JONNY HYLTON is pleased with the continued improvement shown by his Old Reigatians side, but insists there is still more to come.
ORs registered their first home win of the season with a hard- fought win against Old Alleynians on Saturday, with the hosts blitzing their opponents to score 33 unanswered points after going 13-0 down early on.
Old Alleynians hit back to score two late tries, but the ORs' player-coach said it was an improved performance from the opening day win at Winchester.
He said: "We were a bit slow out of the traps, but going 13-0 down seemed to shock us into action and we got into our patterns and scored 33 unanswered points.
"We did take our foot off the pedal again late on, but it was an improvement on the week before and it is all about building momentum at this stage."
With good to firm going underfoot the pace with which Old Alleynians were able to recycle and move the ball from left to right had ORs struggling to plug inside gaps early on.
And before they knew it, ORs were 13-0 down with the visitors' number ten on good form.
At this stage the hosts' much- trumpeted, all-singing, all-dancing scoreboard seemed a hasty purchase.
But at half-time it all seemed worth it as it read 26-13 to Old Reigatians, thanks to some impressive attacking rugby.
The second half carried on in the same fashion as the first: physical, fast-paced and with Reigatians scoring again to take the game to 33-13.
But ORs were soon down to 14 men when Andy Furness bolted from offside and neutered a promising Alleynians attack by spiking the ball in mid-air.
Soon after Alleynians narrowed the deficit to 33-20, although they were made to work hard to take advantage of the extra man at their disposal with some stout try-line defence, notably a man-and-ball tackle from Nicholas Grant.
On came Alleynians in the final quarter and bagged another try to take the game to 33-25.
Nevertheless, ORs were not to be denied the victory and some resolute defending saw the hosts hold on for their second straight win.
And Hylton says that sets his side up nicely for this week's trip to another of the division's fancied sides, Guildford.
He said: "We took another step up the ladder with our performance on Saturday, but we need to keep going in that direction.
"We need to keep improving week by week and we will need to this week, against a side who will be there or thereabouts.
"It is a big game for both sides and it will be another tough test for us, but it is one we are all looking forward to."
