Titans 29 Caldy 5

Rotherham Titans claimed their second successive 5 point win with a worthy 29-5 victory over a tenacious Caldy side at a sunny Clifton Lane.

Two tries by Jack Bergmanas and one each from Callum Irvine and Ali Thomson, plus nine points from the boot of Alex Dolly proved to be enough to secure the points for Rotherham.

Titans’ victory ensured they did the ‘double’ over their North West opposition this term, having triumphed 33-29 at Paton Field earlier in the season.

In fact the only side to date Titans haven’t registered a win against in National 1 is top of the table side Ampthill; only Old Elthamians in second place, who the Titans face on the last day of the season can emulate that.

The game itself saw Rotherham enjoy long periods of territory and possession and ultimately run out healthy winners, achieving their third biggest margin of victory this season.

However, they did have to wait for an Alex Dolly penalty on 17 minutes before they eventually got the scoreboard moving; the Sydney-born scrum half nailed his impressive effort from out wide on the left hand side.

The pressure Titans forwards exerted on Caldy inevitably paid off shortly after when in the space of 10 minutes Rotherham hooker Jack Bergmanas crashed over for a brace of tries. Both stemmed from catch and drives close to the line and both were expertly converted by Dolly to see Titans race into a 17-0 lead.

The one disappointment during the match for Rotherham came in the final play of the first half when Caldy full back Lewis Barker ran in all too easy for his side’s only points of the game, which sent the Titans in at the break leading 17-5.

The second period resumed in similar fashion to the first and the Caldy boys have to be credited as their defence repeatedly held out the home side under the sternest of pressure.

However, on the hour mark after another sustained period of pressure, one in which the Titans retained the ball for multi-phases, the inevitable breach of the defensive line was exploited when fly half Callum Irvine skipped through to dot down under the posts. Dolly’s converted to make it 24-5.

With the result now effectively in the bag, the one question which remained unanswered is would the home side be able to score a bonus-point try. The Titans faithful had to wait until 2 minutes from time for the answer, which eventually came from replacement hooker Ali Thomson who crashed over from the tail of a maul in the corner to round off an effective Rotherham performance.

Commenting on his sides victory post-match, Joe Barker explained, “I don’t think we’ve had a game like this one for a while, where we were fairly comfortable for pretty much the full 80 minutes. There were times when Caldy did put us under pressure, but we managed to weather those periods when they came and I don’t think we spent too much time in our own 22.

“I was pleased with how the boys controlled the game, obviously we still have lots of areas where we can improve but that will always be the case in rugby. I thought defensively we were really strong, as conceding only 5 points in a game would suggest.

“Our penalty count was pretty low too and that helps to keep the opposition out of your 22. Our attack started to flow better in the second half and we showed some good variety, after our pack had done some great work in the first half. And without being too picky I think we left at least another 2 tries out there; but we’ll take the result and build towards Cinderford.”

Referee: John Meredith

Attendance: 696

Yellow Card: Nagle-Taylor (Titans)

Red Card: Salisbury (Caldy)

Titans: Bergmanas (2T), Irvine (T), Thomson (T), Dolly (P, 3C)

Caldy: Barker (T)

Titans: 15 Dan Leake, 14 Henry Roberts (Allan 63), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne (Abrahams 50), 11 Connor Field, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Thomson 50), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 49), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Ure 70), 5 Jamie Ure (Cotterill 40), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ali Thomson, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Tom Cotterill, 19 Sam Allan, 20 Ellis Abrahams.

Caldy: 15 Lewis Barker (Dickinson 79), 14 Nick Royle, 13 Luke Hibberd, 12 Mike Barlow, 11 Rory Hardman, 10 Rhys Hayes, 9 Jake Squirrel (Jones 73), 1 John Whittaker, 2 Callum Ridgway (O'Donnell 47), 3 Derek Salisbury, 4 Jack Collister (McGowan 73), 5 Tom Sanders (Capt.), 6 David Jones (Crowe 60), 7 Nyle Davidson (Ridgway 65), 8 JJ Dickinson (Cross 74).

Replacements: 16 Rob O'Donnell, 17 Louis McGowan, 18 Stuart Cross, 19 Harrison Crowe, 20 Ben Jones.

Cambridge 20 Titans 24

Rotherham Titans put in a strong second half performance to overcome a determined Cambridge side 24-20 at Grantchester Road to record their 14th National 1 win of the season.

The victory sees Rotherham move ahead of Chinnor and Darlington Mowden Park into fifth spot in the table as they aim to finish off the season in strong fashion.

However, Titans endured a messy start to the clash and found themselves trailing as early as the third minute when some sloppy tackling enabled Cambridge winger Joe Green to score his side’s first try. Ben Penfold impressed from out wide in the windy conditions to add the extras and give the hosts a dream start.

One aspect of the Titans game which has impressed of late is the set scrum and again this facet paid dividends. On 12 minutes following a series of penalties given away at the set piece referee Richard Haughton was left with no alternative but to award a penalty try to level matters at 7 apiece.

At this stage of the contest however the home side looked much the brighter and clinically exposed Titans lacklustre start to the match when in a three minute spell they crossed the whitewash twice.

Firstly on 19 minutes following a good period of possession fly half Ben Penfold chipped through cleverly for full back Mike Ayrton to dot down and then the fly half was involved again as he popped a pass outside to Ned Brown who fed flanker Louis Rawlings to run in for an easy try. Both conversions were missed in the ever-increasing windy conditions.

Trailing 17-7 and having conceded three tries in the opening 22 minutes and with the home side looking full of energy and enthusiasm, the afternoon looked as if it would be a long one for the South Yorkshire side.

However, time and again this term this young Titans squad has shown an abundance of fight and character beyond their years and they were about to show it once more against Cambridge.

In the final play of the first half Rotherham pressed with urgency deep inside the host’s 22, before the ball arrived with Callum Irvine who threw a long miss pass over the top to find winger Henry Roberts who raced in to score near the corner. The conversion was held up in the wind and fell just short to leave Titans trailing at the break 17-12.

Rotherham continued their improvement in the second period and generally bossed matters for much of the half.

Titans improved performance led to their third try on 54 minutes when from a five metre line out hooker Jack Bergmanas dotted down from the tail of a maul. Irvine’s narrow miss with the extras left the game poised at 17 apiece.

Cambridge never once lacked energy in their workload and after a short period of intense pressure inside the Titans 22 drew a penalty, which Penfold knocked over from in front of the sticks to nose his side in front 20-17.

Back came Rotherham and a sustained period of pressure followed inside the host’s 22. Finally eight minutes from time and from another series of scrums close to the Cambridge line Rotherham were awarded another penalty try to give them the lead for the first time in the match.

A massive period of Cambridge pressure followed as they attempted to be the second team this season to do the ‘double’ over Rotherham. However, Titans demonstrated incredible tenacity in defence to hold on and secure their first away win since December.

Commenting post-match Joe Barker explained, “We know these lads have got bags of character and they definitely showed that again today. At one point we had a defensive set on the edge of our 22 near the end and we managed to push them back into their own half which was an outstanding effort.

“At that point we didn’t give away any penalties in what was a multi-phase period for them and we were winning the collisions. In the first half we didn’t win those collisions and we weren’t going at them, we were slow getting off the line and we were holding off even though we were in the right positions.

“We corrected that at half time and in the second half and we increased our tempo in how we wanted to play in attack and we moved them around and we managed to score some points. It was a good second half performance and the lads fully deserved the five points and it’s all credit to them for the win.”

Referee: Richard Haughton

Attendance: 530

Yellow Card: Baxter (Cambridge)

Titans: Penalty Try (2T), Roberts (T), Bergmanas (T)

Cambridge: Green (T), M Ayrton (T), Rawlings (T), Penfold (1C, 1P)

Titans: 15 Dan Leake, 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Connor Field, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Will Dennis (Stout 20) (Dennis 69), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Jamie Ure (Frost 47), 6 Luis Ball (Cotterill 47), 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ali Thomson, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Kieran Frost, 19 Tom Cotterill, 20 Alex Dolly.

Cambridge: 15 Mike Ayrton, 14 Nana Asiedu, 13 Ned Brown (Rayner 80), 12 James Ayrton (Yawayawa 26) (J Ayrton 36) (Yawayawa 41), 11 Joe Green, 10 Ben Penfold, 9 Kieran Duffin, 1 Ramaz Rukhadze (Peck 12), 2 Alex Rayment (Ruddock 54), 3 Jack Higgins, 4 George Bretag-Norris, 5 Gareth Baxter, 6 Darren Fox (Capt.), 7 Louis Rawlings (Moore 71), 8 Ciaran Moore (McCloud 47).

Replacements: Cameron Ruddock, 17 Henry Peck, 18 Jake McCloud, 19 Lawrence Rayner, 20 Sam Yawayawa.

Titans 24 Ampthill 36

A performance with lots of effort and endeavour was ultimately not enough for Rotherham as they went down 36-24 to Ampthill at Clifton Lane.

Titans were outscored by 5 tries to four, with Jamie Cooke, Seb Nagle-Taylor and a brace from winger Dan Leake securing a losing bonus point for the South Yorkshire side.

In what was always going to be a challenging encounter against the joint top-of-the-league side, Rotherham actually started the brighter and took the lead on 5 minutes.

From a line out on the edge of the Ampthill 22 the ball arrived with Jamie Cooke; the powerful centre smashed his way through the defence to run in and score next to the posts. Connor Dever added the extras to seal a perfect start for the hosts.

The reason Ampthill are joint top is because they are a very decent side, with plenty of experience in the pack and lots of pace in the backs.

This was demonstrated throughout the first half as they crossed the whitewash three times through second rower Jonathan Kpoku, winger Nigel Baker and centre Ollie Morris, with the first two tries being converted by former Canadian international full back James Pritchard.

Trailing 19-7 at the break Rotherham made a better fist of things in the second half, which ultimately played out as a draw.

On 53 minutes Seb Nagle-Taylor picked up from the base of a ruck to charge his way through from 35 metres for a fine try, following what had been a decent period of possession for the Titans.

However, before the hour mark the visitors effectively sealed the game with another two converted tries from back rower and skipper Billy Johnson and replacement front rower Ralph Adams-Hale to make the score 33-12.

Credit to the home side though as they showed good character to keep on battling and a determination not to roll over.

On 65 minutes following a series of pick and goes close to the visitor’s line, the ball was flung out to winger Dan Leake who showed good strength to power through under the sternest of pressure. Dever converted to leave Titans trailing by 14 points and with an outside chance of getting something from the game.

However, late on that appeared a forlorn task as Ampthill’s fly half Josh Sharp knocked over a penalty to stretch his sides lead to 17 points.

Not to be outdone though, in the final play of the match Titans did collect a deserved point for their efforts as Dan Leake dived over in the corner for a bonus-point try.

Speaking after the game a disappointed Joe Barker explained, “Today’s performance showed what we’re like as a squad at the moment; at times we can show some outstanding defensive and attacking sets, but we’re just not consistent enough.

“The tempo of the game wasn’t what we wanted it to be; when teams play like that we need to find ways of raising the tempo to the level we want and to move teams around and keep the ball alive.

“So I think that’s we’re we are as a squad and that’s frustrating because we can see the quality is there both in defence and attack, but the consistency.

“Playing in patches really doesn’t work and we gifted them two, maybe three tries and that’s the game there. I thought we scored some good tries and we deservedly picked up a point for that.”

Referee: Nick Wood

Attendance: 504

Yellow Card: Collins (Ampthill)

Titans: Leake (2T), Cooke (T), Nagle-Taylor (T), Dever, (2C)

Ampthill: Kpoku (T), Baker (T), Morris (T), Johnson (T), Adams-Hale (T), Pritchard, (4C), Sharp (P)

Titans: 15 Tom Allott, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Dan Richardson (Williams 60), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Thomson 60), 3 Will Dennis (Stout 24) (Dennis 40), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Cotterill 40), 5 Jamie Ure, 6 Luis Ball (Preston-Routledge 42) (Ball 64), 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ali Thomson, 17 Jessie Williams, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Tom Cotterill, 20 Alex Dolly.   

Ampthill: 15 James Pritchard (Whyte 69), 14 Spencer Sutherland, 13 Ollie Morris, 12 Sam Hanks, 11 Nigel Baker (Tonga’uiha 80), 10 Josh Sharp, 9 Kevin Barrett (McKirdy 64), 1 Soane Tonga’uiha (Adams-Hale 40), 2 Syd Blackmore (Molitika 64), 3 Matt Collins, 4 Henri Williams (Hudson 17), 5 Jonathan Kpoku, 6 Billy Johnson (Capt.), 7 Joe Bercis, 8 Maama Molitika (Walliker 40).

Replacements: 16 Ollie Walliker, 17 Ralph Adams-Hale, 18 Sam Hudson, 19 Euan McKirdy, 20 Ciaran Whyte.