SEB Reynolds said the overriding emotion was happiness for his players after Rams’ last-gasp 38-34 National One home win against Rosslyn Park.
An injury-time penalty try sealed a first success of the season and completed a wonderful comeback.
A disastrous start saw Park 12-0 up inside five minutes as Luke Mehson and Freddie Vaughan dotted down, Lochie Glackin with a conversion.
Rams got on the board as Ross McKay added to an Oli Sedgwick score.
But further tries from George Orchard and Mehson, and another Glackin kick, made it 24-7.
The Berkshire boys, though, grabbed two seven-pointers just before the break from Mikey Duda and McKay.
Mehson completed his hat-trick before Max Marshall secured Rams’ try bonus-point.
Yet Max Wheeler burrowed over from close range to push Park eight points clear with 10 minutes left.
Matt Blee gave the hosts’ hope with his first touchdown for the club, and when Mehson was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, denying Axel Kalling-Smith a walk-in in front of Clubhouse Corner, the penalty try proved decisive.
It was the latest in a long line of crackers between the clubs, and Reynolds began: “It’s a good fixture!
“In many ways it was very different because there are so many new players for both sides, yet it didn’t fail to produce.
“I never felt we should lose the game, even when Park went 24-7 up – I thought we could create enough pressure to capitalise and get back in it.
“I think we deserved to win, and we’d have kicked ourselves if we hadn’t crossed the line.
“However, the unforced error count was too high.
“We had sustained pressure in their 22 which we weren’t able to capitalise on, but the good news is this young group are going to get there.
“This was the next step for them.”
He continued: “I’m happy for the boys and it’s still so early in the season.
“We’ve picked up bonus points, scored four tries in every game, had so many new guys come in and used more than 30 players.
“We’re rebuilding with a new group, and I think they’re doing a great job. The attitude among them is outstanding, the effort level is superb, and they’ve just got to keep plugging away.”
Asked whether the closeness of the victory could be even more of a fillip than a simple win, the head coach joked: “I’d like us to win by 40 points every week, but that’s not a reality!
“The plus side was we got an entertaining game.”
With the atmosphere rocking at the end, the DoR closed by stating: “It was very quiet to start with, but it’s no fault other than ours.
“We took all the energy out of the crowd by letting them score two tries in the first five minutes and it looked like they could run away with it, but the lads wrestled back control and did a decent job.
“We need to generate the atmosphere by putting a product on the park which people want to come and support.
“Thankfully by the end we did, the guys fought for the win and there was a great roar. But there’s lots we need to work on.”
Rams visit Birmingham Moseley on Saturday (3.30pm).
Report by Richard Ashton
