Rams return to winning way with big win at Hull Ionians

The Old Bath Road side headed north determined to avenge their home defeat to Richmond the week before, and claimed a six-try bonus-point success which lifts them back up to second place in the table.

And a delighted Reynolds commented: "We had to have a very professional mindset from early on, we created a solid platform to attack from and I thought we played some really good rugby.

"With spells in the first and the second half we were able to retain the ball and we scored some really well executed tries."

He continued: "I thought Hull played some really good rugby as well, they retained possession well in the first half and put us under a large amount of pressure."

Rams were clinical from the off as their powerful set-piece and driving maul provided a solid platform for three first-half tries, the first coming on the seven-minute mark as some great passing and a deft grubber kick resulted in wing Jak Rossiter crossing the whitewash.

Will Partington added the extras and Rams extended their lead when their powerful forward pack showed complete dominance with a powerful rolling maul, eventually causing the referee to award a penalty try and brandish a yellow card to James Sanderson.

Eight minutes later Rams secured their own line-out on the hosts' five-metre line.

Ben Henderson perfectly delivered the ball to enable his pack to drive over the whitewash and score, with flanker and captain Tom Vooght claiming the try.

Hull hit back on the half-hour mark, though, going through the phases in Rams’ territory before Jack Colbourne squeezed over the line to score. The conversion was unsuccessful by Lewis Minikin, leaving Rams 19-5 to the good at half-time.

A Minikin penalty reduced the arrears after the interval, but Rams wrapped up their bonus-point in the 48th minute after Colbourne had been yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on.

Rossiter was the man to benefit, part of a piercing switch move between himself and Partington which ended with the speedster using his exceptionally quick feet to step multiple Hull Ionians defenders to score under the posts and record his 50th try for the club.

Ionians responded admirably, though, scoring a try through dangerous centre Moses Liwaliwa to cut the gap to 26-13.

Rams regathered the momentum, however, and from another dominant scrum Vooght powered over to score under the posts.

Partington was again on target from the tee before further gloss was added to the scoreline when Kieran Leicester made an excellent break to cross for his side's sixth try with the last play of the game.

Rams remain three points behind table-toppers Richmond with 10 games remaining, their next game at home to Blackheath this Saturday (2pm).

Teynolds is looking forward to hosting one of the sport's most historic clubs and concluded: "Blackheath are very good side and are at the upper end of English rugby for a reason.

"They are a very dangerous team who did a good job against us when we played them away, so it should be an exciting fixture.”