SCRUM-HALF Ollie Allan admits he is loving life at RAMS as he enjoyed a 19th birthday to remember with a man-of-the-match display in the 43-21 success at Darlington Mowden Park.

The livewire London Irish loanee has been a superb addition to the squad and marked his 12th appearance of the campaign with a delightful display highlighted by a stunning 60-metre burst for his side’s second try.

The No. 9’s effort came in the midst of an astonishing seven-minute salvo which also saw Tarek Haffar and Axel Kalling-Smith, twice, cross the whitewash and Alex Seers land four conversions for a 28-0 lead inside the opening quarter.

DMP hit back with two converted tries of their own before Seers made it 33-14 at the break, and with Connor Hayhow and RAMS’ leading marksman Jak Rossiter collecting his 15th of the campaign, the away side took five points back down south to hit the top of the table.

And former England Under 18s international Ollie, playing his first season in men’s rugby, is delighted with where he’s at.

He explained: “I love it so much – I don’t see it as being on loan, I see it as being part of a team. I love the fact everyone, coaches, staff, players have welcomed me like a family.

“I don’t see it as trying to get better as a player, it’s about being part of a team and getting us to where we want to be.

“National One is unreal. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting it. Coming from the Academy before, it’s a lot quicker, way more physical and everyone drives together, along with a good bit of flair.”

Analysing a fine victory up north, he continued: “It was a great team performance especially coming on the back of the Cambridge win.

“The training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, everyone was excited to come out again and especially with the long trip, none of that phased anyone.

“We kept exactly the same goals, exactly the same mentality and it paid off for everyone.”

And the former Hungerford junior and Bishop Wand School ace ended by praising the DoR, skipper and supporters as he said: “When Seb (Reynolds) and Robbie (Stapley) speak in the changing room we all switch on, we all listen to them, and the opening 20 minutes showed what we can do.

“The echo in a stadium like Darlington makes it sound like there’s loads more people, but honestly you can hear the RAMS’ fans and they drive us on to keep going.”

RAMS are next in action on Friday night in the derby against Chinnor. To buy tickets for what will be a cracker, click here

*Picture by Mike Driver