RAMS came from behind to snatch a helter-skelter 36-32 victory at home to Darlington Mowden Park in a thrilling 10-try shoot-out.
It was the away side who came hurtling out of the blocks as they raced into a 12-0 lead on the back of early tries from Ben Frankland and wing Brandon Asher-Wood, the latter set-up by a clever chip from fly-half Garry Law which was subsequently spread wide for the speedster to touch down on the right.
Yet Rams got to work and struck back when a sublime cross-field kick from Drew Humberstone was collected by Henry Bird, and a couple of phases later, the ball found Connor Hayhow to dot down on the right.
The hosts cut the gap to two points shortly afterwards as their dominant scrum got to work, two consecutive penalties on the DMP five-metre line preceding a pushover score finished off by captain Robbie Stapley.
Things got even worse for the away side shortly after as prop Ralph Appleby was sin-binned for another infringement at the scrum, but the northerners coped superbly and actually extended their advantage with a brace of Law penalties.
Trailing 18-10 at the interval, it was Rams who this time came flying forward from the restart, and Park suffered a second yellow card when Euan McKirdy was ruled to have deliberately knocked on.
On this occasion the hosts made the most of their numerical advantage, a carbon-copy of the second try seeing Stapley claim the honours on his 175th start for the club.
Rowan Grundy this time landed the conversion, and his side then hit the front for the first time with the score of the afternoon.
Some slick hands off the top of a line-out saw the ball down the line, and full-back Michael Dykes then showed a blistering turn of foot to scorch in from some 45 metres out.
Grundy slotted the extras for 24-18, and things got even better for Rams as Hayhow’s interception saw him sprint clear before unselfishly setting-up Jak Rossiter to go over to the right of the posts.
With the conversion on target the hosts had a 13-point lead, but as their discipline started to waver, DMP hit back with Law adding the extras to a close-range try from centre Callum Mackenzie.
Rams’ nerves were somewhat allayed with their sixth try of the afternoon, and the third from the base of a scrum, replacement James McRae this time adding the finishing touches for his maiden effort for the club.
Mowden Park refused to give up, though, and with Hayhow now in the bin for a knock-on, gave the home side a further scare when McKirdy sniped over with a minute to play, the excellent Law again on target.
Yet Tom Vooght managed to force a knock-on following the restart, and with the scrum holding firm, Drew Humberstone booted the ball off to seal a seventh win in eight games.
And the variety of play showcased by Rams pleased Reynolds, who said: “We’re not just all scrum and maul! What supporters got was two sides who wanted to play some rugby and you got your money’s worth if you came along.
“They did a good job of not allowing us to maul – I’d argue there’s a fine margin of whether they were sacking our jumper or if they were just bringing it down – so we had to go to other areas and we played some really good stuff, although so did DMP.
“After a slow start we established some dominance with field position and put the squeeze on the opposition, bringing ourselves back into the game.
“But we then slipped off again which allowed them to come back into it and get ahead.
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“At half-time and 18-10 down, we had a really tough job on our hands because these guys can score another three or four tries in rapid order, so you have to be really careful.”
By Richard Ashton
