It wasn’t at all the happiest of endings to Rams National League 3 South West home fixture list succumbing, as they did, to their ninth defeat of the season and their second in successive Saturdays while also losing skipper and lock Owen Root with an elbow injury after just 10 minutes.

They remain fifth in the table but are now under pressure for the position from several sides below them as they prepare for their final league match of the season at Avonmouth Old Boys on Saturday.
Despite touching down the only Rams try a disappointed Amor summed-up afterwards: “The conditions in the first half were difficult playing uphill and into the wind. We were on the back foot for most of that first half and it was nice to regroup at half-time and try and come out and play a bit of rugby.

“We wasted a lot of opportunities in the conditions and the final passes didn’t quite work today and we’re thoroughly disappointed with that and felt we should have done a lot better.

“We shall have to regroup now during the week and we shall be going out there for one last win of the season.”

The visitors kicked-off and dominated the opening quarter as Rams with Jez Flynn at scrum-half and Nigel Gumbleton at 10 teaming up for the first time together, amongst several changes from the previous week, took time to settle.

And the visitors pounced on 24 minutes when their continued pressure in the home 22 was rewarded on the left as Rams ran out of defenders and left-wing Tim Lloyd was in space to touchdown.

It went unconverted but fly half Craig Webb made amends bang on 40 minutes when, after more pressure in the Rams half, they won a penalty and he made no mistake from 30 metres out to put his side 8-0 ahead to start the second-half.

And Webb had made it 11-0 with a second kick at goal nine minutes into the half before Rams upped the ante and started to pound away at the visitors line.

Some great drives from the likes of man of the match prop James Baker, lock Tom Bryson and No.8 Ian Jeffreys, well supported by flanker Andries Steenkamp and Flynn, finally soaked up the visitors defence and with Swadling putting out a well-timed pass to Amor the centre cum flanker galloped over from six metres.

Unfortunately Swadling’s 66th minute conversion attempt dropped onto the crossbar and fell the wrong side to leave Rams a converted try short of the lead, 5-11.

Despite all of Rams best efforts over the closing stages the visitors defence held out and their joy at the final whistle was there for all to see.

As Jez Flynn, starting his first game of the season, said afterwards: “I thought we stuck at it well but we should have dominating the line-outs and the scrums and we didn’t and that’s why we struggled all day really. We woke up in the last 20 minutes and showed them what we could do up front and they knicked it really.

“There was a lot of people who hadn’t played for a while coming in and some like hooker Mike Fisher had not played all season and I thought he was outstanding today.”

Rams - Guy Swadling; Joe Grindle, Josh Smith, Andrew Amor, Roy Wilkinson; Nigel Gumbleton, Jeremy Flynn; Chris Betts, Mike Fisher, James Baker; Owen Root (c), Tom Bryson; Chris Emmett, Andries Steenkamp, Ian Jefferys. Reps – Russel Hodges, Connor Stapley, Steve Bryant.

Report by Steve Williams