Rams Light up a cold January day

Touchdowns from both wings, Roy Wilkinson on his debut and Matt Grindle along with the back-row Trio of flankers Aaron Hopkins, Andy Amor and No.8 Ian Jeffreys ensured all five points and cemented their fourth place in the league table.

Leading 12-10 at the break having fought back from an early 10-0 deficit they went behind for a second time 15-12 before outclassing their visitors with three tries to a penalty in reply and to seal their sixth league win on the trot.

“It was a measure of how we responded after that first 15 to 20 minutes and came back into the game and that was a test of our cohesion and our desire to win that battle,” summed up skipper Owen Root at the end. “Again we put in another good second-half performance as we have done in the last few games and that was the difference between us in my opinion.“To Chippenhams credit they were a well-drilled, well-disciplined side and they knew what they were good at and they work and capitalise on that very well, so it was a case of us being able to manage that and overcome that and be victorious in that battle.”

With the chilling wind whipping straight across the pitch, it was the visitors who started the brighter of the two sides and virtually camped in the Rams half of the pitch.

Their lively backs mixed with a strong set of forwards including the huge second-row Sam Hill ruled the roost for the opening quarter and were rewarded when scrum half Will Waddington slipped through Rams grasps from the 22 for a 13th minute try under the posts, converted by full back Harry Taylor and it was Taylor who increased their lead on 20 minutes with his opening penalty when Rams were penalised for not rolling away in the tackle.

Rams hit back with their first real period of applied pressure after that and with fly half Guy Swadling seeing his 37 yard penalty attempt bounce to safety off the upright he finally nailed two points converting Rams opening try.

Good work from Amor and outstanding tight-head prop James Baker allowed Swadling to find inside centre Nigel Gumbleton who in turn put Wilkinson away for a dream start to his first team career.

The 1st half ended with an outstanding try from Flanker Aaron Hopkins who took off from his own 22 and completely out-foxed the Chippenham defence to score at the other end only for Swadling to put his conversion wide of the mark.

Fired up the visitors again put Rams under intense pressure in their own 22 at the start of the second half and were rewarded when right-wing Ryan Surry touched down wide out but at too much of an angle for Taylor to convert.

However the Rams replied in trademark style and through the charging efforts of Root, Hopkins and Jeffreys won a penalty when Chippenham flanker John Boddington failed to roll away after a tackle.

Referee Chris Bartlett re-set the five metre scrum twice before Rams pack showed their superiority and marched forward for Jefferies to touch down.

Jefferies had a hand in the next try as Rams took full control of proceedings and from another five metre scrum he picked up and fed Amor who went over for his fifth try of the season.

Although Chippenham took some comfort from a 35th minute Taylor penalty to bring the score to 24-18, it was Rams who had the final say when a great kick-ahead from Swadling saw Grindle latch on to the ball on the visitors 22 and smash his way past two defenders to score out wide.

The match also marked the final game of the season for Rams full back and their top try scorer Joe Duffelen who leaves immediately for a six month tour of the Southern Hemisphere.

He admitted afterwards: “It was a bit more emotional than I thought it was going to be when I initially agreed to go on the trip. They really are a good bunch of lads and I think they really think that they have got the ability to go on and do some damage in this league and potentially go up. It’s six wins on the bounce now and provided that they stick at it and train hard and keep pushing through the winter and the cold weather I know they can really push on and do some damage.”

Rams – Joe Duffelen; Matt Grindle, Steve Bryant, Nigel Gumbleton, Roy Wilkinson; Guy Swadling, Will Clark; Chris Rumble, Rory Paxton, James Baker; Owen Root (c), Tom Bryson; Andy Amor, Aaron Hopkins, Ian Jeffereys Reps – Chris Rowland, Rudal Aiono, Simon Swadling.

Report By Steve Williams