RAMS Director of Rugby Seb Reynolds believes his side wasted a couple of opportunities as they slipped to a 32-21 home reverse against Sale.
The hosts made a dream start as Max Hayman crossed in just the second minute, Jacob Atkins converting, only for the northerners to hit back when Chris Johnson added the extras to a Nev Edwards score on the right.
However, Jak Rossiter’s brilliant try put Rams back in front, only for Sale to level via Rhys Davies immediately afterwards. It was 141-14 after a quarter-of-an-hour.
Edwards’ second put the away side in front at the break and the speedster completed his hat-trick early in the second half to push Sale 26-14 in front.
Johnson’s penalty made it 29-14, but Rams rallied with Hayman scoring a second, only for the away side to seal the deal when Johnson dropped a goal in injury-time.
Despite defeat, a philosophical Reynolds explained: “It was a good game and both sides played some excellent rugby in the first half – scores were going to-and-fro and it could have been anyone’s game.
“At that point we should have taken the game away from Sale and at the end of the first half we had some really good opportunities where perhaps we could have arm-wrestled them into a couple more scores.
“But credit to them, they played some good tactical rugby and had some savvy heads who helped them to a deserved victory.”
He continued: “Their kicking game and game management was good – we were playing some good rugby against that and counter-attacking very well, but a couple of our decisions gave them the swing.
“We were a little bit flat at times – we didn’t really give the crowd a reason to get going and by the time we did, it was too late.”
While it was a second consecutive defeat for the injury-hit hosts, there were encouraging signs with young hooker Hayman – making his first start at Old Bath Road – particularly impressive.
And Reynolds remarked: “Max was brilliant – he’s a little bulldozer. He carried well and there were some really good chop tackles, two good scores and he’s a strong boy, so I was really pleased for him.”
The defeat leaves Rams third in the table after nine games of the season, a three-week break now coming up ahead of a monumental home game against leaders Cinderford on November 20.
Reynolds concluded: “It’s a long season and we’ve got a bit of time off – it’s three weeks until we play our next National One game so we can reflect on what’s been a good start to the season.
“The players have been excellent, but there’s lots to improve on – we’ve got to have a look at how we manage games and how we can kick on as a side, how we play in certain scenarios.
“Hopefully we’ll have a few guys back – Robbie Stapley and a couple of other guys means the competition for places will be high, which is what we want.”
