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Bitter sweet afternoon for Spike
Nigel Sutcliffe19 Mar 2016 - 19:36
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But Rams survive Saxons onslaught
Redingensians Rams 26 Southend Saxons 21.
Spike Chandler duly reached his 1000-point league milestone against Southend Saxons then endured a bitter sweet afternoon.
After converting a sixth minute Robbie Stapley try, he hobbled off with a calf injury and had to be a mere onlooker as his side had to survive a fightback by the lowly Essex club.
Rams had raced to a 26-0 lead in the opening quarter but took their foot off the gas to allow the Essex club back into the game.
Chandler admitted: “To reach a thousand points is a nice personal achievement but it’s not about me, it’s about the team.”
“It would have meant nothing if we had lost today against relegation rivals. I could hardly bear to watch the final quarter-of-an-hour"
Rams coach Mike Tewkesbury was baffled by his side’s performance and said: “We were all over them in the first 20 minutes, played some really good rugby, then we relaxed.”
“We made uncharacteristic errors, became lazy in defence and that gave them confidence.”
Stapley opened the scoring with a 30-yard burst after six minutes and ran in under the posts to give Chandler an easy conversion.
Then three more touchdowns came in six minutes. Jamie Guttridge drove over, skipper Dan Barnes finished off good work by Joe Duffelen and Steve Bryant before Rams were awarded a penalty try for a five metre scrum offence.
Southend hooker Marcus Bloomberg was sin-binned and George Drury, taking over the kicking duties from Chandler, landed the second of his conversions.
Fourteen man Saxons fought back with a try from man-of-the-match fly-half Brad Burr, which he converted from the touchline and Rams’ Keiran Ball also saw yellow.
The Southend revival continued with a vengeance in the first ten minutes of the second half as Hayden Smith forced his way over then Burr exploited a yawning gap in the Rams defence.
Burr took his points tally to 16 points with two conversions and the home side had their backs to the wall.
But they kept out the lively Saxons back division in the final half hour with some desperate defence to complete a sixth successive victory..
Duffelen; Foxley, Bryant, Barnes, McDermottroe; Chandler, Drury; Weller, Henderson, Ball, Kerschbaumer, Guttridge, Kharbouch, Vooght, Stapley. Reps: Steadman, Crame, Amor, Nightingale, Richardson.
Spike Chandler duly reached his 1000-point league milestone against Southend Saxons then endured a bitter sweet afternoon.
After converting a sixth minute Robbie Stapley try, he hobbled off with a calf injury and had to be a mere onlooker as his side had to survive a fightback by the lowly Essex club.
Rams had raced to a 26-0 lead in the opening quarter but took their foot off the gas to allow the Essex club back into the game.
Chandler admitted: “To reach a thousand points is a nice personal achievement but it’s not about me, it’s about the team.”
“It would have meant nothing if we had lost today against relegation rivals. I could hardly bear to watch the final quarter-of-an-hour"
Rams coach Mike Tewkesbury was baffled by his side’s performance and said: “We were all over them in the first 20 minutes, played some really good rugby, then we relaxed.”
“We made uncharacteristic errors, became lazy in defence and that gave them confidence.”
Stapley opened the scoring with a 30-yard burst after six minutes and ran in under the posts to give Chandler an easy conversion.
Then three more touchdowns came in six minutes. Jamie Guttridge drove over, skipper Dan Barnes finished off good work by Joe Duffelen and Steve Bryant before Rams were awarded a penalty try for a five metre scrum offence.
Southend hooker Marcus Bloomberg was sin-binned and George Drury, taking over the kicking duties from Chandler, landed the second of his conversions.
Fourteen man Saxons fought back with a try from man-of-the-match fly-half Brad Burr, which he converted from the touchline and Rams’ Keiran Ball also saw yellow.
The Southend revival continued with a vengeance in the first ten minutes of the second half as Hayden Smith forced his way over then Burr exploited a yawning gap in the Rams defence.
Burr took his points tally to 16 points with two conversions and the home side had their backs to the wall.
But they kept out the lively Saxons back division in the final half hour with some desperate defence to complete a sixth successive victory..
Duffelen; Foxley, Bryant, Barnes, McDermottroe; Chandler, Drury; Weller, Henderson, Ball, Kerschbaumer, Guttridge, Kharbouch, Vooght, Stapley. Reps: Steadman, Crame, Amor, Nightingale, Richardson.
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