RAMS made it two bonus-point victories in a row as they defeated a stubborn Tonbridge Juddians side 24-13 at a sun-kissed Old Bath Road.

After a lively start from the visitors, Seb Reynolds’ men gradually took control as their pack gained the upper hand, opening the scoring with a penalty try after TJs had infringed at the set-piece three times in a row on their own five-metre line.

With loose-head prop Alex Reid also sin-binned, Rams made their numerical advantage count and moved further ahead shortly after.

Firstly they turned over a TJs scrum, and after blasting away from close range a couple of times, the outstanding Ben Henderson managed to force himself over the line. Drew Humberstone’s conversion made it 14-0 to the hosts.

Tonbridge rallied, however, and got themselves on the scoreboard when fly-half Tom White bisected the uprights with a 30-metre penalty from in front of the posts.

Yet Rams reasserted their dominance almost immediately and set up camp in the opposition 22.

A succession of penalties followed before White became the second TJs player to be yellow carded, and Rams moved further ahead when their scrum again marched the away side back before Ollie Cole scooped the ball up and scampered over.

Humberstone was unable to add the extras, and it was Juddians who had the last word in the opening 40 minutes, stand-in kicker Harvey Young landing a penalty to cut the deficit to 13 points at the interval.

The third quarter proved something of a tepid affair with both sides defending well but making mistakes, and it took until the 67th minute for Rams to wrap up the bonus-point.

Having been denied shortly before when Henry Bird collected a deft Humberstone chip ahead only to be stopped just short, a similar play resulted in the fourth try when Connor Hayhow collected a bouncing ball and got over the line – the move having been initiated by a brilliant Tom Vooght turnover.

Gutsy TJs refused to buckle, though, and they had the final say late on when finally breaching the superb Rams defence.

Having punched a couple of holes they managed to get within striking distance of the hosts’ try line, and wing Tom Chapman cut a nice line to dot down under the posts from close range.

White slotted the conversion to reduce the deficit to 11 points, and sensing the possibility of a losing bonus-point for their efforts, TJs attacked again from deep and broke into the Rams’ 22.

However, despite setting up a maul which got over the line, TJs were held up and Humberstone’s clever goal-line drop-out bounced once before heading into touch on the right-hand side, ending the afternoon’s festivities.

Summary

Rams 24 Tonbridge Juddians 13

Rams

Tries: Penalty 10, Henderson 15, Cole 28, Hayhow 67.

Conversions: Humberstone 16

Tonbridge Juddians

Tries: Chapman 77

Conversions: White 78

Penalties: White 20, Young 35

Yellow Cards: Reid 10, White 27

Half Time: 19-6

Star man: Ben Henderson (Rams)

Attendance: 369

Referee: Callum Howard

Teams:

Rams: Leicester, Bird, Bryant, Jones, Hayhow, Humberstone, Cole (Monye 74); Steadman, Henderson (Moffitt 80), Baker (McDonnell-Roberts 55), Schroter, C Stapley (Taylor 60), Guttridge, Vooght, R Stapley

Tonbridge Juddians: Young (White 69), Galbraith-Lowe, Tout, Nicol, Chapman Watson 41, White (Chapman 66), Walsh; Reid (Conlon 60), O’Sullivan (Duffy 49), Hayes (Bratton 30, Hayes 60), Freeman, Parker (Groocock 62), Ashmore (Conlon 13, Ashmore 23) Sullivan, Colderick.