Titans 22 Cambridge 17

Rotherham Titans returned to winning ways as they were made to battle hard for their 22-17 win over Cambridge at a blustery Clifton Lane.

Titans outscored the opposition by three tries to two, with Anthony Maka, Dan Leake and Zak Poole all crossing the whitewash in the first period.

Disappointingly, Rotherham were unable to add to their try tally as they lost the second half 3-0, but ultimately they secured an important win against a good team.

Titans came racing out of the blocks and took the lead as early as the third minute, when a catch and drive close to the visitors line was finished off by number 8 Anthony Maka, to give the home side a perfect start.

Paradoxically however, despite Rotherham enjoying lots of good spells in a highly competitive game, it was Cambridge went ahead, after executing their limited opportunities in clinical fashion to score two tries in the space of 8 minutes, through livewire scrum half Finlay Creighton.

On 18 minutes following a period of forward pressure, Creighton dummied and then sniped over from close range. Then on 26 minutes, after flanker Alex Rayment made a beak following some sloppy defending at the breakdown, Creighton was on hand again to run in under the sticks.

Rotherham needed to respond quickly and this they did a minute later when Anthony Maka collected a clearance kick just inside his own half. Maka then galloped downfield and traded passes with full back Sam Allan before sending in Dan Leake in the left hand corner for a fine try.

Morgan Bunting, on for Sam Hollingsworth who’d took a slight knock earlier in the game, nosed Titans 15-14 ahead on the half hour mark with a straightforward penalty from in front of the posts.

Rotherham then extended their advantage 3 minutes later when Captain Zak Poole collected on the 10 metre line and following a show and go charged home with good pace and strength for an excellent score. Bunting’s conversion made it 22-14.

The second half didn’t go according to what Titans would have had in mind at the break. Indeed the only score of the second period came in injury time when Cambridge centre, Ben Penfold knocked over a penalty to give the visitors a well-deserved losing bonus point.

Nevertheless, Titans will reflect on this one as a good win against a very capable side.

Commenting post-match, Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, said, “It was a hard-fought win; there were two distinct halves of rugby which were very different from each other. I thought we played some outstanding rugby in the first half and Harry Whitfield was devastating early on.

“We went in at 22-14 and it never crossed any of our minds that we would be nilled in the second half. However, the important thing is we have won two at home, but we need to be getting maximum points at home.

“It’s generally pleasing, but it’s tinged with we probably let ourselves down a bit with not getting that fourth try and the bonus point.

“We got ourselves on a couple of occasions into good positions, but then the line-out broke down.

“We had a couple of overthrows in the wrong areas and that’s your opportunities gone and against good sides like Cambridge you don’t get that many opportunities. So you have to take them and that was the story of the second half.

“However, the boys’ defensive effort was absolutely herculean, it was massive, but there was too much of it. We were defending because when we got ourselves into position we gave the ball away too cheaply and then they were back on to us again.

“So whilst our defence was superb, we don’t want to be doing so much of it; we want to be at the other end of the park.”

Referee: Ben Rayner

Attendance: 572

Yellow Card: Hutchinson (Cambridge)

Titans: Maka (T), Leake (T), Poole (T), Bunting (2C, P)

Cambridge: Creighton (2T), Penfold (2C, P)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Tom Williams (Hollingsworth 55), 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Dan Leake, 10 Sam Hollingsworth (Bunting 25), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield (Toby Williams 31), 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Reece Ward (Dennis 47), 4 Elliott Ward (Laxton 67), 5 Kieran Frost (Preston-Routledge 61), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton (Wilson 55), 8 Anthony Maka.

Replacements: 16 Toby Williams, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Dan Preston-Routledge, 19 Lewis Wilson, 20 Morgan Bunting.

Cambridge: 15 Andrew Henderson (Capt.), 14 James Martin (Rawlings 31), 13 Ned Brown, 12 Benjamin Penfold, 11 Matthew Hema, 10 Joe Tarrant (Rayner 65), 9 Finlay Creighton (Adamson 61), 1 David Langley (Rukhadze 31), 2 Michael Mayhew, 3 Henry Peck (Langley 45) (Peck 59), 4 Kailus Hutchinson (Conquest 45), 5 Gareth Baxter, 6 Ciaran Moore (Rayment 61), 7 Alex Rayment (Martin 38), 8 Ben Adams.

Replacements: 16 Ramaz Rukhadze, 17 Robert Conquest, 18 Louis Rawlings, 19 Rhodri Adamson, 20 Lawrence Rayner.

Plymouth Albion 33 Titans 27

Rotherham Titans were agonisingly denied a famous win at Brickfields in the 84th minute when Plymouth Albion flanker George Mills barged over in the corner.

Titans had worked miracles to claw their way back into a contest that appeared to be a lost cause as early as the 25th minute as the hosts raced into a 19-0 lead, following a brace of tries from winger Josh Skelcey and one from blind side flanker Sam Daly.

Titans would have been disappointed with their lacklustre start and the portents for them were as dark as the clouds which loitered around Brickfields for much of the afternoon, before they eventually burst on full time.

However, a chink of light appeared on the half hour mark as Titans never-say-die attitude was rewarded when skipper Zak Poole showed terrific determination to stretch his way over following a period of forward pressure close to the Albion line.

The half time oranges would have tasted a little less sour on the back of Poole’s try as Titans went in at the break trailing 19-7.

Following a re-grouping at the interval Rotherham came out for the second period looking significantly sharper than they did at the outset.

On 46 minutes they nibbled into Albion lead when fly half Sam Hollingsworth slotted a straightforward penalty over from in front of the sticks.

Then a minute later Hollingsworth was in the thick of the action again; this time a superb deft chip over the top saw him collect his own kick, before slipping a neat pass to scrum half Connor Dever who showed terrific pace to race in from 40 metres. Hollingsworth conversion drew Titans to within two points at 19-17.

Disappointingly Rotherham ‘knocked off’ shortly afterwards which allowed the hosts to press deep inside their 22 and following a series of pick and goes, Albion fly half Dan Mugford collected to cross the whitewash.

Titans continued to look lively however and there was a threat about their work going forwards. Hollingsworth added another 3-pointer on the hour mark to reduce Rotherham’s arrears to 26-20.

Inside the final five minutes Rotherham thought they had their third try of the game to reduce their deficit to 1 point with the conversion to come, when Zak Poole charged over after collecting a loose ball. However, the officials deemed he knocked on over the line!

Two minutes from time a rampant Titans pack stole Albion ball at scrum time through number 8 Anthony Maka; the big back-rower showed huge determination and great strength to power over from the base to make it a one point game with the conversion to come. Replacement fly half Morgan Bunting stepped up to the plate to calmly slot over the extras and give Rotherham the lead.

However, with the penultimate play of the match and following a series of Albion pick and goes in the 84th minute, George Mills crossed to seal a barnstormer of a game for Plymouth.

A disappointed Anthony Posa reflected post-match, “Sport can be very cruel, but as I’ve just said to the boys now, we were not good enough in the first half, especially on defence where we got out played physically.

“However, at half time we addressed that and we took a bit of ownership and I’m really proud of the boys’ efforts in the second half. To come back from 19-0 down, then 19-7 down at half time and to put us in a position to win the game was outstanding.

“There were a couple of 50-50 calls that didn’t go our way. The yellow card hurt us and I’m sure if we’d had a TMO there would have been a different outcome because he’s attempted to catch it, but sometimes decisions go for you and sometimes they don’t.

“But we put ourselves in a position to suffer from those calls. We just have to be a bit more switched on and not give piggy-backs, because every score they got today was from a mistake by us. So there’s a way we can correct it without pointing the finger at anyone else.

“But I was extremely proud of the second half performance from the boys and it was a case of what might have been. It’s just gut-wrenching to lose after we put ourselves in a position to win it after being so far behind in the game.

“In the cold light of day we’ll take some consolation in taking a point from this one, as we know how difficult it is to come down here and get the win. But we can’t have patches like we had today in the opening 20 minutes where we were poor, because once you give any team in this division a 19 point start it’s a long way back.”

Referee: Ben Russell

Attendance: 964

Yellow Card: Hollingsworth (Titans)

Titans: Poole (T), Dever (T), Maka (T), Hollingsworth (2C, 2P), Bunting (1C)

Plymouth Albion: Skelcey (2T), Daly (T), Mills (T), Mugford (T, 4C)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne (Bunting 60), 11 Dan Leake, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield 52), 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Will Dennis (R Ward 60), 4 Elliott Ward (Preston-Routledge 79), 5 Dan Preston-Routledge (Wilson 65), 6 Lewis Wilson (North 36), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka.

Replacements: 16 Agustin Defelitto, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Reece Ward, 19 Alfie North, 20 Morgan Bunting.

Plymouth Albion: 15 Connor Eastgate (Squire 75), 14 Josh Skelcey, 13 Dan Powell, 12 Javiah Pohe, 11 Alex Ducker, 10 Dan Mugford, 9 Pierre Thomspon (Setter 47), 1 Luke Chapman (Higgins 52), 2 Max Norey (Salter 59), 3 Dan Pullinger (Chapman 68) (Ingoldsby 79), 4 Dan Collier, 5 John Kelly, 6 Sam Daly, 7 George Mills, 8 Herbie Stupple (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jamie Salter, 17 Pete Ingoldsby, 18 Cam Setter, 19 Jack Higgins, 20 Dean Squire.

Titans 31 Sale FC 20

Rotherham Titans got their home National 1 campaign off to a winning start, as they impressed with a 31-20 victory over Sale FC at Clifton Lane on a glorious late-summers afternoon.

Titans outscored their Cheshire-based opponents by four tries to two, with a brace of touch downs in each half. Winger Ben Robins and fly half Sam Hollingsworth dotted down in the opening 40, with Harry Newborn and Anthony Maka crossing the whitewash in the second period.

Rotherham however didn’t have things all their own way and to be fair to Sale it was them who came out firing from the off, as they looked dangerous with their big ball-carriers making some hefty yards.

During this opening 10 minutes salvo Titans were made to graft hard and it was their steely determination to keep the visitors out which impressed.

Their resilience in defence paid off in the twelfth minute when a loose pass from Sale was hacked downfield by Titans winger Ben Robbins, he interchanged with Harry Dunne before diving over for an exciting score.

The excitement levels rose again for the hosts on 22 minutes when half back Sam Hollingsworth collected a clearing kick on the halfway line and proceeded to race past six defenders to score a scintillating try under the sticks.

Sale’s only points in the first period came via the boot of fly half Chris Johnson with two accurate kicks from the tee.

Rotherham continued to impress after the break and effectively wrapped-up the match by the hour mark following two further tries, this time from the pack.

On 49 minutes Hooker Harry Newborn crashed over from the tail of a catch and drive from five metres out before impressive back rower Anthony Maka barged over after a sustained period of forward pressure on the visitor’s line.

Disappointingly for the hosts a lapse in concentration at the death saw the visitors run in two consolation tries from full back Jonty Rawcliffe and fly half Chris Johnson.

Nevertheless Rotherham can be very pleased with their efforts and will now travel to Plymouth next week with confidence levels in a good place.

Commenting afterwards, Titans’ Martin Jenkinson said, “We are delighted with the result, we still have work-ons and there will always be those, but the adage today is that it’s not the side which does all the good work that wins the game; it’s the side which makes the fewest mistakes and the error count for us today was low and in our favour.

“It was pleasing to get the pushover try from the maul, because without that in the modern game you’re never really going to accomplish much and we saw some individual brilliance with a couple of the other tries.

“I think we have to acknowledge Harry Newborn and Anthony Maka’s performances. The carries from Anthony Maka were crucial, he made a lot of the hard yards and Harry Newborn was work-rate was exceptional and the accolades go out to those two.

“Hopefully every week from now on we are going to see a step-up as the side comes together. We are a young side and we want to continue to work on our fitness, physicality and enthusiasm.”

Referee: Andrew Jackson

Attendance: 687

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Robbins (T), Newborn (T), Maka (T), Hollingsworth (T, 4C, P)

Sale FC: Rawcliffe (T), Johnson (T, 2C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Connor Field (Bunting 64), 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield 60), 2 Harry Newborn (Defelitto 67), 3 Will Dennis (Ward 64), 4 Elliott Ward, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka (Laxton 67).

Replacements: 16 Agustin Defelitto, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Reece Ward, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Morgan Bunting.

Sale FC: 15 Jonty Rawcliffe, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Johnny Leota (Toa 50), 11 Patrick Ah Van (Moorhouse 59), 10 Chris Johnson, 9 Matthew Bradley, 1 Jake Pope (Matthews 59), 2 Juan Rivas (Longmore 20), 3 Mathew Talaese (Pope 64), 4 William Davies, 5 Matt Postlethwaite, 6 Jake Barron (Priestley-Nangle 64), 7 Andrew Hughes, 8 Jarad Williams.

Replacements: 16 Ollie Longmore, 17 Dan Matthews, 18 Stone Priestley-Nangle, 19 Jeremy Toa, 20 Jack Moorhouse.

Rosslyn Park 38 Titans 19

Rotherham Titans put in a sterling performance before eventually going down 38-19 to a very good Rosslyn Park outfit at The Rock on the opening day of the season.

Park’s star-studded side boasted double figures of former Premiership players and could even afford to have a former England international sat on the bench, in prop forward Paul Doran-Jones.

So whilst the challenge was always going to be a tough one for the Titans, they can hold their heads high as they made the hosts graft hard for the victory, whilst playing some accomplished rugby themselves.

In an entertaining first half each side crossed the whitewash twice, with the hosts racing out of the blocks to dot down first on 6 minutes through number 8 Hugo Ellis.

However, Rotherham responded quickly and levelled matters four minutes later when Connor Dever fed Dan Leake who had drifted infield off his wing to break through, before finding the impressive Tom Bacon who showed good pace to run in and score next to the sticks.

Titans would have been disappointed to have worked such a fine try only to fall behind again just 2 minutes later when centre Joe Munroe eased through.

Undeterred though Rotherham continued to look bright in their work and a slick backs move just after the half hour mark resulted in Dan Leake racing down the left flank before cutting back inside to score near the posts for another impressive dot down.

Although fully deserving of being level at the break, a poor exit just after the restart from Rotherham saw them once again fall behind when full back Henry Robinson grabbed the host’s third try.

Further tries followed for Park through former Titans fly half Greg Lound and prop forward Stewart Maguire to seal the game. However, Titans kept battling and gained a late reward when centre Jamie Cooke barged his way over to seal an impressive personal performance.

Speaking afterwards, Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, was not too downhearted as he explained, “It’s strange to have just lost a game 38-19 and to be stood here thinking we’ve got massive positives out of it. I think today’s performance proved we can front-up to the top sides in the division and we have physicality in our squad.

“Our cause wasn’t helped in the second half with the injuries we picked up and we let ourselves down early in that period with our exit play.

“It was only a couple of poor exits in the second half that cost us dearly and overall we probably gave them three scores and we need to erase those kind of errors from our game. Moving forwards, if we can put that right we will get very different results.

“I’m quite encouraged; we made no secret of the fact that this is the last fixture in the league that we would have chosen as our first game and with that in mind I am looking forward to the rest of the season.

“We had lots of boys making their debuts and it will take a little bit of time for them to bed in and some players today got their first taste of National One rugby and on the back of that I think we can take lots of positives.

“There were some quality individual performances, but I thought Tom Bacon showed what a good player he is. He oozed class every time he got the ball and in everything he did. “

Referee: Karl Dickson

Attendance: 495

Yellow Card: Wilson (Titans)

Titans: Bacon (T), Leake (T), Cooke (T), Hollingsworth (2C)

Rosslyn Park: Ellis (T), Munro (T), Robinson (T), Maguire (T), Lound (T, 5C, P)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Tom Bullough (Hollingsworth 58), 11 Dan Leake (Poole 68), 10 Sam Hollingsworth (Bunting 48), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield 58), 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Will Dennis (R Ward 64), 4 Elliott Ward, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Zak Poole (Capt.) (Maka 64) (Leake 77), 8 Anthony Maka (Laxton 58).

Replacements: 16 Agustin Defelitto, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Reece Ward, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Morgan Bunting.

Rosslyn Park: 15 Henry Robinson, 14 Nicholas Scott, 13 Henry Cheeseman (Edwards 58), 12 Joe Munro, 11 Craig Holland, 10 Greg Lound, 9 Dave Lewis (Gash 62), 1 Kyle Traynor (Maguire 62), 2 Karl Gibson (Ellis 64), 3 Stewart Maguire (Doran-Jones 40), 4 Sam Twomey, 5 Henry Spencer, 6 James Freeman (Laventure 64), 7 Arthur Ellis (Barnard 51) (Freeman 66), 8 Hugo Ellis.

Replacements: 16 Jack Barnard, 17 Paul Doran-Jones, 18 Dan Laventure, 19 Jack Gash, 20 Neville Edwards.