REDINGENSIANS put in a battling performance before losing a National Two South end-of-season thriller 33-32 at Taunton Titans, writes Matt McCrory.

The home side started the game brightly and Freddie Fraser scored in just the second minute following a kick to the corner and driving maul. Gary Kingdom, the fourth highest point scorer in the history of the league, converted this to make it 7-0.

A Jacob Atkins penalty reduced the arrears, but another Taunton rolling maul ended with Conor Harbison crashing over and the hosts led 12-3 after an eventful opening 10 minutes.

Rams’ first try came after a chip by Atkins and blistering runs from Jordan Souter and Olly Foxley. Tom Vooght eventually finished the attempt, working from the back of the rolling maul. Atkins picked up the extras and a few moments later, another penalty put his side in front.

Ben Henderson had a try disallowed late into the half for crossing, but wing Conor Corrigan did cross the whitewash, scoring after some impressive movement by Greg Illingworth, Vooght and Ollie Taylor. Atkins again landed the extras and Rams went into the break with a 20-12 advantage.

Their lead didn’t last too long after the interval due to three successive Taunton tries early in the second half.

Arron Gibbs, Fraser and Sam Prior all found avenues around a sterling defence from the Reading side, and with Kingdom converting them all, Taunton led 33-20 with 20 minutes left.

Rams battled back and Sam Guttridge, Steve Bryant and James Baker all made attempts after breaking through Taunton’s defensive line.

The final tries of the day were both scored by the pack, with Craig Nightingale and Greg Drew going over – the second converted by Atkins – but they could not snatch victory.

Redingensians – whose director of rugby Mike Tewkesbury is stepping down – end their season in an impressive sixth spot with a total of 16 wins and 87 points.