Phil Hoy makes a fine debut for Rams, scoring the second of the squad's three tries and putting in some hard hits that leave Henley Hawks reeling backwards. Taking a place in the second row, he makes a fine addition to Rams' scrum which continues to intimidate all takers in National 2 South.

This home game saw Rams narrowly lose to Hawks with a final score line of 22-26. While the majority of the game was dominated by the Reading men, it was bookended by powerful play from Hawks, who pipped the home side to posts with points scored in the opening and closing minutes.

A quick start saw Rams concede the first try after a clearing kick was charged down and run under the goal posts by Hawks' flanker George Lane. This lead was soon dismissed by the home side when Jacob Atkins first scored a forty-meter penalty kick and then provided Sean McDermottroe with a smooth, try-scoring offload ten minutes later.

At half-time Rams' had established their most pronounced lead at 17-10. Throughout the final forty minutes, this gap tightened as Henley took advantage of two yellow cards and less structured, frantic play on Rams’ side of the pitch.

A final try for Rams was the result of a kick, chase, catch and score, all from full-back Jak Rossiter in a run that spanned the entire pitch. Rossiter had been ruthless in defence throughout the game but also found time to demonstrate his expertise in finding and exploiting opposition space.

Other impressive plays came from Chico U’Chong, who performed an excellent, high-pressure clearing kick from Rams’ try line, and Ben Henderson, who displayed more qualities of a brick wall than that of outreached arms and shattering shoulders.

The home side were eventually overwhelmed after a try by Thomas Gardner and a trio of penalty kicks by George Jackson. While Rams had lived up to their namesake with dominant play in the forwards and fast-paced aggression in the backs, they conceded repeated penalties in the last ten minutes and were unable to regain the fluid play that had aggravated the opposition earlier in the game.

Team List:
15 - Rossiter
14 - Sims
13 - Bryant
12 - Barnes (c)
11 - McDermottroe
10 - Atkins
9 - U'Chong
1 - Weller
2 - Henderson
3 - Baker
4 - Hoy
5 - Taylor
6 - J. Guttridge
7 - Vooght
8 - Kharbouch

Replacements:
16 - Paxton
17 - Mcdonnell-Roberts
18 - Smith
19 - S. Guttridge
20 - Lloyd

Report by Matt McCrory
Photo - Paul Clark Photography