Redingensians Rams are a team that excel in underdog spirit: a sentiment proved by the two try deficit that the team suffered in the first five minutes of their away meeting with Barnes and the almighty comeback they made to finish the game with a winning 22-36 score line.

Alex Crane saw in both of the early tries for Barnes; the first of these coming from the momentum of James Hersey’s kick and the second following a fumble from Rams in midfield. Both were scored in the left-hand corner and went unconverted.

Redingensians Rams eventually bought some breathing room at the end of Jacob Atkins’ boot, having won a penalty on their own try line. This lead to the visitors’ first real attacking phase of the game in which a huge driving maul opened space for skipper Tom Vooght to slide in and score an unconverted try.

Barnes weren’t put on the back foot for long and were soon pushing play firmly back towards their opposing territory. Despite stellar defensive efforts from Jordan Souter and Steve Bryant, along with the rest of the Rams lineup, Barnes would eventually go on to score a converted try through penalty after two collapsed mauls on Rams’ try line.

The remainder of the game swung decidedly in Rams’ favour. Souter and Vooght led an attack to put Mike Tewkesbury’s men back on the better half of the pitch. Following a duo of penalties won in the set piece Jacob Atkins made an advantage-eyed high kick over the Barnes try line. Bryant buried himself under this, winning his third try in three games. Atkins completed the centre-field conversion to put Rams back in the running with a 17-12 score line.

Ben Henderson was next to find the opposing try line. Buckling under the pressure of Rams’ pack, Barnes conceded to Henderson in a driving maul. They suffered further to Atkins, completing a tricky conversion from the side of the pitch, and to the referee, who sent their double try-scoring Alex Crane to the sin bin in a ruck offense. Half time called in the turnaround score line of 17-19.

The second half kicked off straight into a breakthrough by Steve Bryant. He delivered the ball to Jordan Souter for the try with Atkins picking up the conversion. He added a further 3 points a few moments later via penalty.

Barnes managed to tame Rams’ rampage for a while and mustered some counterplay after Antony Marris was sent to the sin bin. They championed a driving maul that made 10 metres before teetering and turning on the try line under influence from Rams’ pack. For 15 minutes Barnes had a more ample opportunity to scrutinise Rams’ defence.

And Redingensians Rams stood up to the scrutiny: Phil Hoy stealing Barnes’ ball in the lineout; Bryant and Rossiter eating up opposing rucks attacking the wing; Tom Vooght, Andy Amor and Miles Lloyd throwing themselves at open play. Although these moments were the least interesting from the scoreboard’s perspective, they were the most exciting for spectators with Redingensians Rams developing some of their most impressive strings of plays so far this season.

Miles Lloyd, substituted in at scrum-half, topped this all off in the 73rd minute with a final try for Rams scored in the right hand corner. Atkins completed his final conversion of the afternoon to give Rams a total of 5 tries and 36 points.

Barnes fought back in the final moments and, after some fast, loose play, had Crossland scoring on the final whistle. Even after a missed conversion, Barnes earned their well-deserved bonus point off the back of their 4 fantastic tries. They now sit alongside Barnstaple on the edge of National League 2 South’s relegation zone.

But for Redingensians Rams the 22-36 result spells their third consecutive win, one that they’ll bring back to OBR for their meeting with Bury St Edmunds on the 18th February.

Report by Matt McCrory
Photo by Tim Pitfield

Redingensians Rams:
15 – Foxley
14 – Rossiter
13 – Bryant
12 – Souter
11 – Corrigan
10 – Atkins
9 – Illingworth
1 – Marris
2 – Henderson
3 – Steadman
4 – Hoy
5 – Thompson
6 – Taylor
7 – Vooght (c)
8 – Crame

Replacements:
16 – Baker
17 – McDonnell-Roberts
18 – Nightingale
19 – Amor
20 – Lloyd

Barnes RFC:
15 – O’Toole
14 – Adams
13 – Holmes
12 – Hersey
11 – Carlisle
10 – Williams-Davis
9 – Reeves
1 – Galvin
2 – Alteriac
3 – H. Scott
4 – Crane
5 – Collins (c)
6 – Malaney
7 – C. Scott
8 – Crossland

Replacements:
16 – Packham
17 – Kopra
18 – Smyth
19 – Foster
20 - Butler