Redingensians Rams 25 Weston-super-Mare 21

With second placed Bracknell also easing to a bonus point win Rams stay third in the National League 3 South West table after 11 games, just a point behind their county rivals but have now opened up a five point gap over new fourth placed side Old Redcliffians.
Rams never really looked like losing the game but dropped passes and some over-exuberance at crucial times kept their visitors well in the game until the very end.

It was also costly for Rams who saw their skipper Owen Root hobble off in the last few minutes with torn knee ligaments.

Summing the match up Rams try-scoring fly half Nigel Gumbleton said: “We started a little bit slowly and conceded that try at the start but we came back with my try and we started to build from there. Up to half-time I think that we dominated completely and at the start of the second-half but, sometimes, we didn't take our chances.

“We had overlaps and we just didn't fix the ball and we dropped it a couple of times. But there's some positives there that we can take away from the game.

“Weston are a good side, they came back and credit to them for getting the bonus point but we've got the five points and we can go to Amersham & Chiltern next Saturday and hopefully win up there.”
With the opening stages dominated by both sides kicking for position the first chance of points went the visitors way but fly half Harvey Skelton sent his 43 metre penalty wide of the posts.

It spurred them on, however, and their pack showed their intent with a massive drive that had Rams struggling to stop and ended with flanker Ollie Poole shown a yellow card for collapsing a maul.

And Weston took advantage straight away as, despite some strong defence from the home side, they won a ruck on Rams five metre line with lock Dave Bufton charging off the back to set up scrum half Dan Lomax for the opening, Skelton converted, try.

Rams hit back immediately, however, penning the visitors back into their own 22 and solid work from prop James Baker, lock Sean Kenneally, No.8 Tom Bryson, carried on by wing Sean McDermotroe and centre Steve Bryant, finally saw Bryson put fly half Nigel Gumbleton over in the right-hand corner.

Brooks failed with his conversion attempt but made no mistake a short time later when, after a period of constant pressure in the visitors 22, referee Chris Newton finally awarded Rams a penalty try as the visitors collapsed yet another scrum illegally.

Brooks converted with ease but, shortly after, missed with a second penalty chance and the score stood at 12-7 to Rams going into the second half.

And it was the scrum half who extended Rams lead on 50 minutes to 15-7 as the Weston pack was again done for wheeling only for the visitors to hit back 10 minutes later.

This time it was Skelton who, worryingly for Rams, carved his way through their defence with ease to convert his own score and put his side within a point trailing, 15-14.

But with both flanker Azza Hopkins and No.8 Bryson in superb form and, with their opponents down to 14 men following a yellow card for lock Andy Glen, Rams replied with two tries on 27 and 35 minutes and to steam into a 25-14 lead. The first coming from a Bryson take at a line-out that had prop James Baker smashing his way over for his second try of the season and the second and his fifth of the season for Andy Amor who ended the game in the back row and finished off good work from wing `AJ' Hopkins to ensure the bonus point for four tries.

With skipper Root going off injured Rams conceded a late try to Weston's re-instated lock Glen and for scrum half Dan Lomax's conversion to end the match.

Despite conceding 21 points Rams still have the best defensive record in the league having conceeded just 148 points in their 11 games to date.

As Rams director of rugby Mike Tewkesbury summed up at the end: “We've got to work harder! There was some good parts to the game, some very good parts indeed, but no sides going to lay down and, fair play to them, they just stuck at it. Don't ask me how, they seemed to be out of it but just stuck at it. We've got to realise it's not going to come easy and learn from that and we've got to work harder. There were good parts to that game, some very good parts, but we've got to try and get the complete package together and beat some of these side going forward if we want to compete at the top.”

Rams - Bryans; `AJ' Hopkins, Bryant, Amor, McDermotrode; Gumbleton, Brooks; Weller, Paxton, Baker; Root, Kenneally; Poole, A Hopkins, Bryson. Reps – Owen, Batten, Hill.

Report By Steve Williams