SEB Reynolds believes his Rams players have done ‘amazingly well’ as they prepare to return to action at home to Darlington Mowden Park on Saturday (3pm).
Following an opening six wins from seven National One matches, defeat at Leicester Lions last time the only blemish on an excellent start to the campaign, the Senior Squad returned to training last week as they began work for the visit of DMP.
“We’ve had a fantastic start to the season and improved on where we were last year,” said Reynolds.
“The players are a pleasure to be around, and you have to enjoy that.
“They’ve done amazingly well, and I can’t fault them. We had a strong pre-season and in terms of accumulating points, we’d have taken what we’ve got and we’re in a decent position.”
Rams had to come-from-behind in their first three games to defeat Birmingham Moseley (50-36), Chinnor (29-19) and Sedgley Park (41-20), before they also overcame Rosslyn Park (31-20), Taunton Titans (41-35) and Bishop’s Stortford (26-10) to make it a super six before the Leicester loss.
Heading the table after the first block, Reynolds continued: “At the start of a season, you never quite know how it’s going to go – every club feels they’re in a good place and no-ones thinking when you begin, ‘oh, we’re rubbish’ – and the first seven games is a bit of a shake-out where you find out where you are.
“We’ve seen we’ve got a good young squad coming through, some experienced guys performing well, new guys come in and perform outstandingly.
“If we’d lost the first game and won six in a row, you’d be loving life – so there’s no reason to think differently just because we lost the last one.
“You’re always going to lose games so there’s no point getting too upset about it.”
The Darlington fixture kickstarts another tough seven-match run in the lead-up to Christmas, with a trip to Sale, home game with Cinderford, away date at Blackheath, OBR tussle against third-placed Plymouth Albion before two more journeys to top-five sides Richmond and neighbours Chinnor, the latter a Friday Night Lights clash at Kingsey Road.
Reynolds added: “We’ve enjoyed the break, it was important for the players to get some down time and away from rugby, enjoying themselves, and now we’re ready to go again.”
Tickets for Saturday cost £15 in advance through the club website, or £17.50 on the day.
By Richard Ashton
