SEB Reynolds is confident Rams will turn things round after losing a third straight National One game for just the second time in a dramatic 27-26 reverse at Rosslyn Park.
Home captain Arthur Ellis opened the scoring early on before Joe Luca Smith’s double and two Josh Bragman conversions had the Londoners 19-0 up inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour, their opponents getting off the mark as Fraser Honey added to a Morgan MacRae maul effort.
Park picked up the try bonus-point through Tom Stanton, but a converted Zach Clow score with the final play of the first half gave the visitors hope.
That was expanded as full-back Andrew Lamb grabbed his first for the club, Honey again on target, and Rams hit the front with eight minutes remaining as Ben Atkins stretched over.
However, they conceded a penalty from the restart, star man Bragman landing a blow which leaves the Berkshire side six points adrift of leaders Richmond at the halfway point of the season.
A philosophical Reynolds admitted: “The first 15 minutes cost us, if you wipe that from the game then you’re looking at a reasonable win – but it’s not how rugby works!
“You need to be on it from the word go and Rosslyn Park were, we weren’t. Maybe it’s because we had a couple of wet weeks where it’s been soft underfoot, but The Rock is also always a tough away game against a top side who’ve been in good form.
“They caught us on the hop and deserved their victory.”
While disappointed in defeat, the DoR saw plenty of positives as Rams remain second in the table.
He explained: “I’m pleased with the guts and determination of the guys to come back and get into a position where we probably should have won, but also we’re starting to build back a little cohesion into the group.
“We’ve had a couple of setbacks with injuries and what-not, but they happen in rugby and we just have to trust the next guy onto the block to step in – Morgan’s done a tremendous job at hooker and James McRae calling the line-out is doing a fantastic job.
“Robbie (Stapley’s) had to step into the second row, he’s doing very well, and I thought Dan Swain again was physical for the whole game plus the 15-metre left-hand pass to put Zach over in the corner.
“I thought Jake Murray was superb, and Andrew’s come into the side and done well, he had some nice touches from 15, a quick line-out and then he finished his try beautifully, so there’s some good stuff and we’ll work on it.
“Ben again brought a top energy and got an early turnover which affected the mood of the side, and from there I’d have backed us to go on and win.
“But the reason we all love the sport is because you’ll have times where it doesn’t go your way, we’re now on the back of three losses which could have been three wins, and we must dust ourselves off and get back to it ahead of a big week before Christmas and Esher.”
A sizable crowd of 850 celebrated Rosslyn’s festive home fixture, yet there were large periods of the game where they were drowned out by the visiting Rams’ fans, leading Reynolds to conclude: “They were amazing again – thank you to everyone who travelled to support the team.
“We’re sorry about the losses in the past few weeks, but we can’t wait for another Friday Night game (December 20) and hope to see everyone there.”
Having had 1,829 pour into Old Bath Road last time out, hopes are high at the club for another bumper crowd to step into Christmas at Rams (7.45pm kick-off).
