FRUSTRATED Seb Reynolds admitted his side’s high penalty count had proved costly as they suffered back-to-back National One defeats with a 37-17 reverse at Cinderford.
The hosts, who led 27-5 midway through the second period, claimed three tries from the rolling maul through Nathan Taylor, Dec Fissenden and Shaun Knight with the final play, along with a George Gladding interception and an impeccable four conversions and three penalties from the outstanding Mike Austin.
Rams, meanwhile, gained a first-half try from Will Partington along with Ollie Moffitt and Henry Bird going over after the break, the former drop-kicking a conversion as his side attempted to rally in the final quarter.
Yet overall Cinderford were good value for their win, with Director of Rugby Seb admitting: “We never really got going, and while we felt we were a threat, we never really saw it other than a brief spurt in the first half and then maybe the final 15 minutes when we came back strongly.
“It was a good game of rugby and Cinderford deserved the win – they’re a very good outfit. You know what they’re going to do, they do it well and we didn’t quite manage it.
“The penalty count was too high – you can’t come and win here like that. I can’t fault our lads – they came here with a load of heart and I felt we were well in the game, but the 15 minutes after half-time didn’t go our way.
“I thought if it had, we’d have been in the battle to win it, but it didn’t.”
At times Rams did look dangerous in attack, but for a variety of reasons, were unable to fully click throughout and Seb continued: “Cinderford did a good job to slow down our ball, and I don’t think technically we were executing as well as we could at the breakdown – we probably need to have a look at that and do a bit of work.
“When we got on the front foot I thought we looked really dangerous and I saw signs of how we looked a few weeks ago.
“To come here and win you have to be bold, and in patches we were. I genuinely thought we could comeback even when the score looked unassailable, but it didn’t go our way.”
Both sides suffered some disruption in the first half with Ant Marris forced off early and Jak Rossiter’s departure meaning a switch into the centre for James McRae, while Cinderford’s leading try-scorer Taylor also departed shortly before half-time.
Seb revealed: “You have to manage through a game and injuries happen in rugby. We lost Ant with a calf so he’ll be out for a few weeks and then with Jak off it meant James in midfield where he did a really great job.”
Despite the defeat, Rams hit the halfway point in the season joint top with Sale FC at the top of National One, leaving the DoR proud of his players and with excitement at what is to come.
He concluded: “It’s been a superb first half to the season, and I’m really pleased with where we’re at.
“To do half a season with 11 wins and two losses is fantastic from the players, who should be really pleased with where they’re at.
“But there’s still an awful lot of improvement to come from this group, and we can look forward to an exciting game at home to Chinnor on Friday (7.45pm).”
By Richard Ashton
