Titans 25 Plymouth Albion 14

Rotherham Titans made it 5 wins on the bounce as they ran out 25-14 winners over Plymouth Albion at a windy Clifton Lane.

For the fifth consecutive game Titans secured the four-try bonus point and have now collected 25 points from their last five outings.

Titans’ four tries came through Seb Nagle-Taylor, Henry Roberts and a brace from Harry Dunne. Alex Dolly added a conversion and a penalty in the blustery conditions.

The victory for Rotherham on a bitterly cold  afternoon at the Lane moves them into second spot in the league behind Old Elthamians, by way of games drawn; but with 21 games remaining everything is up for grabs for a number of teams in this most unpredictable of divisions.

The game itself saw Roth nose themselves ahead on 10 minutes when scrum half Alex Dolly successfully knocked over a tricky penalty from distance, after Albion had infringed at a line out on their 10 metre line.

However, the South West side responded well to falling behind and within 4 minutes went ahead themselves when Captain Herbie Stupple dotted down from a catch and drive close to the Titans line. Full back Matt Shepherd added the extras to give Albion a 7-3 advantage.

The game settled and both sides enjoyed periods of possession with each creating opportunities and half chances. However, at this stage in the contest resilient and tenacious defending ensured no line was breached.

On the half hour mark that changed when a dominant Titans scrum powered up to the Albion line before number 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor picked up from the base to bulldoze his way over for Roth’s first try of the game. Dolly impressively nailed the conversion from out wide to edge his side 10-7 ahead.

The second half saw Titans increase their lead on 47 minutes when the backs worked a nice try with some slick hands. The ball arrived with Joe Barker, who just briefly held before finding Callum Irvine in support; he in turn made good ground before drawing the last man to feed Henry Roberts on the wing to race in and score a fine try in the corner.

Titans’ confidence began to soar and they started to enjoy periods of dominance as the home crowd shouted for more. Indeed more came just after the hour mark when Barker got himself involved again. This time his pass out the back to Zak Poole was collected well before he drew his man to find Harry Dunne, who in turn charged in to score Roth’s third try in the corner.

As the game drew towards its close there was late drama in stoppage time. Four minutes into added time Plymouth made sure of a nervy ending when following a sustained period of forward pressure on the Titans line the ball came out to winger Jon Dawe who showed good strength to power over. Shepherd’s conversion made it a 6-point game.

From being in a relatively comfortable position for most of the second period, suddenly a Titans victory which seemed so certain appeared to be under threat.

However, in the final play of the game Rotherham sealed the win with a bonus point try. From turnover ball inside the Albion half the ball arrived with Barker who threw a long pass out to Harry Dunne who jinked back inside to score and round off a perfect afternoon for the home side.

Commenting post-match Rotherham head coach Joe Barker explained, “To come away with five points from such a close game is very pleasing. I think it was a case of who buckled first under the pressure because both teams had a strong pack and were strong defensively and to be fair both sides played some good rugby at times.

“What pleased me the most however was how the boys handled the pressure in a tight game. Plymouth were on our line a number of times but other than on a couple occasions the boys were outstanding in keeping them out. The boys showed tremendous character and I am proud of every one of them.

“Even though we have a very young group here they are learning and gaining experience quickly; they have a great spirit and want to play for each other and that’s a great sign going forwards in terms of taking this club where it needs to be.”

Referee: Joe James

Attendance: 621

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Dunne (2T), Nagle-Taylor (T), Roberts (T), Dolly (1C, 1P)

Plymouth Albion: Stupple (T), Dawe (T), Shepherd (2C)

Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Alex Dolly (Dever 59), 1 Dan Richardson (Bergmanas 75), 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 71), 4 Tom Cotterill (Keys 66), 5 Jamie Ure, 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole (Smith-Wano 75), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Conor Keys, 19 Eru Smith-Wano, 20 Connor Dever.

Plymouth Albion: 15 Matt Shepherd, 14 Jon Dawe, 13 Teegan Minkley, 12 Connor Eastgate, 11 Jack Arnott, 10 Dan Mugford (Squire 57), 9 James Tait (Setter 66), 1 Will Norton (Chapman 75), 2 Jamie Salter (McGregor 66), 3 Dan Pullinger, 4 Dan Swain (Westlake 59), 5 Kieran Westlake (Pearson 57), 6 Rusi Tuima, 7 George Mills, 8 Herbie Stupple (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Davy McGregor, 17 Lewis Pearson, 18 Dean Squire, 19 Luke Chapman, 20 Cameron Setter.

Esher Rugby 15 Titans 45

Rotherham Titans made it four wins on the trot as they scored 7 tries in a 45-15 drubbing to overwhelm a tenacious Esher side at Molesey Road.

Titans secured the four try bonus point inside a pulsating first half performance, before running in another 3 dot downs in the second half.

The victory sees Rotherham move into fourth spot in the table, just 2 points behind league leaders Caldy after 8 games and with all to play for in what will be a very long and demanding season.

The game itself saw Esher enjoy spells of possession, particularly in the first half; however, a massively impressive defensive display from Rotherham, which exuded commitment and desire, kept the hosts at bay for much of the match.

Rotherham showed a ruthless edge to their game and were clinical in taking opportunities when they arrived, the first of which came along after just 4 minutes.

Seb Nagle-Taylor was on hand to charge down a clearing kick on halfway before racing through to hack on and collect, he then delivered a delightful back-of-the-hand pass to Joe Barker in support, allowing him to race in from 20 metres to dot down. Alex Dolly added the extra 2 points from the tee.

Esher’s only score of the first half came on 11 minutes when fly half Owen Waters knocked over a straightforward penalty after Rotherham had infringed at the breakdown.

Titans soon extended their advantage though, when 4 minutes later winger Henry Roberts collected a high ball on the Esher 10 metre line and proceeded to show good pace to charge around the home defence to score Roth’s second try, with Dolly tagging over the extras.

Things got even better for the Titans 10 minutes later when Nagle-Taylor intercepted a pass just inside his own half before showing impressive pace to gallop in from 55 metres, whilst evading the home winger’s chase down from Kariym Irving, to score under the posts. Dolly made it three from three from the tee.

Five minutes before the break and Rotherham secured the try bonus point when from a scrum close to the line Nagle-Taylor collected from the base before feeding Dolly who scampered up the blind side to score in the corner. Unfortunately for him his conversion from the touchline narrowly missed its target and Roth went in at the break 26-3 to the good.

If Esher were to work their way back into the game it was vital they scored first in the second period. However, that wasn’t to be as it took Rotherham just 18 seconds to open their second half account!

From the kick-off Titans gathered and Alex Dolly reacted quickly to fire a pass inside to Nagle-Taylor who came into the line at full throttle and proceeded to charge through to score Rotherham’s fifth try of the match. Dolly tagged over the extras.

On an afternoon where almost everything went the way of the Titans, things improved further when Connor Dever picked up from the base of a scrum close to the Esher line, before snipping up the blind side to touch down in the corner. Dolly’s touchline conversion just missed its target to leave Rotherham 38-3 to the good.

A slight blight on a terrific afternoon for the Titans came when front rower Jack Bergmanas received a yellow card for a high tackle. The subsequent 10 minute period saw Esher take full advantage of their numerical advantage as they crossed the whitewash twice through second rower Cameron Gentles and livewire winger Joe Beckett.

However, it was apt when Rotherham rounded things off with the final try of the game.

Following a number of phases where Rotherham’s backs and forwards combined effectively, the ball came out to Henry Roberts who picked a fine line to cut through to score under the posts. Dolly nailed his fifth conversion of the match to end the scoring and send Rotherham on their long journey home with smiles on their faces.

Commenting post-game Titans’ Joe Barker explained, “We knew Esher had a lot of threats in certain areas, but we concentrated on ourselves this week. I thought our work rate and desire was outstanding and that shone through in our defence. The lads wanted to work hard for each other and that got us the points today.

“Esher found it difficult to threaten us because the boys worked so hard to get in the right positions. The lads were always on their feet and worked their socks off in defence and that caused them to make errors and we kept scoring on the back of them.

“I was really pleased with our discipline and because that was good we didn’t allow them the field position they needed to hurt us. We’ve worked hard in training on various aspects of how we want to play and I think we are now seeing the benefits of the squad coming together as a group.

“But no one at Rotherham is getting carried away and we know we’ll face a massive challenge in our next game against Plymouth. So it all starts again on Tuesday night at training and we’ll work harder, that’s the only way we’re going to get better.”

Referee: Jack Lewars

Attendance: 509

Yellow Card: Bergmanas (Titans)

Titans: Nagle-Taylor (2T), Roberts (2T), Barker (T), Dever (T), Dolly (T, 5C)

Esher: Gentles (T), Beckett (T), Waters (P, C)

Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker (Dever 45), 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson (Poole 70), 2 Ali Thomson (Bergmanas 55), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 41) (Stout 70), 4 Jamie Ure, 5 Tom Cotterill (Keys 60), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole (Thomson 68), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.) (Smith-Wano 50).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Conor Keys, 19 Eru Smith-Wano, 20 Connor Dever.

Esher Rugby: 15 Lloyd Davies (Simpson 45), 14 Kariym Irving, 13 Dan Rowland (Davies 68), 12 Basil Strang, 11 Joe Beckett, 10 Owen Waters, 9 James Brooks (Fluker 45), 1 Matthew Lowes, 2 Devlin Hope (Clements 55), 3 Henry Paul (Head 25) (Paul 70), 4 Graham Logan, 5 Cameron Gentles, 6 Harrison Collins (Hore 55), 7 Rob Dudley-Jones, 8 Izzy Moore-Aiono.

Replacements: 16 Brad Clements, 17 George Head, 18 Andrew Hore, 19 George Simpson, 20 Andy Fluker.

Titans 32 Chinnor 26

Rotherham Titans put in an outstanding team performance to run out 32-26 winners over what had been pre-match top-of-the-table side Chinnor.

Titans secured the maximum points on offer as they outscored their opponents by 5 tries to 4, but had to withstand some late Chinnor pressure on their own line to eventually hold out for a deserved win.

On a blustery afternoon at Clifton Lane it was the visitors who nosed in front when following a series of pick-and-goes inside the Titans 22, the ball was flung out to centre Alex Dancer who showed good strength to power over from close range. Former Titans favourite Caolan Ryan added the extras to make it 7-0.

Rotherham soon came back and narrowed the gap on 7 minutes when scrum half Alex Dolly knocked over a penalty from the edge of Chinnor’s 22.

Dolly was in the thick of it again 7 minutes later when from a five metre line out he got himself involved in a driving maul before dotting down from the tail. He then composed himself to nail the conversion against a difficult crosswind to give Roth a 10-7 advantage.

Chinnor came into the game as league leaders and they proved what a capable side they are when they bounced back within five minutes to retake the lead after flanker Joe Dancer touched down from a driving maul and Ryan converted.

Rotherham are also starting to show they too are developing into a very decent side and with 5 minutes remaining in the half took control when they crossed the line twice.

Firstly, following good work from the pack Roth took play up to the visitor’s line before the ball came out to the backs, which allowed Joe Barker to throw a long miss-pass out to winger Connor Field who dived over in the corner. And then in the final play of the half from a catch and drive five metres out, hooker Ali Thomson crashed over from the back of the maul to give the hosts a 22-14 half time lead.

It was important for Rotherham to maintain their momentum in the second period as Chinnor have showed all season what a good side they are and if they are given an opportunity they will take it. However, Rotherham made a perfect start to the second period as they scored their bonus-point fourth try inside five minutes.

The try evolved from an Alex Dolly’s box kick which bounced kindly for Roth and allowed Connor Field to collect just inside the touchline. The powerful winger then galloped down the flank and held off a powerful last-ditch tackle from Ryan before dotting down near the corner flag.

Things got even better for Rotherham just 3 minutes later when a sweeping move which started on the edge of their own 22, when they stripped the ball from Chinnor, culminated in centre Ellis Abrahams scoring Titans fifth try of the game following good work in the build from Callum Irvine and Jamie Ure. Dolly’s conversion just drifted across the face of the posts in the swirling wind, which left Rotherham with a healthy 32-14 advantage.

Again the visitors showed tremendous resilience as they fought back tenaciously; on 51 minutes following a number of phases from the pack the ball was flipped out to the backs who worked the ball across the field for full back Craig Holland to score an unconverted try.

Twelve minutes from time and Chinnor set up a tense finale when they pounced on an opportunistic moment in the game. Rotherham were camped on the visitor’s line and looked to be about to put the game to bed when a pass 2 metres from the Chinnor line went astray. The loose ball was hacked downfield which saw winger Reon Joseph race through to collect and score under the sticks. Ryan’s successful conversion made it a 6-point game and everything to play for.

The final embers of a pulsating game of rugby saw Chinnor put Rotherham under huge pressure with a scrum 5 metres from the Titans line. However, the home pack showed tremendous character and technique to win a free kick and see out the remaining minute to deservedly win the game.

Speaking afterwards Titans Joe Barker explained, “It was an outstanding win from the boys, we were in total control for 50 minutes but credit to Chinnor they came back at us. We managed the game pretty well throughout however and there’s no doubt the lads deserved the win.

“It was pleasing to see the lads handle the pressure at the end when they were on our line and I think our boys showed everyone just how much character they have. The lads are putting in huge shifts every Tuesday and Thursday in training and that character is built in those sessions.”

Referee: Jamie Leahy

Attendance: 617

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Field (2T), Thomson (T), Abrahams (T), Dolly (1T, 2C, 1P)

Chinnor: A Dancer (T), J Dancer (T), Holland (T), Joseph (T), Ryan (3C)

Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson (Bergmanas 67), 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Will Dennis (Stout 61), 4 Jamie Ure, 5 Tom Cotterill (Petrowitsch 67), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Eru Smith-Wano (Poole 36), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Zak Poole, 19 Anton Petrowitsch, 20 Connor Dever.

Chinnor: 15 Craig Holland, 14 Reon Joseph, 13 Alex Dancer, 12 Danny Barnes (Capt.), 11 James Neal, 10 Caolan Ryan, 9 Josh Barton (Goodfellow 67), 1 Matt Beesley (Price 51), 2 Dan George, 3 Jack Gilding (Davis 48), 4 Cameron Gray, 5 Jack Ramshaw (Oliver 57), 6 Joe Dancer, 7 Ben Manning (Bell 48), 8 Tom Burns.

Replacements: 16 George Davis, 17 Tom Price, 18 George Oliver, 19 Rob Bell, 20 Greg Goodfellow.

Loughborough Students 5 Titans 38

Rotherham Titans secured their first away success of the season in impressive fashion, as they ran in 6 tries in a 38-5 win over Loughborough Students at University Stadium.

All six Rotherham tries came through the backs as they took advantage of a strong platform set up by the pack.

To be fair to Loughborough they battled for the full 80 minutes and made life difficult for the Titans throughout. Indeed the Students could have gone ahead on 12 minutes had full back Tim Bitirim been more accurate with his penalty attempt.

However, five minutes later Titans got the scoreboard moving when impressive centre Ellis Abrahams carved his way through the home defence to score, with Alex Dolly adding the extra 2 points.

On the half hour mark Titans’ scrum half Connor Dever reacted the quickest from a penalty awarded to Rotherham; his hasty tap-and-go caught the opposition napping which resulted in the half back’s first try for the club.

Just before the break and Dever was in the thick of it again as he broke through the home defence to take play close to the try line before being brought to ground. However, centre Harry Dunne was on hand to collect and show incredible strength and desire to bulldoze his way over for Titans third try. Dolly converted to send the visitors in at the break 19-0 to the good.

Just four minutes into the second period and Rotherham secured the four-try bonus point. A clever dummy from Dolly was bought which enabled him to make good ground into the Students 22, before he found Joe Barker in support who in turn threw an unorthodox pass out wide for Connor Field to dive over in the corner.

Just after the hour mark Loughborough deservedly got on the board for their efforts, when a cheeky move up the short side from a line out saw hooker Harrison King cross the whitewash in the corner. Titans would have been disappointed to have been caught out by the move.

To re-establish control took the South Yorkshire side just 3 minutes. Replacement back Connor Irvine collected the ball on the 10 metre line before proceeding the carve his way through the home defence before offloading 5 metres out to Dolly who accepted with style to score Titans fifth try of the game. After dusting himself down his converted his own try.

The final score of an entertaining contest came 8 minutes from time when from the base of a ruck close to the line, Callum Irvine threw an outrageous dummy which all around bought enabling him to score Rotherham’s sixth try of the match. Dolly rounded off a good afternoon from the tee with his fourth conversion.

Commenting post-game a delighted Joe Barker explained, “The lads put in a good performance, a lot of stuff we have been working on in training clicked for us and that was pleasing.

“We know we’ve got plenty in our armoury; we showed that in the first 40 minutes last week against Sale, but today under these difficult wet conditions the lads were outstanding for pretty much all of the game.

“They really stuck to our game plan, they didn’t overplay and when we did play it was at the right time in the right areas of the pitch.

“Overall it was a good performance and we know there’s still a lot to come out. We did make a few mistakes, but that’s actually exciting for us as a group, because we know when we eliminate some of those we can become a very good side in National 1.

“Now it’s about showing consistency; all the good sides in any division are consistent in their performances. We have to get back into training next week and review what went well and what didn’t; then we fix those and go to the next level.

“We play Chinnor next and they are at the top of the league because they are a very good side. We’ll need to find a new level if we are going to compete against them and that’s exciting for everyone at the club.”

Referee: Dave Sutherland (SRU)

Attendance: 314

Yellow Card: Preston-Routledge (Titans)

Titans: Abrahams (T), Dever (T), Dunne (T), Field (T), Irvine (T), Dolly (T, 4C)

Loughborough Students: King (T)

Titans: 15 Alex Dolly, 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams (Dever 77), 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Connor Dever (Irvine 55), 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Ali Thomson (Bergmanas 67), 3 Will Dennis (Stout 61), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Tom Cotterill (Ure 67), 6 Eru Smith-Wano, 7 Zak Poole (Ball 55), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Jamie Ure, 19 Luis Ball, 20 Callum Irvine.

Loughborough Students: 15 Tim Bitirim, 14 Will Brown, 13 Alex Glashan (Attfield 55), 12 Matthew Edwards (Capt.), 11 Austin Beckett (Attfield 65), 10 Mark Dixon, 9 Callum Watson, 1 Sam Grahamslaw (Christie 40), 2 Harrison King, 3 Andrew Boye, 4 Sam Bailey (Grahamslaw 45), 5 Owen Lloyd, 6 Henri Lavin (Bailey 57), 7 Victor Keunen, 8 Ogwenesuvwe Obano (Reed 76).

Replacements: 16 Jamie Cox, 17 Ben Christie, 18 Max Hill, 19 Charlie Reed, 20 Will Attfield.

Titans 32 Sale FC 27

Rotherham returned to winning ways as they showed tremendous character to seal a dramatic 32-27 bonus point win over Sale FC at a bright and sunny Clifton Lane.

Having led for much of an entertaining contest, in which both sides endeavoured to play attacking rugby; Rotherham found themselves behind with 5 minutes remaining until Ellis Abrahams collected an interception pass to score under the posts.

Alex Dolly converted and then added a penalty in injury time as the Titans registered their first 5-point victory of the season.

The game started in bright sunshine and with a firm surface underfoot conditions were perfect for an entertaining, fast-paced encounter and to be fair, both sides attempted to deliver just that.

Although the visitors nudged themselves ahead after 3 minutes through a Chris Johnson penalty, it was Rotherham who enjoyed the early exchanges as they raced into a 7 point lead inside the first quarter of the game.

Following an Alex Dolly penalty which levelled matters, Titans manoeuvred themselves inside the Sale 22 before the pack bulldozed their way over the line for prop Will Dennis to touch down on debut. Dolly tagged over the extras to give Rotherham a 10-3 lead.

Sale looked energetic and played with tempo as they tried to work themselves back on terms, but Rotherham matched them for energy and repeatedly snuffed out potential danger.

Eventually Titans added to their tally when big second rower Dan Preston-Routledge barged his way over the line with a little help from his pack mates. Dolly’s conversion stretched the Titans advantage to 17-3 just before the break.

As the game entered the sixth minute of stoppage time Titans allowed the visitors an opportunity to get back into the game when having taken the ball back inside their 22, they kicked-out on the full to give Sale a line-out 10 metres from their line.

From the resulting passage of play Sale set-up a driving maul which powered its way towards the line for replacement forward Dan Birchall to dot down. The try was converted by Johnson with the last kick of the half.

Rotherham came out for the second period determined to build on their success of the first half and this they did on 48 minutes when replacement centre Ellis Abrahams charged down on the Sale 22, before popping a pass to Seb Nagle-Taylor, who then showed terrific strength and determination to power his way over next to the sticks. Surprisingly the reliable Dolly missed the conversion to leave his side 22-10 ahead.

With nothing to lose now, the visitors upped their intensity and enjoyed a period of dominance which saw them score two converted tries through prop Adam Aigbokhae and Captain Andrew Hughes; which sandwiched a penalty from Johnson in the space of 17 minutes to give Sale an unexpected 27-22 lead.

As the game drew to a close it appeared as if Rotherham were going to suffer another hard-luck story. However, five minutes from time Rotherham pressed hard inside the Sale 22 which culminated in Ellis Abrahams picking of a pass from Sale’s replacement fly half, Kieran Wilkinson, to race in and score Titans bonus point try. Dolly converted and added a penalty in stoppage time to seal an important victory.

Post-game a delighted Joe Barker explained, “I am really satisfied with the five point win, I think we showed what we have as an attacking team today and we played some good rugby.

“It was good for the fans to see that; we’d been working on that all week, we brought the game plan in on Tuesday and the lads have worked very hard on it this week.

“At times the boys played some outstanding rugby, but we’ve just got to be a bit more consistent now. I think we showed that in the first half, but in the second half we didn’t quite perform to the same level.

“I also think the lads showed a tremendous amount of character to come back at the end in the manner they did. You can’t teach that and I’m proud that the boys have got that inside them and they showed that today.”

Referee: Veryan Boscawen

Attendance: 534

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Dennis (T), Preston-Routledge (T), Nagle-Taylor (T), Abrahams (T), Dolly (2P, 3C)

Sale FC: Birchall (T), Aigbokhae (T), Hughes (T), Johnson (2P, 2C), Bradley (1C)

Titans: 15 Alex Dolly, 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Harry Dunne (Abrahams 7), 12 Joe Barker, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Dan Richardson (Bergmanas 60), 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Will Dennis (Stout 50), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Keys 64), 5 Conor Keys (Ure 55), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole (Cotterill 60), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Jamie Ure, 19 Tom Cotterill, 20 Ellis Abrahams.

Sale FC: 15 Jonty Rawcliffe, 14 Paolo Odogwu, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Jack Moorhouse (Dunne 72), 11 Aaron Reed, 10 Chris Johnson (Wilkinson 60), 9 Matthew Bradley, 1 Adam Aigbokhae, 2 Neil Briggs (Taylor 58), 3 Simon Griffiths, 4 William Davies, 5 Matt Postlethwaite (Priestley-Nangle 64), 6 Andrew Hughes (Capt.) (Postlethwaite 68), 7 Dave Seymour, 8 Tom Ailes (Birchall 37).

Replacements: 16 Dan Birchall, 17 Christian Taylor, 18 Kieran Dunne, 19 Stone Priestley-Nangle, 20 Kieran Wilkinson.