Six tries cemented Redingensians Rams second seasonal meeting with Exmouth RFC. A 43-21 score line on the final whistle came as the result of solid open-centric play and points scored by the majority of the backs under Seb Reynolds’ coaching.

Dan Barnes opened the floodgates, scoring the first of many for Rams in the first 90 seconds of play. Ross Crame followed suit, breaking through the Exmouth defence and offloading to Steve Bryant for a try under the posts. Jacob Atkins eyed the extras on both for a 14-0 score.

Exmouth found some consolation after the reset. Milo Reynolds scored on the momentum of Exmouth’s pack and a fantastic run from Alex Goldman. George Meadows won the extras on conversion duties.

The visitors looked a lot less fortunate as the half went on: Jacob Atkins picked up another 3 points via penalty and Mark Wathes temporarily took Exmouth down to 14 men following a high tackle offence.

Mike Tewkesbury’s men were more than happy to take advantage of Exmouth’s missing outside centre. Jak Rossiter stepped 3 defenders on the right wing for his first try of the game, shortly followed by Greg Illingworth under his own chip past the Exmouth defence. Atkins won the conversion on Illingworth’s try.

The home side continued to look threatening for the remainder of the first half. Jack Steadman and Jak Rossiter made an unlikely duo down the right wing, narrowly missing out on the try following a nice step past Exmouth’s front line. Rossiter missed out again when his try was pulled back for a forward pass a few moments later.

Instead it was Exmouth to put the last points in before the whistle. Some well-drilled offloads put Rams in a scramble between their own posts, eventually conceding to James Harris. Meadows made the conversion for 29-14 at half time.

The final forty followed the same patterns. Rossiter scored early with a clear overlap in Exmouth’s wing. Atkins again completed a tricky conversion from the side line.

Exmouth found it difficult to face the Redingensian forwards. Antony Marris, Ben Henderson and James Baker made a formidable front row and, alongside Phil Hoy and Ollie Taylor in the lineouts, effectively locked Exmouth out of set pieces for the majority of the second half.

Exmouth instead found most of their opportunities through fumbles or poor ruck etiquette. In the 55th minute the visitors had found enough of these mistakes to start making threats towards the home try line. After eventually breaking through, Exmouth’s Isaac Dolton emerged with the try; an embarrassing event for the Redingensian defence.

A frustrating 15 minutes remained. While Rams were quick to find possession, Tom Vooght turning over multiple rucks and Sam Guttridge covering Exmouth’s keen clears, their offensive opportunities were held back by fumbles or eager whistles from the referee. Marris and Vooght both found Exmouth’s try line but had their tries disallowed in contentious decisions.

Instead Conor Corrigan picked up the final points of the game. He scooped up a loose attack and scored under the posts after weaving the entire Exmouth defence. Jacob Atkins won the conversion for a final score of 43-21.

Next week Redingensians Rams will take their 5 point win to London, in which they’ll hope to pick up their second win of the season against Barnes.

Report by Matt McCrory
Photo by Paul Clark

Rams:
Tries: Barnes 1; Bryant 13; Rossiter 28, 44; Illingworth 31, Corrigan 61
Conversions: Atkins 1, 13, 31, 45, 61
Penalties: Atkins 25

Exmouth:
Tries: Reynolds 16; Harris 35; Dalton 56
Conversions: Meadows 17, 35, 56

Redingensians Rams:
15 - Guttridge
14 - Rossiter
13 - Bryant
12 - Barnes
11 - Corrigan
10 - Atkins
9 - Illingworth
1 - Steadman
2 - Henderson
3 - McDonnell-Roberts
4 - Hoy
5 - Thompson
6 - Taylor
7 - Vooght (c)
8 - Crame

Replacements:
16 - Baker
17 - Marris
18 - Amor
19 - Nightingale
20 - Lloyd

Exmouth:
15 - Rice
14 - Ridgeway
13 - Wathes
12 - Goldman
11 - Downie
10 - Meadows
9 - Cushion
1 - Savage
2 - Gibblings
3 - Dalton
4 - Fahy (c)
5 - Reynolds
6 - Harris
7 - Bargent
8 - Kelly

Replacements:
16 - Ozdemir
17 - Armstrong
18 - Richards
19 - Thompson
20 - Mattin