Fast starts leaves visiting Rams reeling

RAMS director of rugby Seb Reynolds paid tribute to Blackheath after the National Division 1 promotion-chasers ground out a 21-5 home win against the Berkshire side last Saturday, writes Richard Ashton.

Fast starts at the beginning of both halves proved key for the Club, with Billy Harding dotting down three minutes into the contest.

The captain doubled up midway through the second quarter for his 37th try of the campaign, two Sam Morley conversions making it 14-0 at half-time.

Noah Sloot repeated the trick with a third close-range score three minutes after the break, and from there it was a long way back for Rams.

But they were given a fillip when Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas received a red card for an off-the-ball just before the hour mark.

Club were then temporarily reduced to 13 men as Jake Hennessey was sin-binned, but their impressive defensive effort meant Harry Stone’s late try was only a consolation.

Despite the scoreline much of the contest was an even affair, though Reynolds highlighted why he felt his team were beaten. He explained: “Blackheath were clinical early on in both halves and that was probably the game.

“If we’d been a bit better at the start it might have been 7-0 going into the break, and we’d have given ourselves more of an opportunity to win the game in the final quarter.

“We came on strongly, as I thought we would, but their defence was very, very good, even when they were down to 13.

“They can be proud of themselves because it’s not easy. With 14 you can deal with it, but one more the width becomes a challenge.

“Normally you stretch the opposition and find gaps either out wide or down the middle, but we couldn’t.

“They didn’t make too many mistakes, whereas from our side there were plenty of unforced errors.

“Blackheath thoroughly deserved to win, but there were some positives for us.

“I thought early on our attack looked sharp, and (second row) Liam (Elston) did very well again.

“He made a couple of nice line-breaks in midfield and showed good hands, so credit to him.

“I can’t fault the players commitment to each other, their physicality was outstanding.

“But just sometimes the decision-making, the errors and discipline makes it hard to be in a game.

“We know we’ll get that with a young group, but it’s something we’ve definitely got to address now.”

Rams remain sixth in the table ahead of tomorrow’s (Saturday) home game against Bishop’s Stortford, kick-off 3pm.