TRIES from Tom Vooght and Steve Bryant gave Redingensians Rams their first National Two South victory of 2017, the visitors earning a 14-7 success at Barnstaple, writes Matt McCrory.

The hosts had an early opportunity to take the lead when their scrum dismantled the Rams pack, only for Isaac Hydleman’s effort to fall short of the posts.

Instead it was Rams to put the first points on the board. Phil Hoy and Ollie Taylor claimed lineouts on the Barnstaple try line, showing off their dangerous ruck game and giving skipper Tom Vooght a try in the left-hand corner in the ninth minute. Jacob Atkins added the extras in a tricky conversion from the side line.

Barnstaple had another shot at Rams’ posts a few minutes later, but Jordan Petherbridge – from a more favourable position – was also off target.

The Reading men did well to contain Barnstaple’s considerable offensive efforts, which consisted of runs from depth, quick support in the rucks, and mauls that made steady metres.

Colin Thompson and Jack Steadman kept the fringes on a strict lockdown while Conor Corrigan, Bryant and Jak Rossiter cleaned up any runners down the side-lines.

Sam Guttridge, and later Ollie Foxley, put in fantastic work at 15, being subjected to an aerial bombardment and an excellent Barnstaple kick-chase.

Yet having had ample opportunity to widen their lead – a number of fumbles proving costly – it came as quite a surprise to Rams’ supporters to go into half time with the scores level. After losing 10 metres to a rampaging Barnstaple maul, they conceded to James Bath, who scored for Barum after an expertly executed dummy pass into an easy overlap in Rams’ centre field. Petherbridge found the posts for 7-7 on the whistle.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half, Barnstaple dominated possession and dictated the direction of play, but their accuracy from the tee continued to let them down as another penalty was missed.

The final 10 minutes proved decisive and it was Rams who ground out the win.

Sean McDonnell-Roberts had a try disallowed from the back of a rolling maul, but gave Rams the penalty they needed to take the lead.

With four minutes left on the clock, Vooght made the decision to go for the try line instead of the posts, giving Bryant the task of dotting down at the back of another maul. Atkins added the conversion and Mike Tewkesbury’s men held on for victory.

Redingensians host Exmouth on Saturday (2.30pm).