SEB Reynolds was pleased with the way his RAMS side overcame adversity in securing a bonus-point 24-19 National One victory at Hull in the first game of 2023.
The win snapped a two-match losing streak prior to Christmas – and looked as though it was going to be routine with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining as the visitors led 24-0 on the back of tries from Henry Bird, Ollie Cole, Jak Rossiter and Josh Collis, Will Partington with a brace of conversions.
Yet they had suffered first-half injuries to scrum-half Cole, stand-off Rowan Grundy and outside centre Ellis Jones, meaning a plethora of positional switches including flanker Collis moving to 12, and Hull hit back strongly with Keane Naylor, Steve Johnson and Mike Adlard all crossing the whitewash late on.
However, RAMS held their nerve in the final 90 seconds to secure a win which leave them second in the table, and the Director of Rugby admitted:
“I’m pleased because Hull have a new coaching team and they showed great energy – they were really motivated for the first home game of the new year and wanted to come out with a bang.
“That was a conundrum, add to the fact it’s an overnight trip and then we had to face adversity in the game with losing three backs to injuries.
“Suddenly you’ve got Josh Collis having to go into the midfield, Ollie Allan was on the wing at one point, and in dealing with all that I thought we were superb.
“We played some outstanding rugby, particularly on the counter-attack and our tempo was excellent against a good Hull side – I credit both teams for the way they played and it really was a fine game of rugby.”
He continued: “Sometimes in adversity you find some benefits, and the fact Scuba (Stevie Bryant) had to come on after five minutes later meant he was outside Josh, and so you then have the best defensive centre around to help him do that.”
“Getting Stevie into the action almost immediately, he was a general in defence, getting up out of the line and making some fantastic hits and looking good in attack as well.”
Collis was the star man with an action-packed display throughout, with Reynolds adding: “Josh is an intelligent rugby player and knows what he’s doing, he was brilliant going in at 12 and had some lovely off-loads, and I also thought Vinny (Everitt) and was outstanding and Ollie was really energetic in the first half.”
The first three-quarters of the game had seen RAMS produce a superb effort in marked contrast with their penalty-ridden defeat at Cinderford last time out, and after four weeks without a fixture, the DoR concluded: “During the week it felt like the break had come at a good time, and for 65 minutes it showed, even with the changes.
“If we hold our discipline, we’re a very good side and hard to contain, but rugby is a game of momentum and pressure and Hull managed to get the swing with about 15 minutes to go.
“We’d perhaps left two tries out there early in the second half and they came back well, but we saw the game out really well for the final minute and a half, and that was important.”
RAMS host Bishop’s Stortford in their first home game of 2023 on Saturday (3pm).
By Richard Ashton
