THREE-TRY hero Connor Hayhow admitted he had the forwards to thank for his brilliant hat-trick in Saturday’s 41-27 home win against Plymouth Albion.

It was a second National One treble for the inside centre, and with Max Hayman also crossing the whitewash, the pack earning a penalty try from a scrum, and Drew Humberstone adding 16 points with the boot, Rams overcame the 18th-minute red card of Jak Rossiter to complete a magnificent victory in front of a terrific Old Bath Road crowd.

Reflecting on how rare it is to bag a hat-trick, Connor praised his teammates in saying: “I snuck one at Rotherham in my first season here which was again given to me by the scrum-half, so it must be a trend I sit on the nine’s shoulder and go over from close range!

“But before that it’s probably since I was seven or eight years old in tag rugby.”

He continued: “A lot of credit has to go to the forwards – Max’s darts (at the line-out) helped get us on the front foot and then it was a case of right place, right time to be honest.”

The neutral might have expected Plymouth to overturn a 7-6 deficit when Jak was sent off at the end of the first quarter following an aerial collision with Exeter Chiefs loanee Shea Cornish – the visiting player thankfully able to continue playing – but Connor believes it showed how much Rams fight for one another.

He explained: “It was a massive performance and we showed massive heart. We’re in it for each other and this proved it again by winning with 14 men for 60 minutes and down to 13 for a bit as well.

“I think the red card gave us a kick and reminded us we were really in a game of rugby.”

The victory made it back-to-back wins at the start of 2022 and lifted Rams to seventh in the table ahead of a tough trip to Leeds Tykes this coming Saturday and Connor concluded: “The mood in the camp is really good and we know we’ve got a long run of games, so it’s really exciting times ahead.”