RUGBY: Rams come back to beat Taunton Titans at Commsplus Stadium

A SECOND-HALF red card for Barrie-John Chapman proved the turning point as Taunton Titans lost out to league leaders Rams at the Commsplus Stadium on Saturday.

A blistering spell of four tries in the first half had put the hosts in the driving seat, but the sending off allowed Rams' powerful forwards to take control of the game and claim a comeback victory.

The opening 15 minutes of the match were scrappy, blighted by frequent handling errors, although the Titans had shown stout defence to keep the visitors out when camped on the home try-line.

But there was nothing they could do against a textbook lineout catch and drive, which had too much power for the hosts and led to a penalty try.

Chris Francis was sent to the sin bin as a result, but that did not stop his side mounting an immediate response, as Oscar Kolowski got on the end of a grubber kick through to score; Gary Kingdom was unable to convert.

Soon Taunton were ahead, as scrum-half Jacob Nash made a great break downfield and offloaded to Ollie Rice, who showed great strength to cross the line.

This time Kingdom did convert, via the inside of the post, and the home side led 12-7.

Five minutes later it was 17-7, thanks to the try of the game.

Kingdom collected a high kick and beat four or five would-be tacklers, the ball was recycled to Kolowski, and he found Nick Mason on the charge outside him to go over in the corner.

The Rams appeared shell-shocked, and they were rocked by a fourth Taunton try just minutes later, the hosts winning lineout ball and moving it right, for Rice to dash over for his second of the game.

Kingdom converted for 24-7, but there were just 10 points in it at half time as another strong set-piece move from the away side finished with Ben Henderson getting the credit under a pile of bodies, and Alex Seers converted.

The decisive moment came seven minutes into the second half, as Rams were awarded a penalty but an incident off the ball was spotted and Chapman was shown red.

Sonny Haines then saw yellow as the Titans defence bent and buckled under pressure, and the visiting pack rumbled over for a third seven-pointer.

The gap was down to three, but then the hosts seemed to gather themselves, and pushed the lead out to six when Kingdom slotted a penalty.

But a daft knock-on from the kick-off invited the Rams into the home 22, and their second penalty try of the afternoon resulted, putting them into the lead by one point.

And it was game over once the visitors' forwards had punched yet more holes in the Taunton defence, allowing Sean McDonnell-Roberts to take a pass and score, with Seers again adding the extras.

A fortunate bounce of the ball allowed Mason to charge upfield, the move eventually leading to a penalty, kicked by Kingdom to put his side in losing bonus point range.

Two bonus points proved to be as good as it got for the hosts, as their last-minute efforts came to nothing, and the Rams celebrated a win which cemented their position at the top of the standings.

The Titans had certainly run the pace-setters close, only to let the game slip away in the second half as their 14 men could not withstand the Rams fightback.

They slip to fourth in the table, behind Canterbury, and next Saturday they travel to fifth-placed Tonbridge Juddians (ko 2.30pm).

Taunton Titans: Connor Baker, Chris Francis, Isaac Dalton, Stu Persey, Barrie-John Chapman, Dan Ogden, Jamie Fleming, Ben Oliphant-Thompson; Jacob Nash, Lewis Webb, Ollie Rice, Toby East, Nick Mason, Oscar Kolowski, Gary Kingdom. Replacements: Sam Williams, Sonny Haines, Andy England, Charlie Williams, Freddie Fraser.