ROBBIE Stapley admits Rams must bounce back quickly following the 7-5 Friday Night Lights defeat to Richmond.
On a miserable evening weather-wise, a new Old Bath Road record crowd of 1,829 watched the top two slug it out in a gruelling encounter.
Richmond started well and took a fourth-minute lead via Sam Pim, Callum Grieve with the conversion, but despite dominating the remainder of the opening 40 minutes, they only took a 7-0 lead into the break.
The defences continued to stay on top during the second period, Rams giving themselves hope midway through the final quarter as replacement Mikey Duda hoovered up a loose ball to dive over with his first touch of the National One season.
Yet try as they might, the streetwise visitors ran the clock down efficiently, establishing a three-point advantage at the top of the table.
Reflecting on a frustrating night about a game viewed by more than 8,000 people on NextGenXV’s live-stream, Robbie said: “We stuck at it and it was a full 80-minute performance from both sides.
“Ultimately if the bounce of a ball goes the other way you can be on the other side of the result, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.
“They built and built, we defended a hell of a lot and we just struggled to break them down – Richmond have built from last year and credit to them.”
With a trip to fourth-placed Rosslyn Park completing a run which also saw defeat at high-flying Rotherham Titans, Robbie reiterated the point there is a long way to go in the campaign.
He continued: “We’re 12 games in, not even hallway through the season, and if we mope about losing two and beat ourselves up about it, you can let things go.
“We’ve got to take these losses, it’s not great, but we must bounce back and keep progressing to what we want to do.”
Having first played for Rams back in 2009 and making his 237th appearance, the skipper remained proud of how his journey has seen progress from Level Five to pushing for promotion to Tier Two.
He ended: “The club has grown. I’ve been here for a long time and seen the way we’ve pushed on and we just want to keep doing the same thing.
“You’re always going to bring some players in, but the core of our side should take us in the right direction.”
