Preston Grasshoppers 21 Titans 16

Rotherham Titans were beaten 21-16 by Preston Grasshoppers on a bitterly cold afternoon at Lightfoot Green Lane.

Each team scored 2 tries with Titans dot downs coming from Marcus Payne and Callum Bustin.

Rotherham got off to a horrible start which saw them trail 15-0 inside 11 minutes. The gap would prove too big to overcome despite great effort from the South Yorkshire outfit.

Following Hoppers fly half Will Hunt knocking over a penalty on 5 minutes, the home side quickly extended their lead when Hunt put in a marvellous cross-field kick which was collected by winger Tyler Spence to run in from close range.

Two minutes later and Hunt was in the thick of it again when he ran back a Titans clearance kick, before finding centre Jacob Browne who in turn sent in Tyler Spence for his second try. Hunt added the extras to make it 15-0.

Rotherham found it difficult to get and then maintain possession for any length of time, but they eventually did and the game became a more even affair.

Corban Ollivent got Titans off the mark on 18 minutes with a penalty and from there Roth began to compete well; their scrum and line out performed well all afternoon.

Unfortunately for them however at crucial times their decision making and skills let them down, although to be fair it wasn’t easy for either side in the bitterly cold conditions with a liberal sprinkling of snow underfoot.

Hunt was having a good game as he pulled the strings for the home side and before the half hour he added to his tally with a nicely taken drop goal from just inside the 22.

Roth worked hard to try and reduce their arrears before the break but the home side managed to keep them at out.

Titans started the second period with good energy and Ollivent nibbled into the deficit on 46 minutes with a 3-pointer from in front of the sticks.

Just 8 minutes later and Roth’s hopes of a comeback took a boost, when from a five metre scrum the ball broke loose and flanker Marcus Payne was on hand to dot down for an unconverted try.

Back came the home side though and on the hour mark Edward Keohane knocked over a penalty after Hunt had left the field.

Roth’s pack had performed well all game and on 64 minutes they were rewarded; from a line out close to the line they powered over with Callum Bustin dotting down for an unconverted try.

With 15 minutes remaining there was plenty of time for Rotherham to kick-on and take the win. Unfortunately for them however they never really got into the right areas and Hoppers saw the game out without too many nervy moments and when the full time whistle went the Preston lads celebrated with great enthusiasm.

Speaking after the game a disappointed forwards coach, Matt Smith, said:

“We seem to find new ways of shooting ourselves in the foot; today we just made bad decisions and some of our skills were just not good enough for this level and we were made to pay.

“We constantly put pressure on them throughout, but then we’d make an error and release that pressure and that’s disappointing because there’s lots of effort there.

“I can see the players trying hard, but what we’ve got to do is make better decisions and execute our skills to a higher level than where they are at the moment.

“We all have to take a look back at this game and have an honest chat with ourselves about how and where we can improve, because at the moment we are performing below par. We know we have a good group of lads; it’s just about how we improve going forwards as a group.

“But as I’ve said, the one thing that can’t be questioned is the lad’s effort; it’s plain to see they are giving it everything, what we’ve got to do is put that effort into better quality and better decision making. If we can do that then we can start making progress going forwards.”

Referee: James O’Brien

Attendance: 247

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Payne (T), Bustin (T), Ollivent (2P)

Preston Grasshoppers: Spence (2T), Hunt (1P, 1C, 1D/G), Keohane (1P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Fraser Jones, 13 Jack Taylor, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ollie Parker, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 57), 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 32) (Capps 60), 2 Harry Newborn (Inman 75), 3 Gareth Denman (Donkor 40) (Denman 60), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Cambier 77), 6 Callum Bustin, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 28 Cade Cambier, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Preston Grasshoppers: 15 Ben Pearson, 14 Will Clapham, 13 Jacob Browne, 12 Edward Keohane, 11 Tyler Spence, 10 Will Hunt (Swarbrick 57), 9 Harry Moulding (Capt.) (Squirrell 75), 1 Oga Mabaya (Orry 66), 2 Chris Taylor, 3 Olli Trippier, 4 Will Riley (Jones 75), 5 Ally Murray, 6 Ben Dorrington (Thompson 77), 7 Josh Longson, 8 Scott Richardson.

Replacements: 16 Harry Thompson, 17 George Orry, 18 Josh Jones, 19 Jake Squirrell, 20 Harry Swarbrick.  

Titans 26 Chester 21

Rotherham Titans were made to graft hard for their 26-21 victory over a very resilient Chester side on a cool afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Both sides scored 2 tries apiece, with Roth’s two coming from prop Danny Rylance and winger Ollie Parker on debut. Lloyd Hayes added 16 points from the tee to give the South Yorkshire side a deserved and much-needed win.

On paper going into the game it looked like the teams were evenly matched and a close game was on the cards; and that’s just how it turned out, with the result not settled until referee Dave Charlton blew his final whistle.

Roth started brightly and got the scoreboard moving on 4 minutes when Lloyd Hayes slotted over a 3-pointer.

However, Chester soon bounced back on 7 minutes and following a powerful drive down the right hand side the ball was spread quickly across the field, before centre James Hampson sent in prop forward Tom Furnival in the left hand corner. Liam Reeve nailed a superb conversion from the touchline.

Chester continued to have the better of things as their pack at this stage matched the Titans and their backs looked lively and dangerous when in possession; and when Liam Reeve extended their advantage on 22 minutes with a penalty, it was no more than the visitors deserved.

Rotherham however showed lots of heart and commitment and just before the half hour mark they were rewarded for their endeavours when prop Danny Rylance crashed over from the tail of a maul. Hayes impressed with his conversion from out wide to level the scores at 10 apiece.

Rotherham were now in the ascendancy and enjoying passages of play which could have resulted in further tries as they got close to the line on several occasions. However, Chester defended manfully and the teams went in at the break all square.

This time it was Chester who started the half brighter and inside 10 minutes Liam Reeve tagged over two further penalties to make it 16-10 to the visitors.

Lloyd Hayes narrowed the deficit shortly after with his own 3-pointer before Roth took the lead for the first time since the 7th minute when on debut, winger Ollie Parker raced down the left wing to score in the corner, following a nice short pass from Jack Taylor which drew the defender.

With just over 10 minutes remaining Hayes extended Roth’s advantage to 7 points with a penalty, but again Chester bounced back when they scored a second try through George Baxter, following a series of pick and goes on the Titans line. Surprisingly Reeve missed the extras to leave his side trailing by 2 points.

Five minutes from time Hayes slotted his fourth penalty of the match and Rotherham managed the game out well to see them secure an important win.

Speaking afterwards on the pitch forwards coach Matt Smith said:

“The most important thing for us today on the back of a couple of losses was simply to get the win. Everyone knows nothing beats getting the win.

“We had to work hard for it, we had a couple of opportunities that went begging, but that can happen when a team is struggling with confidence. That win will help to give the lads belief and hopefully going forward we can build on that.

“You will always give away some penalties in a game, but I don’t think we had too many silly ones and I thought our discipline was a lot better too.

“Once again it’s a work in progress and we saw lots of good things out there from the lads and that’s what we’re going to focus on and build on.

“We know we beat a good team in Chester, but as I’ve said before, I really don’t think there’s a bad team in the league and on any given day anyone can beat anyone.

“It was nice to be at home in front of our own supporters, who follow us all over the country, to give them the win, because it’s as big for them as it is for the squad.”

Referee: Dave Charlton

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Rylance (T), Parker (T), Hayes (4P, 2C)

Chester: Furnival (T), Baxter (T), Reeve (3P, 1C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Fraser Jones, 13 Jack Taylor (Ollivent 59), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ollie Parker, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Kai Ramrattan (Boxhall 40), 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 30) (Capps 52), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Danny Rylance, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne (Inman 70), 7 Rupert Kay (Nwosu-Hope 46), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Sam Boxhall.

Chester: 15 Sean Green, 14 Iwan Phillips, 13 James Hampson, 12 Jorge Lewtas, 11 Harrison Vare, 10 Liam Reeve, 9 Tom Holloway (Wynn 50), 1 Josh Woods (Croft 60), 2 Scott Robson (Williams 60), 3 Tom Furnival, 4 Mike Byrne (Baxter 59), 5 Jonny Charmley, 6 Harry Wilkinson (Capt.), 7 Kyle Joseph, 8 Luke Cox.

Replacements: 18 Wade Williams, 17 Alick Croft, 20 George Baxter, 21 Sean Callander, 22 Oliver Wynn.