Rams go down at Blackheath but Louis Ellis scores late bonus point

Photos courtesy of Tim Pitfield Photography

Blackheath started the stronger when fly-half Mark Cooke kicked a penalty deep into Rams territory and his pack took advantage with a well constructed catch-and-drive to provide scrum half Jack Daly with his first try of the afternoon. Cooke himself converted to give the home team a 7-0 lead after just 3 minutes.
The men from Reading responded with a series of assaults deep into their oppositions 22 and after numerous infringements referee Nick Wood awarded a penalty try, Rams 2nd of the season, to make the scores 7-7 after the 1st quarter.
Rams failed to convert further pressure to points and it was the home side that broke the deadlock when electric winger Craig Dowsett skipped through tackles and showed a burst of pace to put him clear under the sticks, Cooke converted an easy 2 pointer and Blackheath took a 7 point lead for the 2nd time in the game.
Rams bounced back from the restart with a series of hard carries which led to tight-head prop James Baker breaking away from a maul to score on the stroke of halftime and with fly-half debutant Louis Ellis completing a difficult conversion the scores were even at the break.
Blackheath started the 2nd half as they did the 1st in lively fashion and some sloppy Rams’ clearing eventually gave Cooke a penalty opportunity to retake the lead for his side on the 45th minute to make the score 17-14 to Blackheath.
Just like in the 1st half, conceding points early on spurred Rams into action but despite repeated attempts they couldn’t convert pressure into points and the score sheet remained unaltered for 20 minutes before some slick handling and deft footwork eventually put Daly in the corner for his 2nd try of the afternoon although Cooke could not extend the lead and the score settled at 22-14 to Blackheath.
Rams rallied again but were denied a 3rd try by some staunch home side defence and as the final whistle approached it looked like Seb Reynolds’ men wouldn’t even have a losing bonus point to show for their afternoons work. But as time ran out Rams were awarded a final penalty which gave Louis Ellis the opportunity to rescue something for his side and the young fly-half debutant duly obliged by slotting a tricky kick between the posts to bring the final score to 22-17 to Blackheath.
Rams DoR Seb Reynolds was philosophical in his post-match interview and said “We weren’t at our best today and in fairness I don’t think Blackheath were either. There were lots of mistakes from both sides and the game could have gone either way”. But Reynolds was not downhearted and saw lots of positives “Connor Hayhow had to step in at 13 when Ellis Jones got injured at the start of the game and I thought he did a great job. We also gave a 20 year old fly-half his debut today and Louis Ellis showed what a good player he is and had a lot of nerve slotting a penalty to give us a bonus point with the last kick of the game. I was really pleased with Louis and he is one of a number of exciting young players that we have in our squad at the moment”.

Rams are on the road again this Saturday when they visit old National 2 rivals Bishop’s Stortford.