A PAIR of late Clifton tries cost Redingensians Rams dear as they were beaten 25-19 in National Two South on Saturday, writes Matt McCrory.

Clifton were quick to apply pressure in response to Rams’ kick-off and sporting the strongest scrum opposition the visitors have seen so far this season, it was not long before the Bristol side were threatening the visitors with a line-out on their 22.

Successfully repelled by Ben Henderson’s hits and Jacob Atkins’ eye for space, Clifton were put on a steady defensive and eventually conceded three points to the latter in a penalty offence that would see Sean McDonnell-Roberts temporarily substituted due to injury.

The first half developed with the two teams matching each other point-for-point. Clifton’s Brad Barnes completed their first penalty in the 20th minute, only to have Rams immediately return the favour with three points of their own.

Clifton’s fast-paced, sideline-switching attacks put the visitors’ defence to the test and encouraged standout resistance from Dan Sanders and Jak Rossiter.

An outstanding run from Sam Guttridge marked the start of the Rams counter-attack and, after Phil Hoy and Robbie Stapley subjected the Clifton try line to a barrage of high-octane hits, the returning McDonnell-Roberts collected his first try in the Rams shirt. Atkins delivered the extras to make it 13-3 at the half-time whistle.

Although the hosts had avoided kicking for goal throughout the first half, they took advantage of a perfect penalty position shortly after the interval.

This quickly went from bad to worse for the Rams as they lost both Ollie Taylor and Rossiter to the sin-bin and conceded a converted post-scrum try to Clifton’s Alfie To’oala.

Despite Clifton squaring the scoreline at 13-13 and Rams playing with only 13 men, the remaining Gensians players put on a performance which backs coach Seb Reynolds described as some of their most intelligent rugby of the season.

Rams backed this up and assertively retook the lead after Atkins successfully guided in two penalty kicks.

However, for the most part, Clifton made the second half their own.

A breakout down the left-hand side gave Ian Clark his try in the 66th minute and, after a tricky conversion by Barnes, Clifton were in front for the first time in the game at 20-19.

The nail in the coffin came 10 minutes later when Rossiter narrowly missed his intercept attempt. Left with an overlap on their right-hand side-line, Rams conceded the final try of the game to Clifton’s captain, Dan Wells. This went unconverted to give the final scoreline of 25-19.

Having led for the majority of the game, for Rams it felt like a defeat snatched out of the jaws of victory.

“We don’t sulk about it,” stated skipper Stapley. “We cut our mistakes and we come back doing it right”.

Rams host high-flying Bishop’s Stortford at Old Bath Road on Saturday (2pm).