Darlington Mowden Park 41 Titans 27

Rotherham Titans shared a 10-try thriller against top six outfit Darlington Mowden Park, before eventually going down 41-27 at the Northern Echo Arena.

The result leaves Titans still 8 points adrift of Birmingham Mosely at the foot of the table with 10 games remaining, although 6 of those games are at Clifton Lane, starting with the visit of Chinnor on Saturday.

Rotherham can take some positives from defeat to the divisions leading point’s scorers, as the five tries they scored equalled the hosts tally and delivered them a hard-fought, but fully deserved bonus point.

Indeed, had the usually expert marksman from the tee, Sam Hollingsworth, had a more fortuitous afternoon with the boot, the result may have been a much closer affair, although to be fair to him, his shots off the plastic were just about all from out wide.

What Rotherham can be particularly pleased with however was 100% line-out success and a driving maul which dominated throughout.

Actually, both of Titans first half tries came via the driving maul, with skipper Zak Poole dotting down both times after tremendous work from the Rotherham pack.

Mowden’s first half points came with two tries from bulldozing number 8 Ollie Hodgson and one from flanker Callum Mackenzie; whilst classy fly half Warren Seals added 9 points from the tee.

Following an early Seals penalty at the beginning of the second period Rotherham added their third try through winger Ben Robbins, who showed blistering pace down the right wing to go over in the corner and when Hollingsworth nailed the difficult conversion Titans were within 10 points with over 30 minutes left.

Unfortunately for them however, during a five-minute spell of dominance between the 66th and 71st minutes Park’s Tom Marshall and Conrad Cade crossed the whitewash to secure the game.

Undeterred and showing a terrific amount of resilience and character Rotherham stormed back late on to score another two tries through lock forward Kieran Frost and a second for winger Ben Robbins.

Commenting afterwards, an upbeat Titans’ Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, said, “Darlington are a very good outfit and are pretty much irresistible at home; that’s their sixth straight win on the bounce here and you could see what a good side they are.  

“It was a big ask for our boys today and as everyone knows we’ve been under the cosh a lot of this season. However, I thought the lads reacted well to score five tries and to keep coming back and to get a point.

“That is the sort of fight, the sort of dog and the sort of attitude we need if we are going to get out of trouble at the bottom of the table and I am immensely proud of all of them.

“We know there’s going to be some hard fights ahead, but we are improving week on week and to come here and get a point is a good effort and whilst we are always trying to win every game, we are content with the work the lads have put in today.

“Prior to this game we took seven points from our previous three games and we have said to the boys if we can take seven points every three games, then we should be ok at the end of the season and that’s our target.

“Obviously a lot will hinge on our home fixtures and we know when Chinnor come to Clifton Lane it will be very hard, but we will be going for the win just like we do in every game.”

Referee: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 855              

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Poole (2T), Robbins (2T), Frost (T), Hollingsworth (1C)

Darlington Mowden Park: Hodgson (2T), Mackenzie (T), Marshall (T), Cade (T), Seals (5C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Connor Dever, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield 35), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 60), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Ward 60), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Alfie North (Waddington 12), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Elliott Ward, 19 Ben Waddington, 20 George Castledine.

Darlington Mowden Park: 15 Paul Jarvis, 14 Brandon Asher-Wood, 13 Ben Frankland, 12 Ben Dixon, 11 Ollie Walker (McTurk 50), 10 Warren Seals (Law73), 9 Euan McKirdy, 1 Conrad Cade (Westwood 71), 2 Joe Duffy, 3 Jonas Humbert (Marshall 60), 4 Talite Vaioleti, 5 Joe Craggs, 6 George Stokes (Graham 70), 7 Callum Mackenzie, 8 Ollie Hodgson (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Scott Westwood, 17 Tom Marshall, 18 Guy Graham, 19 Garry Law, 20 Chris McTurk.

Titans 22 Birmingham Moseley 20

Rotherham Titans claimed a deserved 22-20 victory over a tenacious Birmingham Moseley side to narrow the gap at the bottom of National 1 to 8 points.

Each side scored three tries apiece, with the Titans scores coming from lock forward Dan Preston-Routledge and back rowers Zak Poole and Lewis Wilson, whilst fly half and former Moseley player, Sam Hollingsworth added 7 points from the tee.

The win was a crucial one for the South Yorkshire side, as a five point defeat to the West Midlands outfit would have put them 16 points adrift in the relegation zone.

Instead, on the back of their win, Rotherham can take confidence from their much-improved performances over the last 3 weeks, as they seek more victories in order to narrow the gap further as the season draws towards the business end.

However, Titans’ hearts would have sunk early on, when after a promising start they fell 7-0 behind after just 4 minutes.

From turnover ball deep inside the opposition’s half, Moseley winger Matt Dight broke through and hacked on to score from 60 metres out, with Titans’ ‘old boy’ Cliffie Hodgson adding the conversion from close to the touchline.

This ‘new’ Titans side however no longer rolls over when things don’t quite go their way and the players showed their character by storming back with an aggression and intensity that will stand them in good stead for the battle ahead in the final third of the season.

This aggression and intensity led to Titans levelling matters just after the 20 minute mark, when following a series of pick and goes close to the line, lock forward Dan Preston-Routledge showed great strength to barge his way through three Moseley defenders to score, with fly half Sam Hollingsworth adding the extras.

Back came the Midlanders though and following a short period of forward pressure inside the Rotherham 22, they nosed ahead from a Hodgson penalty in front of the sticks.

Just before the break however and Titans deservedly re-took the lead when skipper Zak Poole barged his way over in the corner following a good drive from a line-out inside the 22. Hollingsworth impressed again from the tee to send his side in at the interval with a 14-10 advantage.

Titans though, would have been disappointed with their opening efforts to the second period, as following a clearance kick from Moseley just outside their 22, winger Aquile Smith collected on halfway virtually unopposed and proceeded to gallop in from 50 metres to push his side 15-14 ahead.

Again Rotherham bounced back with good intensity in what was fast becoming a thriller of a game. This time flanker Lewis Wilson showed good awareness to spot a gap at the breakdown before pouncing through to score. Unfortunately for Rotherham, Hollingsworth’s conversion hit the left post as the wind started to increase.

Just after the hour mark, this topsy-turvy encounter took another twist, when, as is often the case, a former Titan scores against his old club. This time fly half, Cliffie Hodgson, joined the tail of a maul to dot down for an unconverted try to sneak his side one point ahead.

As time was running out it appeared as if Rotherham would be on the wrong side of another single-score defeat.

However, from a scrum 45 metres out Titans were rewarded for their dominant set-piece when referee Charlie Gayther - who is surely set for greater things in the game - awarded Titans a penalty.

Up stepped Sam Hollingsworth and with nerves of steel he calmly slotted the winning score to the elation of the home crowd.

Commenting post-match, Titans’ Martin Jenkinson explained, “We talk all the time about the performance and we’ve seen for three weeks now, after things were changed, in our games against Plymouth, Cambridge and Moseley the team making improvements.

“People forget there are so many single-score games and you’ve got to be able to get on the right side of these scores. Last week and the week before we weren’t able to do that; but this week we were and all credit to the lads for doing so.

“That Birmingham side is a good side and they did a very good job against Cinderford last week, but I think any independent observer would say we played all the good rugby today.

“They got that fortunate breakaway try early on, but they are a good outfit and that’s what good teams can do, but I have to say that we are a good outfit also and now we are starting to look like the team we thought we would be.

“We went behind three times in the game and if that had happened to us before Christmas we would probably at that stage collapsed.

“However, we are in a different place now and the boys proved that with the strength of character they had to dig in, trust the process and come back to ultimately win the game.

“We are improving week on week and that gives us the confidence that we can go anywhere in this league and beat any team on our day and whilst that’s the situation there is more than hope for us.

“I don’t think sides will relish coming here or will relish us going to their place. We’ve got Darlington Mowden Park next and we will go up there looking for a win.”

Referee: Charlie Gayther

Attendance: 543

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Preston-Routledge (T), Poole (T), Wilson (T), Hollingsworth (2C, P)

Birmingham Moseley: Dight (T), Smith (T), Hodgson (T, C, P)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Jamie Cooke, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne (Dever 8), 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 67), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson (North 60), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka (Laxton 76). 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Alfie North, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Connor Dever.

Birmingham Moseley: 15 Louis Roach, 14 Matt Dight, 13 Kieran Joyce, 12 Ravai Fatiaki, 11 Aquile Smith, 10 Cliffie Hodgson (Palmer 8) (Hodgson 21), 9 Johnny Arr (Capt.), 1 Nathaniel Titchard-Jones (Foreman 60), 2 Will Biggs, 3 James Tideswell (Langley 27) (Tideswell 68), 4 Tony Worthington, 5 Aaron Crofts (Stephens 60), 6 Zac Xiourouppa, 7 Morgan Dawes, 8 Buster Lawrence.

Replacements: 16 Joe Foreman, 17 David Langley, 18 Michael Stephens, 19 Jack Jolly, 20 Ben Palmer.

Photo Credit: Blueline Photography

Cambridge 25 Titans 21

Rotherham Titans were gutted not to return home with a pocket full of points as they narrowly lost 25-21 to Cambridge at a windswept Grantchester Road.

Titans for much of the match were the better side; unfortunately for them, a series of unforced errors cost them what would have been a fully deserved victory.

Indeed, had the pack, which mustered over 20 phases on the Cambridge line in the last play of the game, got over the line, the South Yorkshire side would have returned to Clifton Lane with the full five points.

That didn’t look possible after just five minutes of this pulsating encounter, as centre Matthew Hema and winger James Martin both crossed to give the home side a perfect start.

Undeterred at the set-back Rotherham bounced back and enjoyed lots of possession as their pack bullied their way around Grantchester Road. On 14 minutes one such impressive charge resulted in winger Ben Robbins galloping around the defence to score near the corner.

Incredibly fly half Sam Hollingsworth nailed the conversion from out wide against the stiffest of winds.

Rotherham continued to impress as they controlled proceedings for the remainder of the half and with their set-scrum functioning exceptionally well, it appeared it would only be a matter of time before they added to their tally.

Unfortunately for Titans though they lost the ball and gave away possession just before half time. The resulting phases saw Titans former winger Andrew Henderson finish off in the corner to send his side in at the break with a 15-7 lead.

The second half saw Rotherham continue their fine work. However, it was not until just before the hour-mark that they manage to find a score.

From a Cambridge scrum just outside the Titans 22, the home pack desperately flung the ball out from the base as the pressure mounted. In stepped Titans’ scrum half Sam Boxhall to pick-off the pass and then gallop 70 metres downfield to score in the corner. Hollingsworth’s conversion from the touchline was expertly taken to leave the Titans trailing by a point.

Just 5 minutes later Rotherham took the lead for the first time.

From a line-out on the Cambridge 22 hooker Harry Newborn threw to Lewis Wilson at the front; he then popped the ball back for the hooker to race down the touchline to score. Hollingsworth was exceptional from out wide off the tee to give his side a 21-15 lead.

Disappointingly for Rotherham, inside the final 9 minutes of the match they conceded 2 late tries. The first stemmed from a bit of a mix-up with a grubber kick which allowed James Martin in for his second try and then from turnover ball prop Henry Peck popped over in the corner, despite a suspiciously-looking forward pass in the build-up.

Rotherham can however take some consolation from both the bonus point they picked up, but more importantly from a performance, if repeated, that will only lead to them winning lots of games of rugby.

Commenting on Titans’ performance post-match, Matt Smith explained, “It was heart-breaking for the lads not to win this one; at the end we had over 20 phases to get over the line but we just couldn’t manage it and that was the difference between five points and one.

“But again we saw the step-up in quality of our performance in the way we want to play; we’ve just got to get rid of those little mistakes which are costing us a lot. Some of their tries were too easy which yet again came off our errors.

“It was a strange game to lose; they didn’t have that much ball, particularly in the first half and three of their tries came off our errors and I would say overall we were the better team.

“However, points aren’t given out for being the better team if you don’t win the match. We need to be better when we have the ball and we need to show a bit more quality in finishing off the opportunities when they come our way.

“However, after the game you could that the boys were absolutely gutted, which means that they care and any group of lads that care that much and are willing to work hard to keep improving give you massive confidence that the next win is just around the corner.”

Referee: Sam Phillips

Attendance: 523

Yellow Card: Hollingsworth (Titans)

Titans: Robbins (T), Boxhall (T), Newborn (T), Hollingsworth (3C)

Cambridge: Martin (2T), Hema (T), Henderson (T), Peck (T),

Titans: 15 Sam Allan, 14 Jamie Cooke, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ben Robbins (Dever 20) (Robbins 35), 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 50), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (North 38), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka. 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Alfie North, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Connor Dever.

Cambridge: 15 Joseph Tarrant, 14 James Martin, 13 Matthew Hema, 12 Ned Brown (Rayner 61), 11 Andrew Henderson, 10 Benjamin Penfold, 9 Kieran Duffin (Creighton 50), 1 Matthew Meek (Ibrahim 64), 2 Michael Mayhew (Priestley 50), 3 Henry Peck, 4 Robert Conquest, 5 Gareth Baxter (Hutchinson 80), 6 Kailus Hutchinson (McCloud 40), 7 Matthew Dawson, 8 Benjamin Adams (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 William Priestley, 17 Ben Ibrahim, 18 Jake McCloud, 19 Finlay Creighton, 20 Lawrence Rayner.

Titans 32 Plymouth Albion 38

Rotherham Titans put in a much-improved performance, but were still unable to grab the win as they went down 38-32 to Plymouth Albion at Clifton Lane.

Titans collected two points for their efforts as they ended the game within seven points of the visitors and scored four tries.

Indeed, Titans first half performance was one of their best for quite some time as they played some tidy rugby and controlled much of the game.

Winger Dan Leake gave the hosts a perfect start when he majestically collected a high clearance kick from Sam Hollingsworth as early as the second minute and then proceeded to race in from 40 metres.

Hollingsworth added the conversion and then extended the Titans advantage further on 10 minutes with a well taken penalty.

The only real disappointment for the home side in the first half came on 25 minutes when after overthrowing at their own line-out, five metres from the Albion line, they found themselves conceding a driving maul try from prop Koree Britton a minute later!

Full back Connor Eastgate converted to add to his 14th minute penalty to level things up at 10 apiece.

Rotherham however responded quickly and with purpose about their work.

On the half hour mark Hollingsworth added his second penalty, before a minute later creating a super try as he dummied 40 metres out and broke the line. He took play inside the 22 before drawing the final defender to send in scrum half Sam Boxhall under the sticks.

Indeed, in first half injury time Rotherham could have extended their advantage further, when Anthony Maka broke inside the Albion 22. However, some last-gasp scramble defence from Albion kept their line intact and the sides went in at the break with Titans holding a healthy 20-10 lead.

Based on the first 40 minutes of a pulsating game, no one in the ground would have imagined what was about to occur in the opening quarter of the second half.

Inside a 19 minute spell between the 48th and 67th minute Plymouth ran in 4 unanswered tries through number 8 Ruis Tuima, second rower John Kelly, winger Shea Cornish and flanker George Mills.

Unfortunately for Rotherham Mills blatant dropping of the ball over the line was missed by all three officials and the try was awarded.

To their credit Titans bounced back with great urgency and scored two late tries through skipper Zak Poole and winger Jamie Cooke.

Oh how Rotherham wished the officials had a better view of the Albion knock-on over the line!

Commenting on the game afterwards, Titans’ Martin Jenkinson, explained, “If you look at how the game broke down; for 60 minutes we were the better team. However, they scored four unanswered tries in a 20 minutes spell after half time which was very disappointing.

“Having said that, we have just said to the boys it’s been a good training week, the first one we’ve had for some time and I believe that we’ve seen the start of the mending process – the process of putting things right.

“Hopefully we can get some more front row players back from injury and hopefully we can start managing these games for a full 80 minutes, because it was that game management immediately after half time that lets us down.

“We stopped exiting. When we start trying to play inside our own half we are inviting pressure on ourselves and you end up getting yourselves into situations where you are never out of the pressure cooker.

“You then cough ball up for whatever reason and it ends up in a try against you; whereas they should be a foot through it down the field to allow us to play in safer areas. We did it in the first half, but not when we came out after half time.

“We have just got to keep working, there’s no magic wand to wave, we have to keep working hard, we need to get some more boys fit and we have to stick our collective shoulders behind the wheel to make sure we get enough points to stay in the division.”

Referee: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 481

Yellow Card: Mills (Plymouth)

Titans: Leake (T), Boxhall (T), Poole (T), Cooke (T), Hollingsworth (3C, 2P)

Plymouth Albion: Britton (T), Tuima (T), Kelly (T), Cornish (T), Mills (T), Eastgate (5C, 1P) 

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Jamie Cooke, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Dan Leake (Dever 33), 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 40), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Kieran Frost, 5 Elliott Ward (Preston-Routledge 53), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Anthony Maka. 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 James Armitage, 18 Dan Preston-Routledge, 19 Alfie North, 20 Connor Dever.

Plymouth Albion: 15 Connor Eastgate, 14 Shea Cornish (Ingoldsby74), 13 Dean Squire, 12 Javiah Pohe (Powell 78), 11 Alex Ducker, 10 Sam Morley, 9 Joe Snow, 1 Koree Britton, 2 James Salter, 3 Jack Higgins, 4 John Kelly, 5 Lewis Pearson, 6 Dan Swain (Collier 68), 7 George Mills, 8 Ruis Tuima.

Replacements: 16 Peter Ingoldsby, 17 Alex Smith, 18 Cameron Setter, 19 Dan Collier, 20 Dan Powell.