Redingensians Rams 55 Barnstaple 17
Forty-nine unanswered second half points in a seven goal blitz assured Rams their opening bonus point win of the new National Div. League 3 South West season that got underway last Saturday.
Played on the 3G all-weather pitch at Maidenhead RFC, due to the ongoing work at their redesigned clubhouse at the Old Bath Road, it took Rams a whole forty minutes and to trail 17-6 at half time before finally finding their league feet.
As head coach Mike Tewkesbury summed up: “You can say that `OK there was a couple of new guys in the team and it takes time to settle' but I just felt we didn't have that real energy early on. In the second half when we actually found that energy - and I must pay tribute to Andy Amor for when he came on he seemed to provide that energy – we scored seven tries in 40 minutes which is some going and I thought that it was very, very, impressive.”
Scrum half James Brooks drop kick got the new season underway although he was less successful with his opening penalty, just a few minutes later, that drifted wide.
In fact it was the visitors who grabbed the first points after 10 minutes when Rams coughed up a line-out ball and found themselves frantically defending their line before `Barum' flanker Scott Warren finally smashed over.
Wing Luke Berry converted, 0-7, but Rams hit back from a penalty when, after some back-chat over a peanlty decision, referee Ben Wiles walked the visitors back 10 metres and Brooks comfortably slotted the three points.
But, it was the slick visitors who dominated the rest of the half as Andy Amor came off the bench to deputise for injured flanker Aaron `Azzer' Hopkins who had gone off with a head injury.
A Berry penalty restored `Barums' seven point lead and it was, indeed, the wing who would increase their lead further converting his own try to go 17-3 ahead.
However, on the stroke of half time, Brooks banged over his second spot kick to reduce arrears, 17-6, as visiting centre Ryan Carter was yellow carded for preventing the ball been played at a ruck.
And a resurgent Rams certainly made the best of the visitors one man deficit early in the second half to overturn the scoreline and go, 20-17, ahead in just six minutes.
First a wonderful inside pass from Duffelen, out on the right wing, to fly half Luke Flower saw him put wing Ollie Poole in and it was Duffelen, himself, who grabbed the second steaming through the middle of the visitors defence to run in under the posts.
Centre Steve Bryant grabbed the next, 11 minutes later, following a great attack up the left before Duffelen was held up on the line and the supporting Poole gratefully dabbed down his second.
A move featuring Amor, Bryant and skipper Matt Weller, then set up Flower for a well-deserved debut touchdown with Brooks adding his fifth conversion of the half before handing over to Flower to convert the final two tries.
Replacement scrum half Jack Hill claiming try number six, put away by Duffelen, and it was the inspiration Amor who rounded the try spree off majestically swerving and dummying his way past three grasping defenders to the line and for Flower to add the coup-des-gras!
Summing up, Rams industrious full back Joe Duffelen said: “I think that we were just a bit slow out of the box. We were getting used to each other as a team and once we realised that individually and as a team we had a lot more than them and a tempo that, in the end, they couldn't deal with, once we were in behind them the tries kept flowing.
“I managed to get my hands on the ball quite a bit from full back and, to be honest, that's credit to the platform that the forwards gave us and also having a nine and 10 who ran the game.”
Rams go to league newcomers Bournemouth next Saturday, 3pm, who were relegated from National Div. 2 last season.
Rams – Duffelin; Poole, Bryant, Massey, Foxley; Flower, Brooks; Weller (c), Henderson, Baker; Kruzyki, Hughes; Bryson, Hopkins, Davies. Reps – Crame, Amor, Hill.

Steve Williams