CONNOR Hayhow grabbed his fourth Rams’ hat-trick as the hosts maintained their perfect start to the National One season with a comfortable 40-15 home success against 14-man Darlington Mowden Park.
Yet, it was the away side who drew first blood when a beautiful 50-22 gave them field position before the ball was spun wide for Ollie Walker to touch down on the left.
Rams replied swiftly, though, as man-of-the-match Ollie Cole took a quick tap penalty before sprinting in from 40 metres out, and things got even worse for the northerners in the 26th minute, prop James Crickmay red carded for making contact with the head of Paul Englezos in midfield.
Rams hit the front almost immediately afterwards as Hayhow blasted over from close range, Cole’s fine pass setting up the chance after a powerful rolling maul had been halted just short of the line.
Ali Ledingham missed a 35-metre penalty for the visitors shortly after, and Rams grabbed their third via a Hayhow interception just after the half-hour as their suffocating defence forced an error from DMP in midfield.
Leading 19-5 at the interval, Rams secured their try bonus-point early in the second period as some fine hands from Cole, Drew Humberstone and Hayhow ended with the in-form Jak Rossiter diving over for his eighth of the campaign – the wing retaining his place at the top of the league’s try-scoring list as he took his Rams’ tally to 66.
The hosts moved further in front on 47 minutes when Vince Everitt collected the fifth from close range following a period of pressure, the flanker alert to a gap in the DMP defence under the posts, Seers adding the extras for 33-5.
However, Park hit back when some sloppy Rams defence allowed Ledingham over on the right, his side having benefitted from a number of missed tackles in a move which started just outside their own 22.
This gave the 14 men hope, and they continued to throw the ball around, camping for a short time near the Rams line.
Yet some more solid defence repelled their attacks, and with Rams really getting on top at the scrum – twice they pushed their opponents back off their own ball to win penalties on the Mowden Park five-metre line – they collected their sixth score as Hayhow completed his hat-trick from close range.
It was Darlington who had the final word as Connor Fitzsimons crossed with the last play of the game for the away side, but by this stage it was far too little, too late.
Commenting on the game, Director of Rugby, Reynolds, said: “I thought it was a solid if not spectacular performance, but credit to our guys, they’ve been superb in the first five weeks of the season.
“DMP came out of the blocks well and put us under pressure – we also sometimes also put ourselves under pressure and afforded them counter-attacking opportunities which allowed them to keep the ball alive and go through the phases.
“They’re one of the most dangerous sides in the league and you have to be really vigilant against them the whole time.
“I said before the game they could have been four from four – they’re a very good side and I thought we did very well to grind them down, aided by the red card.”
“There’s an exponential effect on the fact you can build fatigue, but other than that, teams are so organised the extra man doesn’t pay dividend in the immediate phase play.
“You have to be patient and (captain) Robbie (Stapley) was putting the message in to keep building and eventually we’d get the rewards from it.
“The most important thing was not to panic if it didn’t come immediately, because when they’re down to 14 men it doesn’t guarantee the win, it just means both teams have to manage it and we did that in the end.”
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Report by Richard Ashton
