REDINGENSIANS Rams showcased their forwards power as they thrashed London Irish Wild Geese 44-16 in their National Two South encounter at Old Bath Road on Saturday.

The hosts had suffered a second-half collapse in their 28-24 opening-day defeat at Henley, but this time they motored away from their opponents after the break.

Rams opened the scoring after six minutes when their dominant scrum won an early penalty try, Tom Humberstone adding the extras.

Irish hit back with a Peter Hodgkinson penalty on 16 minutes, but another penalty earned at the scrum allowed Humberstone to bisect the posts and make it 10-3 to Rams.

Ben Henderson was sin-binned for the hosts just after the half-hour, allowing Hodgkinson to cut the gap again, but Rams then collected a second try as Andy Berry dotted down at the back of a powerful rolling maul.

However, a helter-skelter end to the opening 40 minutes concluded with Hodgkinson crossing and slotting the conversion himself, leaving the home side 15-13 up at the break.

The second half started dreadfully for Wild Geese as Ben Kitching was yellow carded for a poor tackle, allowing Humberstone to kick a penalty.

Hodgkinson landed one of his own to make it 18-16, but a second penalty try saw Rams move further ahead and also led to George Dean being sin-binned, swiftly followed by Hodgkinson for dissent.

Irish blew a glorious chance when they dropped the ball near the Rams’ line following a spell of concerted pressure, and they were made to pay when Tom Vooght scored a third try of the afternoon for Redingensians.

Omar Ellaboudy – on debut for Rams following his move from Reading Abbey – became the fifth player to have 10 minutes in the bin, but the hosts extended their lead even further when Tom Vooght finished off a move before Humberstone continued his fine efforts from the tee with a conversion.

Redingensians saved their best try for last as a swift backs move was expertly finished off by Joe Duffelen, Humberstone knocking over the conversion to seal the 44-16 victory.

Redingensians travel to Worthing Raisers this coming Saturday (2.30pm).