ICONIC Robbie Stapley heaped praise on the Rams’ coaching staff after he became the club’s second-ever first-team league try-scoring centurion during the outstanding 33-0 National One win against Sale FC.
The 228-cap No. 8 set the seal on a magnificent victory – one which snapped a painful six-match losing run against The Dogs – as he powered his way over from close range at the start of the final quarter, Rams going on to nil an opposition for the first time since Birmingham & Solihull in December 2018.
A brutal first half remained scoreless until the 34th minute when man-of-the-match Fraser Honey put a beautiful cross-field kick into the arms of Luke Graham, the Bath loanee grabbing a bouncing ball before side-stepping Sale full-back Tom Brady on his first start.
Fellow back three men Tomek Pozniak and Zach Clow then landed a double blow to the visitors inside the opening four minutes of the second period, Polish international Pozniak snaffling a sensational 60-metre interception score before the next was added, Honey adding two more kicks for 21-0.
After Ciaran Parker became the second Sale player to be sin-binned – Tom Walsh having gone midway through the first half – Rams’ skipper Max Hayman rode a maul over for a sixth try in three games to seal the bonus-point.
And with Old Bath Road rocking – an attendance of 905 roaring their side on under the autumnal sunshine – Stapley reached his milestone on 64 minutes, later given a further standing ovation at the final whistle as he closed to within one of the current pace-setter Jez Flynn (101).
Post-match the former skipper said: “It was a great game. We woke up this morning and probably a lot of people were disrupted – the rain, finding out the game was going to be delayed (due to Sale’s coach breakdown), but we’d had a chat in pre-season about how we want to prove ourselves and I think we shone through with everything we’ve set ourselves.
“Our goals are to be more professional, execute gameplans, be ruthless and we did it for almost 80 minutes!
“I can’t wait to speak to Danny (Batty, Defence Coach) on Tuesday – everybody should be so proud of doing what we did.
“The usual characters led, everybody else followed behind and it was an everyman out their performance.”
Reflecting on the moment he reached three figures, Stapley – who received a massive reaction after touching down and when walking down the tunnel post-match – continued: “I stood up and saw the blind-side was an opportunity, and the idea of 100 tries came into my mind so I just screamed for it!
“I wrestled my way over the line despite everyone trying to dive under it and it was nice to get the monkey off my back because I’ve not scored for a while.
“I started here in 2009, maybe 2008, and it’s been great for people to share the journey with me – everyone’s always been so supportive and it’s just a pleasure to still be here.”
But while his own personal milestone was reached, the back row was keen to emphasise the role played by Director of Rugby Seb Reynolds, plus fellow coaches Owen Root, Danny Batty, Harry Stapleton and Glyn Mosses – as well as a couple of players – in one of the best recent wins in the club history.
He ended: “The coaches nailed it this week – you see in World Cup games where gameplans come into play and they just worked it out.
“It paid off and I’d also praise Ed (Hoadley) and Fraser because they led the execution so well.”
Rams head to newly-promoted Dings Crusaders tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm), the Bristolians having won their past two games.
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