Good spirits on a warm Saturday afternoon greeted Redingensians Rams. Their hosts, Bishop’s Stortford, had narrowly beat Mike Tewkesbury’s men at their previous meeting when a last-minute try by Nick Hankin gave them a 24-25 victory. Since then, Bishop’s Stortford have risen to the top of the table in National League 2 South with an 81% win rate. Today posed their final challenge before promotion: Redingensians Rams playing some of their fiercest rugby of the season.

Bishop’s Stortford kicked off into some early aggression and won successive penalties to push Rams back to their 22. Despite excellent line drilling from the visitors, they were soon being hassled at their tryline and eventually conceded a try to loosehead Will Roberts. This was converted by Tom Banks for the first of many points put on the board.

An immediate comeback saw Rams return the try. Aggressive pushes by Robbie Stapley and Steven Bryant gave Ben Henderson a storming push-over only 3 minutes after Stortford’s first victory. Atkins’ homecoming to kicking duties saw a contentious decision in which one linesman refused the conversion to the confusion of spectators and players.

However, Atkins’ determination for points extended past the posts. A few moments later he found his opposing try line with a chip-and-catch that gave Rams an enthusiastic lead. He converted this himself for a 7-12 score line at the 25-minute mark.

Unfortunately Rams’ fortunes were soon to change with Ben Henderson being yellow carded for side-entry. Playing a man down, they suffered greatly to Stortford’s superb drilling and conceded two successive tries; the first by Steve Ball at the back of a dangerous scrum and the second by Nick Hankin reaffirming his treacherous pace with a solo try under the posts. The second of these was converted, again by Banks.

After a stellar performance throughout the first half Steven Bryant was also sent to the sin bin for contesting the referee’s call in a ruck. The first forty minutes had felt a lot longer for Rams, who conceded their 4th try in the final moments to Jimmy Rea’s run down the left-hand side. Banks deposited the extras for a half-time interval with 26-12 sat on the scoreboard.

The second half demonstrated a renewed vigour for the Reading side. The direction of play was cemented firmly in Stortford’s direction and within 5 minutes of the whistle Ross Crame, Phil Hoy and James Baker were battering their opposing line. Ben Henderson completed the act for his 2nd try of the day, which was converted again by Atkins.

Despite Rams ramping up their attacks they soon suffered again to Stortford’s Hankin, who intercepted wide right and went on to run the length of the pitch for the team’s only try of the half. This was converted by Banks, who would be yellow-carded a few minutes later for playing the ball off of his feet.

The final 20 minutes of the match highlighted Rams’ determination and demonstrated some of their toughest rugby of the season. Substitutes Andy Amor and Craig Nightingale entered the pitch to enthusiastic assaults of Stortford’s defensive line. As a full 15, Rams continued to push hard against Stortford’s stalwart defence.

Constant pressure and consecutive penalty wins soon earned Rams their 4th try of the day in the hands of Conor Corrigan, who scored in the far-left corner. Atkins picked up his trickiest conversion of the day and put the team within touching distance of Bishop’s Stortford’s point advantage: 33-26 and 15 minutes still on the clock.

The final try of the day was scored by Greg Illingworth, who completed a fantastic break by Ben Henderson. A tense atmosphere ensued after Atkins added the extras; the home crowd amazed that their healthy first-half lead had sunk to a tied 33-33 score line in the final moments.

With everything to play for, both teams ushered in a frantic 5 minutes to close the game. End-to-end, nail-biting rugby provided some of the most entertaining play of the season but ultimately left Rams unsatisfied when a last-play penalty gave Stortford a narrow win at 36-33.

Despite the end result, Rams took pride in competing play-to-play with the National League 2 South forerunners. Mike Tewkesbury summed it up with an emotional post-game talk, stating that they matched the strong side on level terms. ‘It wasn’t to be today’, he said to the team and added with certainty: ‘but those days will be yours’.
Redingensians Rams will return to OBR on the 22nd April for their final home fixture of the season: fighting to do the double against Worthing Raiders.

Match Report by Matt McCrory
Photo by Tim Pitfield

Redingensians Rams:
Tries: Henderson 18, 45; Atkins 25; Corrigan 63; Illingworth 76
Conversions: Atkins 25, 45, 63, 76

Bishop's Stortford:
Tries: Roberts 15; Ball 33; Hankin 35, 47; Rea 40
Conversions: Banks 15, 35, 40, 47
Penalties: Banks 80

Redingensians Rams:
15 - Foxley
14 - Rossiter
13 - Bryant
12 - Guttridge
11 - Corrigan
10 - Atkins
9 - Illingworth
1 - Steadman
2 - Henderson
3 - Baker
4 - Hoy
5 - Wolf
6 - Crame
7 - Vooght
8 - Stapley (c)
Replacements:
16 - Mcdonnell-Roberts
17 - Drew
18 - Amor
19 - Nightingale
20 - Cole

Bishop's Stortford:
15 - Simmonds
14 - Hutler
13 - Hankin
12 - Winter
11 - Rea
10 - T. Coleman (c)
9 - T. Banks
1 - Roberts
2 - Caulfield
3 - Edwards
4 - George
5 - Tomlinson
6 - Apperley
7 - Elsom
8 - Ball
Replacements:
16 - Brownhill
17 - McCrone
18 - R. Banks
19 - Clancy
20 - S. Coleman