FORWARDS coach Owen Root believes there is plenty more to come from his side despite Rams celebrating a fabulous 54-29 centenary home success against Leicester Lions.
In a pulsating National One encounter Tom Vooght opened the scoring at the back of a maul, skipper Max Hayman levelling the duo on 58 career tries in a repeat set-piece execution after Luke Bouchier had landed a penalty.
Ryan Lomas came on after 15 minutes and claimed his maiden Rams’ score during a superb display, the former Irish Under 20 burrowing over as the hosts moved 19-3 up, but a rare Lions’ forage into Rams’ territory led to Ollie Cole being sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on just before half-time.
The home side made light of their numerical disadvantage as Nile Dacres sealed the bonus-point a minute into the second period, Fraser Honey making it three from four from the tee, but Leicester replied swiftly as Aaron Pope and George Pearson dotted down in the space of three minutes, Bouchier converting the first for 26-15.
However, long-range scores from Tomek Pozniak and Axel Kalling-Smith steadied the ship, and despite Pope doubling up, Zach Clow’s late brace – the first a try-of-the-week contender – sealed the deal before Isaac Thompson snatched a bonus-point for Lions with a minute remaining.
With the pack having laid the platform for victory with the trio of first-half scores, Root commented: “It was a was very positive start in terms of the way we wanted to get the maul functioning – it wasn’t as effective last week so we wanted to get it going again – and it was great to see different guys getting on the end of it.
“We’ve got a top energy around the maul now, but I still think there’s work to do and we could have been more ruthless in terms of our technical points.
“However, it was fantastic to get the three early scores from it.”
With the forwards also making a statement with three early line-out steals, he continued: “We reviewed it and saw it as something they use to get their game going – they’ve had some fantastic attack from it in previous games so it was a good effort to limit that as much as we could, and to take the first three against the throw bred some confidence in what our guys were doing.
“We spoke about continuing to target it in the second half and I thought the guys did well.
“We came under pressure with the yellow card and it was a tricky patch, but the endeavour was superb.
“However, you’ve got to credit Leicester – they’re an excellent side – so the boys did a great job because they kept going to the end.”
Also excellent were the 1,175-strong crowd, and Root ended by thanking them for their ongoing support as Rams made it five bonus-point wins from five.
He said: “It was a big game and we were excited to be here for the centenary game – I came out of the changing rooms and it was busy already (at 1.20pm).
“It gives an energy to everyone, and the players are so aware of it – you can feel it round the ground – and we’re so grateful for the people who keep turning up and bringing their voices. It’s absolutely fantastic.”
Rams visit Bishop’s Stortford next Saturday (3pm).
