Old Elthamians 31 Titans 12

Rotherham Titans may have been beaten on the final day of the season 31-12 by second placed side Old Elthamians, but they can hold their heads high after a sterling effort against a very good side.

Titans defeat at College Meadow combined with Plymouth Albion’s victory at Chinnor sees the South Yorkshire side finish sixth in the division and having started the campaign with just 2 players from last term, the achievement can be considered a creditable one.

The final game itself won’t go down as a classic and the difficult windy conditions didn’t help either team. Indeed, the half time score which saw the home side go in with a 5-0 lead, after prop Kieron Scutt barged over, was probably a fair reflection of the excitement levels produced.

The second half was a more entertaining encounter which saw the home side extend their advantage on 47 minutes when winger Dom Lespierre darted over for an unconverted try.

Titans however rallied and narrowed the deficit to 3 points before the hour mark when fly half Callum Irvine danced his way over to dot down under the posts. Alex Dolly’s conversion made it 10-7 and game on.

Following their success Rotherham went on to enjoy a good period of territory and possession, but to be fair to Elthamians they resolutely kept out the visitors with some tenacious defending.

The game was eventually sewed up for the home side when inside the final 12 minutes they ran in 3 unanswered tries through scrum half Ollie Claxton, full back Ben Howard and a second for winger Dom Lespierre; all of which were expertly converted by Tom White.

Rotherham did have the final say of the afternoon when skipper Seb Nagle-Taylor scored a try in the corner with 2 minutes remaining to end his exceptional season on a personal high.

Commenting post-match Titans Joe Barker revealed, “Old Elthamians is a tough place to come at the best of times, but with all the injuries we’ve got at the moment and with no fit second rows at the club, it just makes a tough place like this even more difficult.

“We had a tight head prop in the second row and a hooker in the back row and we didn’t have another fit player at the club outside our match day 20.

“So with all that in mind I have to give credit to the lads for the huge effort they put in today. Their mental attitude was spot on and overall I thought they did very well in the circumstances.

“A lot of things could have gone our way in the game and on another day they may have and potentially we could have been looking at a different result. But I am proud of every one of the lads and I think they’ve done the club proud.

“As a group of men I don’t think they’ll go through again what they’ve been through this year and I’ve thanked them for what they’ve done for Rotherham Rugby Club.

“There’s been a few clubs over the years that have been relegated into this division and not been seen again, but these lads have definitely kept Rotherham on the rugby map and that’s a big achievement.

“I’d also like to express our thanks and appreciation to our supporters who have all year been outstanding. They are very welcoming to our opposition at Clifton Lane and I’m sure every club has enjoyed our supporters at their ground; the atmosphere they create is tremendous and I’m sure bar takings receive a huge boost when they visit.”

Referee: Veryan Boscawen

Attendance: 327

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Irvine (T), Nagle-Taylor (T), Dolly (1C)

Old Elthamians: Lespierre (2T), Scutt (T), Claxton (T), Howard (T), White (3C)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan, 14 Dan Leake (Roberts 61), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne (Abrahams 40), 11 Connor Field, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Alex Dolly (Dever 65), 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 40), 4 Antony Dickinson, 5 Luis Ball, 6 Ali Thomson, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Will Dennis, 17 Ellis Abrahams, 18 Connor Dever, 19 Henry Roberts, 20 Joe Barker.

Old Elthamians: 15 Ben Howard, 14 Dom Lespierre, 13 James Golledge, 12 Kieran Moffat, 11 Charlie Dockery (Hotston 63), 10 Tom White, 9 Ollie Claxton (Neden 71), 1 Alex Rogers, 2 Nathan Morris (Rudland-Thomas 53), 3 Kieron Scutt (Brown 51), 4 Fred Hosking, 5 Charlie Self, 6 Harry Ledger (Messum 49), 7 Hamish Barton (Capt.), 8 Ben King.

Replacements: 16 Lewis Brown, 17 Jay Rudland-Thomas, 18 George Messum, 19 Ally Neden, 20 Bryan Hotston.

Blackheath 28 Titans 7

Rotherham disappointed in their penultimate game of the season as they crashed to a 28-7 defeat to an accomplished Blackheath side at Well Hall.

Rotherham did have their moments in the game but when they arrived either the hosts skilfully kept them out or they shot themselves in the foot through poor handling and decision making.

Titans could have nosed ahead in the second minute, however a rare off-target effort from Alex Dolly in the blustery conditions gave the hosts an early let off.

From there on Blackheath enjoyed the majority of what followed in the first half as they scored three tries through fly half Mark Cooke, full back Leo Fielding and flanker Stephen Leonard, all of which were converted by Leo Fielding.

Coming out for the second period trailing 21-0, Rotherham had more urgency about their work and as a result enjoyed long periods of territory and possession. However, a tremendously resilient defensive effort from the hosts ensured Titans could not breach their line.

As full time approached a rare foray from the hosts into the Titans 22 saw replacement back Ben Ransom cross the whitewash for Blackheath’s bonus point try. Again Fielding added the extras.

Deep into injury time Titans collected a consolation try when winger Henry Roberts darted through to score under the post for Connor Dever to convert.

Commenting post-match a disappointed Joe Barker said, “I think we saw the inconsistency of youth and inexperience in our performance today. Last week we were right up there as we achieved one of our best performances of the season, but this week we came close to putting in our worst and for me that’s all in the head.

“It’s nothing to do with tactical or technical ability, it’s about getting it right mentally on a week in week out basis and that will come as this group matures and become more experienced.

“Although we could have scored more tries, there’s no doubt the better team on the day won the game. Blackheath play a similar style to us in attack, but they just kept the ball far better than we did.

“We gave away a lot of penalties and mentally we weren’t alert enough at the breakdown and we didn’t react to the way the referee was running the game. You have to adapt to the referee because he isn’t going to change his approach.

“Hopefully going forward the boys will have learnt a lot of valuable lessons which they’ll take into next season because week in and week out they have to turn up, because you can’t just expect to stroll up and win games in this division.

“However, with one game to play I think we can all be pleased with what this set of lads have achieved this year and hopefully they can improve further for next year.”

Referee: Richard Haughton

Attendance: 673

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Roberts (T), Dever (1C)

Blackheath: Cooke (T), Leonard (T), Ransom (T), Fielding (T, 4C)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Ellis Abrahams (Barker 71), 12 Harry Dunne (Dever 43), 11 Connor Field, 10 Callum Irvine (Roberts 41), 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Will Dennis (Stout 59), 4 Antony Dickinson (Preston-Routledge 29) (Dickinson 59), 5 Luis Ball, 6 Ali Thomson, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Rikki Stout, 17 Dan Preston-Routledge, 18 Joe Barker, 19 Connor Dever, 20 Henry Roberts.

Blackheath: 15 Leo Fielding (Ransom 58), 14 Jake Lloyd, 13 Alex Pickersgill, 12 Markus Burcham (Capt.), 11 Craig Dowsett, 10 Mark Cooke, 9 Jack Daly (Liebenberg 58), 1 Tom Williams (Young 71), 2 Harry Fry (Priestley 71), 3 Danny Herriott, 4 Josh Peters, 5 Andrew Daish, 6 Freddie Owen (Fielding 71), 7 Stephen Leonard, 8 Anders Nilsson (Bate 43).

Replacements: 16 Will Priestley, 17 Billy Young, 18 Harry Bate, 19 Stefan Liebenberg, 20 Ben Ransom.

Titans 41 Bishop’s Stortford 35

Rotherham Titans rounded off their season at home with a thrilling 41-35 victory over a very competitive and free-flowing Bishop’s Stortford side.

Each side scored five tries each and the result ensures Titans cannot finish outside the top 6 in their first season back in National 1, which, when all things considered has to be viewed as an outstanding achievement.

In a first half where the visitors undoubtedly had the better of things it took them just 9 minutes to get the scoreboard moving. From a line out close to the Titans line, the ball was fed back inside to winger Chris Smith who darted through a gap to score. Tom Banks added the extras.

Pre-match there was a suggestion the game was going to be a high-scoring affair and Titans played their part in supporting that viewpoint. On 19 minutes Callum Irvine put in a superb clearance kick which winger Dan Leake collected spectacularly on the Bishop’s 10 metre line before he outpaced the defence to score in the corner. Dolly’s impressive conversion from the touchline levelled the game at 7 apiece.

With a reputation for scoring tries and playing an exciting brand of rugby, Stortford confirmed their reputation was a deserved one when 2 further tries were added mid-way through the half from centre Reuben Bird-Tulloch and scrum half Tom Banks, with the latter converting both to stretch the visitors lead to 21-7.

It was important Rotherham scored next if they were to keep within touching distance and this they did just before half time. Following a period of forward pressure which saw them nose towards the line, flanker Zak Poole collected to crash over near the posts. Dolly added the extras to send his side in at the break trailing 21-14.

Over the half time oranges wise words must have been spoken as within 4 minutes of the restart Titans scored two converted tries!

The first one came after 18 seconds when Dan Leake collected the high ball and took play up to the Bishop’s line, before Dolly dug the ball out and sent hooker Jack Bergmanas in for a fine score.

Three minutes later Luis Ball made a barnstorming break deep inside the Bishop’s 22, before the ball was fed to Joe Barker who threw a terrific long miss-pass to Dan Leake who charged in for his second try of the game in the corner.

Dolly added a penalty on 50 minutes to give Rotherham a 10 point advantage at 31-21.

Not surprisingly however Stortford responded and secured their bonus-point try on 66 minutes. The surprise came when referee Jack Lewars awarded Bishop’s a penalty try at the first penalty Rotherham conceded at a scrum 5 metres from their own line to draw the visitors to within 3 points.

How Titans would have wished all referees in the division did this upon the first penalty at scrum-time, as surely penalty try would be their leading try scorer of the season!

Nevertheless Titans responded 7 minutes from time when lock forward Dan Preston-Routledge popped up on the right wing to barge his way over to cap an outstanding personal performance. Dolly again impressed with the boot from the touchline to re-establish a 10-point buffer.

One minute from time Bishop’s work rate and persistence paid off when centre Reuben Bird-Tulloch showed good pace and strength to run in for his second try of the match. Banks added the extras to make it a 3 point game and set up a nervy finale.

However deep into injury time Dolly added a penalty to see out the game for the home side and send the Titans faithful into the bar happy!

A delighted Joe Barker commenting after the game said, “The boys responded really well in the second half; we knew both in attack and defence we could take control of the game and we knew we needed to speed up the breakdown and to test them either side, rather than just going the same way all the time.

“So we made a few small changes at the break and these lads acted on it; but what I’m most proud of is that I questioned them on Tuesday on how we’d performed at Cinderford because that wasn’t us and they’ve gone out and rewarded me and everyone connected with the club with what they’ve gone out and done today.

“You just can’t fault their effort and how they’ve gone about it today, because they’ve played some outstanding rugby and there’s been some outstanding individual stuff as well as what we’ve achieved as a team.

So I am very proud of these lads and what they’ve achieved for the club this year.”

Referee: Jack Lewars

Attendance: 547

Yellow Card: Richardson (Titans), Duff (Bishop's Stortford)

Titans: Leake (2T), Poole (T), Bergmanas, (T), Preston-Routledge (T), Dolly (5C, 2P)

Bishop's Stortford: Bird-Tulloch (2T), Smith (T), Penalty Try, Banks (1T, 4C)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan (Dever 70), 14 Dan Leake, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Joe Barker (Dunne 69), 11 Connor Field, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Thomson 54), 3 Will Dennis (Stout 56), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost (Keys 58), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ali Thomson, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Conor Keys, 19 Connor Dever, 20 Harry Dunne.

Bishop's Stortford: 15 Nicholas Hankin, 14 Rob Duff, 13 Reuben Bird-Tulloch, 12 Jack Scantlebury (Hitchcock 60), 11 Chris Smith, 10 Sam Cappaert (Coleman 49), 9 Tom Banks, 1 Seb Brownhill (Harrison-Price 64), 2 Harrison King (Caulfield 44) (King 64), 3 Benjamin Harrison-Price (McCrone 54), 4 Mark McCraith (Jones 49), 5 Matt Tomlinson (Capt.), 6 James Apperley, 7 Rory Banks, 8 Steve Ball.

Replacements: 16 Declan Caulfield, 17 Tom McCrone, 18 Ollie Jones, 19 Tom Hitchcock, 20 Tom Coleman.

Cinderford 36 Titans 19

Rotherham Titans first ever visit to Cinderford ended in disappointment as they crashed 36-19 to the South West side at Dockham Road.

The victory for Cinderford all but guarantees them their place in National 1 for next term whilst Titans aim of a top 6 finish took a bit of a knock.

Rotherham will have been disappointed with their overall performance, as all too often they gave away possession at crucial times.

Titans never lead at any point in the game but were still within touching distance at the break as they went in trailing by just five points at 17-12. Tries from number 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor and winger Connor Field gave the South Yorkshire side hope that they could mount a second half fightback to make it three wins on the bounce.

However, that challenge never really materialised as the hosts scored a further three second half tries to Titans solitary effort from flanker Zak Poole.

Titans did create pressure close to the host’s line late on from the scrum, as they attempted to pick up a 4-try bonus point. However, the opportunity was lost and the Titans went pointless for the first time in 11 games.

Speaking post-match Titans Joe Barker explained, “We are disappointed with how things have gone today, especially after the last 2 weeks where the boys have worked so hard for two very good wins. We’ve shown some promising signs recently, but I think today we seem to have taken a backwards step and that’s the disappointing thing.

“It wasn’t down to a lack of effort, you’ll never get that from this set of lads because they always put in the graft, but mentally we just weren’t at the races today.

“I think we were strong defensively in the first half apart from the odd individual error, but as a defensive unit the team did well. Unfortunately in attack we just couldn’t get our game going as well as we know we can and I think that’s what let us down.

“Fair play to Cinderford though, they retained the ball very well and kept it from us for prolong periods of the game. Then when we did manage to get some possession, all too often we gave it away cheaply and when you do that at this level it’s very difficult to win games of rugby.

“We’ve now got to dust ourselves down and work really hard in training so we can finish of our home campaign with a positive performance against Bishop’s Stortford. I think overall we’ve had an impressive year from these young lads and it would be great if we could finish on a high in front of our fantastic supporters.”

Referee: James O'Brien

Attendance: 360

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Nagle-Taylor (T), Field (T), Poole (T), Irvine (2C)

Cinderford: Babarinsa (2T), Hone (T), Ryan (T), Mullis (T), Hemming (4C, P)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Connor Field, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Thomson 55), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 55), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Keys 65), 5 Jamie Ure (Preston-Routledge 79), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ali Thomson, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Conor Keys, 19 Alex Dolly, 20 Ellis Abrahams.

Cinderford: 15 Alex Frame, 14 Sam Smith (Pointon 72), 13 Terence Babarinsa, 12 Jack Hayes, 11 Reuben Norville, 10 Liam Hemming, 9 Ewan Fenley, 1 George Porter (Capt.) (Smart 62), 2 Jack Preece, 3 Tim Brockett (Elliot 40), 4 George Evans, 5 Dale Lemon, 6 Aaron Ryan (Bennett 70), 7 Daniel Broady (Mullis 58), 8 Harry Hone.

Replacements: 16 Joe Smart, 17 James Elliot, 18 Joe Mullis, 19 Matthew Bennett, 20 Danny Pointon.