birmingham game gave us clear things we had to work on.
“The guys challenged themselves to sort it out, which they did.
“We had some lads returning from injury which helped balance the side and we managed to build periods of sustained pressure, which ultimately ended with us taking the game away from Bury.
“But credit to them, they played some good stuff and to keep them to seven points, we’re very happy.”
Penalty count ‘something to work on’
While it was a much-improved performance, especially in the line-out and tackle completion, a high penalty count gave the DoR something to consider.
He continued: “Discipline is the next one to work on! You definitely don’t want that number in a game.
“We want to be eight or below and we lost momentum with the count. It also makes the game not a great one to watch.”
On the plus side two tries apiece from wings Kalling-Smith (48) and Clow (52) took their combined career tallies to 100.
Assist merchant Atkins shows his class
Much of this was courtesy of the efforts of McKay and Darren Atkins, the two play-makers pulling the strings.
And Seb beamed: “Ross has been so great since coming into the side, he’s finding the corners with his boot, spaces in open play and he’s got an excellent passing game.
“He’s also challenging the line so I’m very happy, and he worked so well with Darren.
“It was so nice to get him back out there from the start. He’s a great guy who helps out all round the club, he’s got a wonderful calmness and knows when to take the tempo up or down.
“The guys can learn so much from him and in the early part of his Rams’ career, he’s been an outstanding addition.”
And while there was a sense of nervousness around the ground during the first 60 minutes, Seb praised the Ramily for helping his side over the line.
He closed: “The crowd were so good. Towards the end we wanted to get down into Clubhouse Corner and give them something to cheer about.
“We did that, albeit sometimes we coughed the ball up, but for the most part hopefully we rewarded them.”
Rams head to Tonbridge Juddians next Saturday (3pm), before hosting Leeds Tykes after a week off on October 31.
To book tickets and lunches, click here
