Plymouth Albion have extended their unbeaten start to the National League campaign to nine matches after securing a prosaic victory over Rams RFC. The visitors, who have been a challenging opponent for Albion in recent times, produced a stubborn defensive display but ultimately fell short as Plymouth secured a 35–21
Kick-off coincided with a sudden shift in the weather, as bright sunshine gave way to all-too-familiar miserable autumn rain. Unbothered by the downpour, Albion immediately took control on the front foot. Rams’ opening kick-off drifted straight into touch, offering Plymouth an ideal platform for their first attack of the afternoon. Albion’s scrum held strong, letting Jack Oulton peel from the base and link with fly-half Iwan Jenkins. A laughably wide gap opened in the defensive line, and Jenkins didn’t need a second invitation, bursting clear to register the afternoon’s first score.
The second try of the afternoon followed only moments later, after Matthew Wickham’s box kick was expertly charged down by the Albion pack. Jenkins reacted brilliantly, firing a huge miss pass to the left wing in search of the league’s top try scorer Noah Fenton. Fenton glided around the outside of his opposite man before cutting past the onrushing fullback. With the try line in sight, Fenton unselfishly handed the ball off to Jarrard Hayler, who dotted down to claim his fourth score of the season.
Things quickly deteriorated for the Berkshire side, with former Albion player Daniel Swain finding himself in a 10-minute timeout for a wild attempted tackle off the ensuing kick-off. Jenkins struck preposterous banana kick to touch, before letting the forwards loose to churn up the yards, flattening several defenders on their travels. With the referee’s outstretched hand as impetus, Jenkins once again looked to the boot, dinking a delightful chip over the defence, with the bounce once again favouring the home team, as Huw Taylor secured the ball and claiming another score.
Nine minutes gone, three tries converted, and a 21-0 advantage secured. To anyone inside the ground, the trajectory seemed locked in for a heavy-scoring masterclass. But the most telling phase of the opening half wasn’t the nine-minute flurry, it was the thirty minutes that followed it. As the intensity dissolved into handling errors, defensive walls, and an increasingly dreary arm-wrestle, the contest morphed from a dazzling exhibition into a grinding, scoreless stalemate. Albion believed they had secured the try bonus point on the stroke of halftime, which was mysteriously deemed a goal-line dropout.
Following the break, Albion once again looked the stronger of the two. An incredible effort at the scrum was rewarded with a penalty, which Jenkins sent to the corner for the Plymouth forwards to maul. Rams’ defence held strong to prevent it from rumbling over the line, but two phases later Jake Clemson was able to crash through his opposite man and extend his arm to dot down. Jenkins once again added the extras to extend the score to 28-0.
Shortly after Rams finally got on the scoreboard after sustained pressure finally broke Albion, with the home sides defensive line too narrow to be able to prevent Henry Kirwan from collecting the crossfield kick, as Plymouth conceded just their 4th try at home all season. Momentum didn’t stay with the visitors long, as Albion hit back in rapid fashion with an exceptional team try. A frantic, mistimed clearance from the visitors handed the Albion immediate counter-attacking possession, which they ruthlessly exploited by working an overlap down the blindside. Flanker Jake Clempson broke free along the touchline, carrying deep into the 22 and drawing the last defender before producing a superb offload off the deck for Noah Fenton to charge under the posts for his 17th try of the season.
The game once again descended into a ruthless struggle, as both sides struggled to deal with the torrid conditions. Rams finished the stronger of the sides, with Pete Austin scoring a further two consolation tries in the dying moments, which ultimately proved too little too late, as Albion picked up their ninth straight victory of season, keeping them top of the league.
by Will Porter
Photographs © Photos – Matt Boys and Tom Anthony