Rams continued their pre-season preparation last Saturday 18th August with a trip to Welsh premiership side Bridgend Ravens. Despite falling 3-0 behind after conceding a penalty in early exchanges, the first half belonged to the men from Reading.
Ex-championship fly-half Alex Seers delivered a virtually faultless first 40 minutes that gave his new side good field for position and enabled Rams’ powerful set-piece to flourish. Tries from Niall Kidd, Ross Crame, Ellis Jones and another new Rams’ signing, and ex-Hull Ionians centre, Andrew Humberstone, gave Rams a 26-10 lead at the interval.
The second-half belonged to the home side as the Ravens showed why they are a high-flying Welsh premiership outfit. The electric pace of Bridgend winger Aaron Grabham in the first 10 minutes of the second period put his side right back into contention. But Rams held their nerve and scored what has become a trademark try as powerful scrummaging applied pressure deep into the Ravens’ own 22 before releasing lively new signing Rhys Tudor with space out wide and the ex-Hartpury winger demonstrated his deadly finishing skills. But the final say went to Bridgend Ravens as some slick handling put second row Chris John through a gap in Rams’ defence and the move was neatly finished by Will Baraclough with Murphy adding the extras on the stroke of full-time to leave the final score Bridgend 27 Rams 31.
Rams’ Head Coach, Seb Reynolds, was pleased with his side’s performance but thinks there is still a lot to do. “Bridgend is a great rugby club and for us it was an honour to play at Brewery Field against a quality side. I was pleased with the result but there is still a lot of hard work to do before we take-on Canterbury at home on 1st September”. Rams’ Defence Coach, Danny Batty, agreed: “our new defensive system worked well at times, but with lots of new young players joining the squad we need to make sure that everybody understands that they need to be in the right place, at the right time”.
Aside from the encouraging performances of Rams’ debutants, the National 2 side’s coaches were full of praise for the hard work from returning squad members. Forwards Coach, Owen Root, paid tribute to Loose Head and ex-Windsor RFC player Niall Kidd “what’s really nice about working with this pack is that they are so keen to learn, and Niall is a great example of someone who joined us as a raw talent last summer but has now become a first class National 2 performer in the front row and around the pitch”.
Rams first league game is at home against Canterbury on 1st September at Old Bath Road, kick-off at 2.30pm.