JAK Rossiter returned to the Rams side in stunning fashion as his hat-trick helped fire the National One leaders to an entertaining 52-24 home win against Leeds Tykes.

For the second week in a row the hosts made a disastrous start, surviving a missed penalty after been caught off-side in fumbling the kick-off only to concede an early try to full-back Kieran Davies.

Having shown his quality in the earlier fixture between the two sides, the dangerman received a kick just inside his own half before gliding past a couple of would-be defenders to touch down.

The early setback galvanised Rams, though, and it was no surprise when captain Robbie Stapley – celebrating his 200th appearance for the hosts – cut a magnificent line to grab his 96th try for the club.

Things got better shortly afterwards as Rams camped inside their opponents’ 22, the ball eventually spun wide where Connor Hayhow’s brilliant off-load allowed Zach Clow to scoot over on the left.

Rowan Grundy landed a superb touchline conversion, and Hayhow then claimed his side’s third when he took a Stapley pass and proceeded to dance past a trio of defenders before touching down.

Grundy extended the lead to 19-5, but the visitors continued to look lively in attack and cut the deficit when Tom Williams finished off a slick move for another unconverted score.

However, Rams wrapped up the bonus-point before the break as Rossiter opened his account for the afternoon, cutting in from the right to finish off a sweeping attack.

The conversion made it 26-10 at the interval, and the hosts made the perfect start to the second period when Rossiter doubled his tally with a score added to by Grundy.

Leeds continued to battle gamely, though, and scored their third try as John Okafor rode over at the back of a rolling maul which rumbled some 15 metres towards the line.

However, the fightback was swiftly subdued as James McRae scored a trademark try with a burst from near halfway all the way to the left corner, pushing Rams 38-17 in front.

Yet Tykes kept coming and grabbed their bonus-point following a period of sustained pressure, Tighe Maxwell-Whiteley ghosting through under the posts before adding the extras to his try.

That was as good as it got for the away side, though, with Rams putting an exclamation point on proceedings with a couple of late tries.
Firstly Rossiter rounded off his hat-trick – taking his tally to 18 for the season and putting him back at the head of affairs for Rams – before fellow wing Clow dived on a grubber kick to bring up the half-century.

Fittingly man-of-the-match Grundy landed another fabulous kick from the sidelines to complete the scoring, with Rams extending their winning run to eight matches.

Final Score: Rams 52-24 Leeds Tykes

Half-time Score: Rams 26-10 Leeds Tykes

Scorers:

Rams

Tries: R Stapley 7, Clow 15, 76, Hayhow 24, Rossiter 32, 41, 70, McRae 52

Conversions: Grundy 16, 25, 33, 42, 71, 77

Leeds Tykes

Tries: Davies 2, T Williams 28, Okafor 48, Maxwell-Whiteley 63

Conversions: Venables 49, Maxwell-Whiteley 64

Star Player: Rowan Grundy (Rams)

Referee: Alan Chandrachaud

Attendance: 672

Rams (15-9; 1-8): Bird, Rossiter, Jones, Hayhow, Clow, Grundy, Monye; Kidd, Hayman, Englezos, Taylor, C Stapley, McRae, Everitt, R Stapley ©

Substitutes: Moffitt, McDonnell-Roberts, Collis, Humberstone, Edwards.

Leeds Tykes (15-9, 1-8): Davies, Venables, Dixon, T Williams, Jukes, Maxwell-Whiteley, Keith; Hancock, Mace, Watson, Brady, Collins ©, Okafor, Smith, Burke

Substitutes: R Williams, Pleasants, Bell, Turagabeci, Laughton