RAMS RFC’s National One title hopes took a hit after their six match winning streak was broken with a defeat at home to Sale FC.
The results leaves Rams five points adrift of table-topping Chinnor with five games left to play.
Having taken a fifth-minute lead through a converted Jak Rossiter try, the hosts found themselves 24-12 down at the break as Nathan Langdon, Fergus Mulchrone and Mark Dixon all crossed for Sale, James Robins kicking nine points as Max Hayman grabbed his 20th score of the season in reply.
Rams started the second half well, held up over the line from a maul and forcing the Dogs into some terrific defence, but a Mulchrone interception led to Dixon’s second as Sale took control.
A Drew Humberstone score added to by Fraser Honey gave the hosts’ hope with 10 minutes to go, but the electric Tom Walsh slammed the door shut late on before Robins landed another tremendous touchline conversion.
“We weren’t good enough, but you can’t take anything away from Sale’s performance – they were very good and fully deserved to win,” said director of rugby Seb Reynolds.
“They were superb at shutting us down in midfield, meaning we had to play with a lot of slow ball and at times we didn’t manage that well. They also stopped our maul well at source and our fringe attacks.
“On the other side of the ball they attacked in the wide channels and got a lot of change there, creating a lot of two-on-one opportunities, and wing Tom Walsh looked very dangerous, as he always is.”
Rams’ best chance of getting back into the contest came either side of the interval when they had some sustained pressure, and the DoR continued: “There were little swing moments which if they go your way, you’re looking at a win, but they didn’t, and Sale took the game away from us.
“There were some positives, though, with some good impact from the bench – I thought Ben Atkins broke the line well, Ollie Monye looked an instant threat as soon as he came on and Drew took his try nicely near the end, but it wasn’t enough”
Next up for Rams is a trip to Cinderford next Saturday, and Reynolds said: “When you have a failure like this you have to treat it as a lesson for how you move on – it’s a shame it’s another lesson from Sale.”
