The Rams started brightly scoring three tries in the opening 15 minutes as it looked like the men from Bristol were in for a bleak afternoon.
However, Clifton rallied and at one point evened up the scores, only for the Rams to secure the winning try and hold out for the victory.

Despite the win, Rams head coach, Seb Reynolds, did not seem completely satisfied with his teams performance as he spoke to us after the game saying, “Today was an example of what happens if you drop your level at any point in this league because National 2 South is an attritional league with quality players. Clifton showed us how good they are and why they’ve had two wins in a row and they almost made that three today. We were really dominant early on and got three tries and I think one more probably would’ve opened up the door for more points but that didn’t happen and we let a very dangerous side back into the game and you just can’t do that at this level. However, in fairness to the lads, we showed good grit and determination against a team that became very confident towards the end of the game.”

The Rams had a blistering start to the game, scoring three tries in quick succession, the pick of the bunch coming from Wolf as he stormed down the wing to score in the corner following some good work from Seers and Lloyd to put the Rams on the front foot.

With Clifton looking as if they might be blown away in this game, they demonstrated their never say die attitude, dominating the rest of the half, and having two tries to show for their effort as the Rams were spared the relentless pressure from the away side by the sweet sound of the referees whistle, somehow managing to go into the break with their lead intact.

Clifton came out in the second half and picked up where they had left off, as Terry broke, the men from Bristol stormed forward with pace and precision, overwhelming the Rams defence and scoring through Spencer to bring the scores level.

This caused the Rams to shake themselves into gear seemingly having been asleep for the previous half an hour, as they won penalty line out following some terrific work in the scrum from Baker, only for the move to break down moments later.

However, the Rams didn’t have to wait long for another chance as they advanced, applying relentless pressure on the Clifton defence and eventually forcing the ball over the line through Guttridge to regain the lead.

The last 20 minutes of the game passed by tensely with neither side giving ground to the other, with the only moment of note coming as the Rams held up a potential Clifton try, but they managed to hold on till the end to secure yet another win and retain their place at the top of Nat 2 South.

Stats:

Rams:
Tries: Henderson 5, Wolf 6, Steadman 14, Baker 58
Conversions: Seers 5, 14, 58

Clifton:
Tries: Rovery 25, Spencer 36, 45
Conversions: Francis 25, 45

Half time: 19-12

Rams: (15-9, then 1-8)
Duffelen, Rossiter, Bryant, Humberstone, Corrigan, Seers, Lloyd, Steadman, Henderson, McDonnell-Roberts, Etete, Guttridge, Wolf, Vooght, Crame.
Replacements: Drew, Baker, Nightingale, Jones, Illingworth.

Clifton:
Lambert, Halpin, Harrison, Campbell, Pomphrey, Francis, Spencer, Folkard, Edwards, Roberts, Harper, Hill, Hill, Ali, Terry
Replacements: Simpson, Cano, Rovery, Lloyd, Pritchard

Timings of replacements:
Rams: 9 off 20 on (46 mins), 6 off 18 on (46 mins), 3 off 18 on (48 mins), 4 off 6 on (71 mins).
Clifton: 7 off 18 on (22 mins), 1 off 17 on (40 mins), 13 off 20 on (64 mins), 3 off 16 on (75 mins).