Rams Director of Rugby Seb Reynolds praised his side saying it was, “a really good team performance against a very strong Sale side- “early on they were all over us from an attacking point of view, they have threats right across their side so we had to weather a a storm early on but we did that well and managed to get in at half time with a lead, which was pleasantly surprising.”

The opening try came on the 32-minute mark after a period of relentless attacks in Sale’s 22 was finished off by scrum half Jack Moates. Andrew Humberstone adding the conversion to give the men from Reading a 7 point Lead.

The penalty count for the home side was increasing by the minute as the outstanding Rams scrum kept the Sale forwards under constant pressure. Andrew Humberstone continued to pin the hosts down in their half with intelligent kicks to keep his side going forward.

The second try came a minute before the interval. After multiple phases of hard work from the Rams forwards deep in the home sides half, Ben Henderson powered his way over the line for the second try of the game. Humberstone was clinical once more adding another two crucial points to the scoreboard giving his side a 14 point lead as they went back into the changing room for the half-time break.

Sale got onto the score board with their first try of the game 8 minutes after half time. The home forwards muscled their way over the try line and the industrious outside flanker Ed Leatherbarrow touched down. Chris Johnson added the conversion to close the gap to seven points.

The game swung decisively to the visitors on the 70th minute when a crucial Rams attack was finished with a glorious from inside centre Connor Hayhow that put full back Kieran Leicester in for his first try at National 1. Humberstone again added the extras to extend the lead to 14 points with 10 minutes to go until the final whistle.

Rams secured the bonus point on the 72nd minute when Tom Vooght created space for Jak Rossiter and the flying winger stepped several Sale defenders before sprinting to the try line. The conversion was unsuccessful and the score moved to 26-7 to the visitors

In the later minutes of the game the Rams fitness and defensive shape was prominent as they withheld multiple Sale attacks. However, two very late strikes from the hosts saw Sale get a deserved losing bonus point with tries from Sam Dugdale and Andy Hughes.
Rams remain third in the table as they return to Old Bath Road on Saturday to play against Plymouth Albion who beat Hull Ionians 37- 21 at Brickfields last weekend.

Seb Reynolds said of the victory, “It was really good. I thought that Sale’s scrum was strong , we had to be very technical there today and make sure we focused on that. Cam Zeiss, Niall Kidd and Ben Henderson did a really good job as well as Sean McDonnell-Roberts who did an excellent job coming on as well. Also, you have to give credit to Stevie Bryant’s performance in the centre today from a defensive perspective against a team who were looking to push the ball into the open space. It was just outstanding to see his tackle technique to shut those wide channels down.”

Half time score: 0-14
Full time: 19 - 26
Referee: James O’Brien
Attendance: 666

Teams

Sale: Rawcliffe, Brady, Muclrone, Williams, Ah Van, Johnson, Bradley, Birchall, Ashman, Talaese, Leatherbarrow, Dugdale

Subs: Ford, Longmore, Pope, Davies, Moorhouse

Rams: Leicester, Rossiter, Bryant, Hayhow, Corrigan, Humberstone, Moates, Kidd, Henderson, Zeiss, Taylor, Stapley C, Guttridge, Vooght, Stapley R

Subs: Moffit, McDonnell-Roberts, Thomson, Denham, Cole