Rams contribute to downfall as they suffer back to back losses

DIRECTOR of rugby Seb Reynolds regretted a sense of déjà vu as Rams once again contributed to their own downfall in a 36-31 home National Division 1 loss to Bishop’s Stortford last Saturday, writes Richard Ashton.

An early Chris Bolton penalty was followed by Hamish Ferguson’s opening score, the extras added for 10-0.

The hosts responded swiftly with Mike Cooke adding to a Willo Bicknell effort. But Bishop’s hit back with another close-range try, Frazier Kiff this time burrowing over.

Axel Kalling-Smith crossed with the final play of the first half to cut the gap to 15-12. Bolton converted a Tom Mills try at the end of the third quarter, only for a Ryan Lomas seven-pointer to keep Rams in contention.

Their hopes were dashed with two converted tries in three minutes, though, Tristan Smith and Bolton touching down.

And it meant Harry Stone’s bonus-point score, added to by Andrew Lamb, and Max Hayman’s last-gasp effort in Clubhouse Corner, were futile.

It was another curates egg of a performance from Rams, who mixed the sublime with a hatful of errors leaving Reynolds perplexed. He said: “There was some good stuff and a couple of the tries were outstanding. The effort levels are there and the physicality was good against a strong, direct side who carry the ball hard.

“Stortford are a little bit Warrenball but I thought we dealt with it well. We should have built a platform to do the business, but we coughed up the ball in vital areas and when we entered their 22, we weren’t able to keep the pressure on. You can’t win top quality games of rugby with that error count.”

“Every time they scored, we played intuitively and came back with tempo, but it almost felt like until the game was done for the lads to free themselves up.

“(As coaches) we’ve got to help them understand how to do it all the time.

“We want them to play fast — we’ve done a lot of work on conditioning — and at times when they get it right, it’s wonderful to see. We’re just not seeing it enough at the moment.”

A second straight defeat, and a fifth in eight games, was not helped by Rams’ suffering another late injury setback.

For the second time in four days they lost a fly-half in the warm-up, Rowan Grundy following George Tomlinson’s late departure for the Development XV at British Army. The head coach said: “Nothing’s going our way right now, but it’s life, and we have to get on with it.

“We should have grown into the game, but we had a lot of unforced errors which cost us. They are part of the process with this group and we have to go through the grind of it.

“Small mistakes are becoming bigger because of where we’re at. Earlier in the season we knew we’d come again, but I back them to come through this.”

Rams have a week off before travelling to title-chasing Plymouth Albion on March 14.