Rams seal bonus-point National One victory against Rotherham Titans

At the back end of a testing week which saw their National One title hopes suffer a major blow following a five-point deduction for an administrative error imposed on Wednesday, the early impact of Storm Jorge left Rams doing the best to keep the game on.

But with standing water threatening the game early morning, Reynolds revealed the superb effort made by members of the club. He said: “There were 25 people down here and it’s just brilliant. At 7am there were doubts, but we got the game on and eventually the sun came out.

“There was a huge effort to even get the game on. People were up here at 7am trying to clear the pitch where there was water on the surface and the Ramily came out in force. Our old forwards coach Spike Henderson brought his pump up to get the water off the pitch and we got a game of rugby on, and credit to Rotherham who were excellent.”

With the fixture on amid a morning which saw sun, sleet, snow, hail and every other possible weather condition, the hosts came flying out of the blocks and opened the scoring in just the second minute, Tom Vooght bursting through a gap to dot down for a try converted by Alex Seers.

Rams continued to dominate territory in the opening quarter, but Rotherham hit back in the 26th minute when Lewis Wilson dotted down shortly after Jamie Guttridge – making his 100th first-team

appearance for Rams – was yellow carded.

The Yorkshire side moved in front three minutes later when full-back Thomas Benjamin crossed the whitewash, but Rams struck back immediately as their impressive pack shunted Titans back from a five-metre scrum, skipper Robbie Stapley touching down to level the scores at 12-12.

It was Rotherham who had the final say in the opening period, though, wing Ben Robbins going over to give his side a five-point advantage at the interval.

A Jak Rossiter try six minutes into the second half tied the scores up again, and after Seers and Sam Hollingsworth exchanged penalties, the decisive try was scored by Rams replacement Ross Crame, the back row burrowing over from close range in the 74th minute.

Reflecting on the game, Reynolds admitted: “I was very pleased, I thought the players were excellent in really testing conditions.

“Rotherham are a very good side who are battling against relegation and you have to watch out for teams like that. If you drop off you put yourselves in trouble and we did that towards the middle of the first half.

“In the first 20 minutes our game management was outstanding and I was so impressed, but then we changed slightly and that invited Rotherham into the game.”

Reynolds was also quick to pay tribute to his players’ reaction following the points deduction, one which has received widespread criticism from clubs around the country.

He said: “There might have been a quiet motivation. The thing with our lads is it’s water off a duck’s back. They’re very good at moving on from things very quickly and when we let them know they didn’t bat an eyelid, they just said ‘we lose five points which is incredibly disappointing, but we’ll get on with it’ and on the training ground they were outstanding. I can’t thank them enough for the attitude they’ve put into this week and the whole season.”