Rosslyn Park 46 Titans 24

Rotherham Titans suffered a bad day at the office as they were well beaten 46-24 by Rosslyn Park at The Rock.

Rotherham were outscored by 7 tries to 3, with their dot downs coming from Connor Dever, Connor Field and Alex Dolly.

The defeat ends Titans unbeaten 5-match run and the South Yorkshire side will now look to bounce straight back against Birmingham Moseley at Clifton Lane on Saturday.

Titans slow start to the game didn’t help their cause and as the scoreboard pressure mounted Titans found it difficult to get their game going. As a result they went in at the break trailing 15-3 with just an Ellis Abrahams penalty to show for their efforts.

However, when scrum half Connor Dever touched down 2 minutes into the second half Rotherham’s hopes received a boost as with the conversion they reduced their arrears to 15-10

And again after conceding another Rosslyn Park try, a Connor Field converted try on 52 minutes saw Rotherham once more reduce their deficit to 5 points.

The South Yorkshire side couldn’t be criticised for their effort, but too many individual errors meant the home side were given too many opportunities to demonstrate what a good side they are.

On the hour mark former Bristol winger Charlie Amesbury ran through to extend the home side lead and when Titans’ Connor Field was rightly shown a yellow card by an eager James Clarke, the hosts ruthlessly scored two converted tries in his absence to seal the game.

Both sides scored late converted tries, but this was a game the Rotherham players will want to forget and put right as soon as possible.

Speaking after the match Titans head coach, Joe Barker, explained, “I’m very disappointed because we didn’t turn up in the first 30 minutes. I don’t know if we were over eager to do well but we need to take a good look at ourselves individually and as a team because we just weren’t at the races in the opening period.

“When you fall behind early that creates scoreboard pressure and that doesn’t help, but we kept giving them field position. We had boys switching off defensively on the inside and to be fair to Rosslyn Park they’ve got a good squad and they capitalised well on our mistakes.

“However, when we had the ball we put some really good phases together and we scored some outstanding tries and we showed glimpses of what a good side we can be. We also defended really well at times, but then we kept on making little errors and it was those errors that killed us and that just wasn’t good enough.”

Referee: James Clarke

Attendance: 695

Yellow Card: Field (Titans)

Titans: Dever (T), Field (T), Dolly (T), Abrahams (3C, P)

Rosslyn Park: Ellis (T), Gillanders (T), Hayhow (T), Amesbury (T), Marfo (T), Munro (T), Lound (T, 4C, P)

Titans: 15 Tom Allott (Dolly 49), 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne (Allott 64), 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Connor Dever (Poole 69), 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Ali Thomson (Bergmanas 62), 3 Will Dennis (Stout 62), 4 Conor Keys (Ure 64), 5 Jamie Ure (Smith-Wano 34), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole (Frost 34), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Kieran Frost, 19 Eru Smith-Wano, 20 Alex Dolly.

Rosslyn Park: 15 Harry Leonard, 14 Connor Hayhow (Marfo 49), 13 Oliver Grove, 12 Joe Munro, 11 Charlie Amesbury, 10 Greg Lound, 9 Jack Gash, 1 Maurice Nwakor-Nwanaebi (Wade 40), 2 Tom Vaughan-Edwards (Gibson 68), 3 Paul Doran-Jones (Maguire 40), 4 Jonathan Mills (Tizard 49), 5 Greg Gillanders, 6 Adam Frampton, 7 Arthur Ellis, 8 Henry Spencer.

Replacements: 16 Karl Gibson, 17 Stewart Maguire, 18 Alistair Wade, 19 Hugh Tizard, 20 Ben Marfo.

Photo courtesy of David E Whittam

Titans 25 Darlington Mowden Park 13

Rotherham Titans put in a powerful forward performance to run out worthy 25-13 winners over Darlington Mowden Park at Clifton Lane, to make it 5 league wins on the spin.

Two tries from winger Dan Leake, one try from number 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor and 10 points from the tee for Alex Dolly secured an important victory for the South Yorkshire side.

Titans remain in fifth spot in the division, but more importantly they are now just four points off the summit with 14 games remaining.

Rotherham took the lead as early as the third minute when Alex Dolly knocked over a penalty from 40 metres on the angle after Mowden were penalised at the scrum.

Former Titan favourite Garry Law levelled matters just 4 minutes later when he also impressed from the tee with a 3-pointer.

Titans regained a lead they wouldn’t relinquish on 11 minutes, when after turning ball over inside the visitors 22 they moved the ball swiftly across the park. The move saw Joe Barker, Connor Field and Alex Dolly all involved before the ball arrived with winger Dan Leake who finished off in the corner. Dolly’s attempted conversion hit the left upright.

Dolly and Law then traded penalties inside the first 20 minutes to leave the score at 11-6, as each side looked to gain the upper hand.

The momentum significantly went the way of the South Yorkshire side on the half hour mark when once again their dominance at the scrum yielded more success.

The speed at which the Mowden pack retreated would have been a concern for their coaches; however their counterparts would have been delighted when Titans number 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor dotted down from the tail. Dolly added the extras to give Titans an 18-6 advantage.

Rotherham looked good value for their lead and they continued to enjoy the majority of territory and possession.

However, just before the break Mowden stunned the home side when a rare foray into the Titans 22 caught them napping as livewire scrumhalf Martin Lithgo took advantage of a lapse in concentration to dive over from the base of a ruck. Law’s conversion sent the sides in at the break with Rotherham leading 18-13.

Titans would have been disappointed to have conceded such a sloppy try at the end of the first half and Titans came out for the second period looking to put things right.

This they did after just two minutes; from a Mowden clearing kick Nagle-Taylor collected and made 20 metres up field to give Titans some positive momentum. Then following several phases the ball arrived with Joe Barker who popped a nice pass inside to Dan Leake who had come in off his wing, he then danced his way through and around the full back to score a fine try under the posts. Dolly’s extras gave Rotherham a 25-13 lead.

Remarkably there would be no more points scored in the game and to be fair to Darlington they offered much more in the second period. So whilst there may have been a slight disappointment in some quarters that a bonus point hadn’t been secured, the overall feeling in the Titans camp was one of delight.

Commenting post-match Titans Joe Barker explained, “That’s five wins out of the last game games, obviously we tried to get the bonus point, but unfortunately that didn’t come our way and that happens.

“We grafted away but we didn’t actually play that well. We dominated them in one aspect of the game which was the scrum; we scored two good tries in open play and another good scrum try again.

“We didn’t really get to do what we wanted to do and credit to them for that, they defended us quite well. At times we couldn’t find the space and we couldn’t break them down and they slowed our ball down very well; which meant we had to kick the ball away to try and get some field position because we couldn’t with ball in hand.

“However, when we did get quick ball we scored tries and we looked very threatening and at the end of the day a win is a win and we’re delighted to have won 10 of our last 12 games going into the Christmas break and we’re very excited about what we can achieve going into the New Year.”

Referee: Dan Parrott

Attendance: 684

Yellow Card: Purkiss-McEndoo (DMP), Keys (Titans)

Titans: Leake (2T), Nagle-Taylor (T), Dolly (2P, 2C)

Darlington Mowden Park: Lithgo (T), Law (2P, 1C)

Titans: 15 Alex Dolly, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams (Cooke 68), 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Connor Dever (Allott 72), 1 Dan Richardson (Williams 78), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Thomson 55), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 49), 4 Conor Keys, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ali Thomson, 17 Jessie Williams, 18 Will Dennis, 19 Tom Allott, 20 Jamie Cooke.

Darlington Mowden Park: 15 Chris McTurk, 14 Ollie Walker (Asher-Wood 55), 13 Callum Mackenzie, 12 Warren Seals (Walker 63), 11 Shaun McCartney, 10 Garry Law, 9 Martin Lithgo, 1 Charley Purkiss-McEndoo (Duff 37), 2 Jordon Poole, 3 Ralph Appleby, 4 Dave Fisher (Brady58), 5 Talite Vaioleti (Brown 66), 6 George Stokes (Duffy 75), 7 Matt Heaton (Capt.), 8 Joe Craggs.

Replacements: 16 Danny Brown, 17 Jake Brady, 18 Rory Duff, 19 Joe Duffy, 20 Brandon Asher-Wood.

Titans 10 Blackheath 7

Rotherham Titans can thank their pack of forwards for delivering an outstanding 10-7 victory over second placed side Blackheath at a freezing-cold Clifton Lane.

The top-of-the-table encounter wasn’t a game for the purists as the conditions didn’t allow for a free-flowing game, but both sides can be proud of their efforts as they gritted it out across the full 80 minutes.

Blackheath enjoyed the better of the first half, with Titans storming back in the second period to fully deserve their hard-earned victory in what was always going to be a low-scoring affair.

Rotherham actually started the game brightest, but were unable to convert their territorial advantage as ‘Club’ showed great determination in defence.

The visitors however gradually worked their way into the game and enjoyed some good moments through their pack as they arguably just had the edge at scrum-time and at the breakdown. Titans’ faltering lineout also helped the visitors to relieve pressure at crucial times.

However, just before the half hour mark Titans fly half Joe Barker was shown a yellow card for foul play. Before his return on 35 minutes Blackheath manoeuvred the ball from a scrum inside the Titans’ 22 to back rower Andrew Daish, who showed good strength to dot down under pressure near the posts. Joe Tarrant’s conversion gave ‘Club’ a 7-0 lead which they would hold going into the half time break.

The early action in the second period saw the visitors maintain their edge; Rotherham did work their way into good field positions, but all too often hurt themselves with silly errors at critical moments.

Arguably the turning point in the game for Rotherham came on 58 minutes. A five metre lineout to Blackheath saw their big pack of forwards set-up a driving maul, which was joined by their backs as they drove towards the Titans line.

Somehow, through sheer grit and determination the South Yorkshire side managed to repel the charge and turn over the ball. Had Blackheath scored at this point it would have been difficult to see a way back for the home team.

Conversely, this tremendous defensive moment seemed to inspire Rotherham and possibly at the same time cast doubt in the away sides mind. Either way 8 minutes later Titans levelled matters when their heroic pack of 8 marched their counterparts backwards at scrum time to force referee Harry Walbaum to award a penalty try.

With the momentum now strongly in Rotherham favour it almost seemed inevitable that they would score next; and this they did 3 minutes from time when another powerful scrum on Blackheath’s ball forced yet another penalty at the set-piece.

From inside the 22 up stepped Alex Dolly to knock over the 3-pointer which sent Titans into the lead for the first time in the game. Blackheath tried to rally late on but never threatened to add to their tally and Rotherham comfortably held on for a tremendous win.

Post-match an elated Joe Barker said, “The win was very satisfying; we knew beforehand what a good side they were and they showed that all afternoon. However, the lads showed pure grit to get us over the line and they just never gave up.

“We have to say a massive thanks to our front row boys and up front I thought we were outstanding. Once our lads started to have some success at scrum time, they smelt the blood and really took them on, and they won us the game today.

“As did our defensive sets; the lads showed terrific togetherness and pure character of what they are about; the dog they showed was exemplary, we’ve had that each week, but today we saw that in full force.”

Referee: Harry Walbaum

Attendance: 620

Yellow Card: Barker (Titans), Stradwick & Daish (Blackheath)

Titans: Penalty Try, Dolly (1P)

Blackheath: Daish (T), Tarrant (1C)

Titans: 15 Callum Irvine (Dolly 35), 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 52), 4 Conor Keys, 5 Luis Ball, 6 Eru Smith-Wano, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Jessie Williams, 18 Will Dennis, 19 Alex Dolly, 20 Jamie Cooke.

Blackheath: 15 Joe Tarrant, 14 Jake Lloyd, 13 Alex Pickersgill, 12 Markus Burcham (Capt.), 11 Craig Dowsett (Ackuaku 73), 10 Mark Cooke, 9 Stef Liebenberg (Daly 68), 1 Tom Williams (Young 35) (Dowsett 75), 2 Mike Perks (Fry 68), 3 Danny Herriott, 4 Tom Stradwick, 5 Josh Peters, 6 Andrew Daish, 7 Freddie Owen, 8 Anders Nilsson.

Replacements: 16 Harry Fry, 17 Phil Ackuaku, 18 Billy Young, 19 Jack Daly, 20 Elliott Clements-Hill.

Bishop's Stortford 20 Titans 22

Rotherham Titans made it 3 wins on the trot as they were made to work hard for their 22-20 victory over Bishop’s Stortford at Silver Leys.

Each side scored three tries, with Eru Smith-Wano, Jamie Ure and Seb Nagle-Taylor dotting down for the South Yorkshire side. Scrum half Alex Dolly added 2 conversions and centre Ellis Abrahams knocked over a penalty.

Based on this performance it’s surprising Bishop’s Stortford are not higher-placed in the league and were well worth their losing bonus point, as were Rotherham their win.

Indeed the home side got off to a flyer after just 9 minutes when flanker Dan Elsom finished off a sweeping cross-field move after Bishops created an overlap out wide. Fly half George Cullen impressively added the extras from close to the touchline to give his side a 7-0 lead.

Titans responded with good energy and soon had a try themselves, as on 14 minutes Eru Smith-Wano dotted down from a catch and drive 10 metres from goal. Alex Dolly narrowly missed on the right side with his conversion attempt.

In an entertaining contest back came Bishops immediately from the restart. The ball was worked to full back Nick Hankin who showed terrific pace to dance his way through the Titans defence to score a scintillating try. Surprisingly Cullen missed his conversion as the strong wind pushed his effort onto the left upright leaving the score at 12-5.

Rotherham bounced back again and on the half hour mark levelled the game when Alex Dolly converted another Titans catch and drive, this time finished off by second rower Jamie Ure.

Almost against the run of play Bishops nosed themselves ahead again just 4 minutes later when this time Cullen made no mistake from the tee, after Rotherham were penalised for not rolling away at the breakdown just outside the 22 and in front of the posts.

Rotherham had been the better side throughout and they finally got the scoreboard to recognise this, when two minutes before the break they took the lead for the first time in the match.

Following a period of forward dominance Alex Dolly found number 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor who came into the line at pace to collect from around 30 metres out to barge his way through to score under the posts. Dolly tagged over the extras to make it 19-15 to Rotherham at half time.

The second period saw both sides put in massive shifts, with each team demonstrating great ambition to play rugby and with each team showing great determination in defence. It was this latter quality which impressed meaning the half would be a low-scoring affair.

On 62 minutes Titans extended their advantage 22-15, when centre Ellis Abrahams knocked over a penalty from inside the 22 after Bishops had been penalised for being offside close to their own line when under massive pressure from the Titans pack.

In the main Rotherham continued to boss the game, but they couldn’t put away the home side as they showed tremendous resilience to stay in the contest.

As the game went into injury time Bishops broke away to score in the corner through replacement back Joss Linney, to make it 22-20 with the conversion attempt to follow.

Unfortunately for the home side Cullen’s effort missed its target and Rotherham held out for a deserved and very important victory.

Commenting post-match Rotherham’s Joe Barker explained, “The boys put in a massive shift against a very good team; Bishop’s showed that if you give them the ball they are going to play from anywhere on this pitch. It’s a very wide pitch and they know how to play on it and it suits the way that they play with the personnel they have.

“They’ve got a great team spirit and they have an outstanding attacking approach and they work very well together in defence.

“However, I have to give massive praise to our lads for grafting it out today. There were times in the second half where we just had to stick in there, which we did and we managed the game really well under pressure. The boys showed terrific character and grit to get through and that’s a good sign for us as a squad moving forwards.

“I was proud of the lads because these are the games you have to win if you have ambitions of being a top-end team. We weren’t at our best but I thought the lads showed great heart to get over the line.

“Now we’ve got to go to the next level because we’ve got a big game next week back at our place against Blackheath and we’re excited about that one. Hopefully they’ll be a great atmosphere at Clifton Lane because a win will be important and we know it’s going to be a challenge.”

Referee: Robert Bourke

Attendance: 402

Yellow Card: Irvine (Titans)

Titans: Smith-Wano (T), Ure (T), Nagle-Taylor (T), Dolly (2C), Abrahams (P)

Bishop’s Stortford: Elsom (T), Hankin (T), Linney (T), Cullen (C, P)

Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Henry Roberts (Field 75), 10 Joe Barker, 9 Alex Dolly (Dever 57), 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Ali Thomson (Bergmanas 71), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 57), 4 Conor Keys, 5 Jamie Ure (Ball 41), 6 Smith-Wano, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Luis Ball, 19 Connor Field, 20 Connor Dever.

Bishops Stortford: 15 Nick Hankin, 14 Robert Duff, 13 Jimmy Rea, 12 Reuben Bird-Tulloch, 11 Chris Smith (Linney 52), 10 George Cullen, 9 Sam Coleman (Banks 56), 1 Seb Brownhill (Castiglione 45), 2 Sam Crean, 3 Tom McCrone (Brownhill 56), 4 Sokonaia Kalou, 5 Matt Tomlinson (Capt.), 6 James Apperley, 7 Dan Elsom (McCraith 67), 8 Charlie Kingham.

Replacements: 16 Bradley Etherington, 17 Louis Castiglione, 18 Mark McCraith, 19 Joss Linney, 20 Tom Banks.

Photo courtesy of Andy Todd Photography: https://andytodd.co/bsrfc/8-december-2018/

Titans 20 Cinderford 3

Rotherham Titans grafted for the full 80 minutes to secure a well-deserved 20-3 victory over a spirited Cinderford side in tough conditions at Clifton Lane.

The low-scoring encounter saw Titans’ centre Harry Dunne cross the whitewash for a brace of tries - one in each half - whilst scrum half Alex Dolly added a further 10 points from the tee. A first half Liam Hemming penalty was the visitor’s sole reward for their labours.

The victory sees Rotherham move up to fifth in the table just 6 points behind league leaders Blackheath who visit Clifton Lane in 2 weeks’ time for what is expected to be a humdinger of a game.

In the damp and dreary conditions Titans knew they would have to graft hard against one of the biggest, physical sides in the division and this they did to their credit. Rotherham’s mobile set of forwards regularly moved their opponents around the park, as the South Yorkshire side back their fitness against any team in the division.

On 16 minutes Titans took the lead following a number of phases across the park, which culminated in Harry Dunne collecting on the crash-ball to barge his way over from 5 metres. Alex Dolly tagged over the extras for a 7-0 lead.

Cinderford continued to work hard but found it difficult to penetrate Rotherham’s line as the hosts defended with good intent. However, the visitors did get on the board in the 25th minute when full back Liam Hemming knocked over a long-range penalty after the hosts had entered the maul from the side.

Titans’ work-rate was impressive and it enabled them to gain promising field positions which led to good try-scoring opportunities, but frustratingly for them poor execution at critical times cost them dearly and there were no further scores in the first half.

Rotherham’s good play continued into the second period as they controlled territory and possession and indeed stretched their advantage on 52 minutes when Dolly slotted a penalty in front of the post at the clubhouse end of the ground.

Just before the hour mark Titans effectively sealed the game when they scored a second converted try. Dolly initialised the move around 30 metres from goal by changing the direction of attack, before Seb Nagle-Taylor and Joe Barker got involved which allowed Harry Dunne to collect and dive over near the corner.

Dolly followed his conversion with a successful penalty on 66 minutes to round off the scoring and to give Rotherham a 7th win in their last 9 outings.

Commenting post-match Titans’ Joe Barker explained, “It was a tough game in tough conditions and the way that they play makes it hard for any side to play against them. But credit to the boys, they fronted up and they managed the game very well.

“We defended well against a big side; they were strong at the set piece and they usually score tries in most games, so to keep them out for the full 80 minutes was very pleasing.

“I also thought we kept them out in open play really well and then we just found a way to break them in attack and once we’d done that we got behind them. To come away with the win is pleasing and it’s no more than the boys deserve.”

Referee: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 607

Yellow Card: Bergmanas & Cotterill (Titans)

Titans: Dunne (2T), Dolly 2P, 2C)

Cinderford: Hemming (1C)

Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Alex Dolly (Dever 64), 1 Dan Richardson (Bergmanas 61), 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 50), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Jamie Ure (Cotterill 48), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Smith-Wano (Poole 64), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Tom Cotterill, 19 Zak Poole, 20 Connor Dever.

Cinderford: 15 Liam Hemming, 14 Sam Smith, 13 Terence Babarinsa, 12 Ed Bogue, 11 Reuben Norville, 10 Danny Pointon (Fenley 64), 9 Alex Frame, 1 Joe Smart (Capt.) (Porter 38), 2 Nathan Taylor, 3 James Elliot (Brockett 57), 4 George Evans (Balding 70), 5 Dale Lemon, 6 Jack Shields, 7 Joe Mullis (Keenan 50), 8 Harry Hone.

Replacements: 16 George Porter, 17 Tim Brockett, 18 Will Keenan, 19 Adam Balding, 20 Ewan Fenley.

Caldy 29 Titans 33

Rotherham Titans returned to winning ways in dramatic fashion, as they edged an absolute thriller of a game 33-29 against Caldy at Paton Field.

Following an impressive start which saw the Titans race into a 14-0 lead after 12 minutes, an impetuous period followed resulting in them going in at the break trailing by 10 points.

Rotherham then enjoyed the majority of the second half and eventually retook the lead 3 minutes from time to set up a nervy finish. Titans then showed terrific character late on to hold out under the sternest pressure from the home side to edge the 10-try thriller.

Titans may have thought they were in for a comfortable afternoon after full back Callum Irvine and centre Harry Dunne breezed in for two early converted tries. However, the home side weren’t about to roll over for their South Yorkshire visitors.

Showing tremendous heart and determination they powered back into the game to score four tries before the break.

Caldy’s first try on 18 minutes came from number 8 JJ Dickinson, brother of former Titan Sam; JJ showed terrific footwork to dance through the Rotherham defence to dot down near the corner.

Six minutes later a catch and drive five metres from Titans’ line resulted in centre Mike Barlow crashing over, whilst Caldy’s third try on 33 minutes came from back rower Jack Collister following a series of pick and goes inside the Rotherham 22.

The bonus point try for Caldy came just before the break when lock forward Martin Gerrard crashed over from a catch and drive close to the Titans line.

Rotherham left the field shell-shocked as they went in for their half time oranges trailing 24-14. However, following some frank words at the interval Titans came out in determined fashion and with good intensity about their work.

The intensity paid off within 2 minutes as following a number of phases the ball arrived with Callum Irvine who popped a pass to Zak Poole in support, the mobile flanker charged in from 20 metres to finish off a fine team try. Dolly’s conversion from in front of the posts narrowed the gap to 24-21.

Rotherham’s bright start to the second period was undone when deep inside the Caldy 22 a pass was intercepted by winger Nick Royle who proceeded to gallop 80 metres down the right wing to score in the corner.

Titans’ response to that disappointment was admirable. The South Yorkshire side showed terrific character as they redoubled their efforts to bombard the visitors with great energy and ambition.

The pressure eventually took its toll on Caldy in the 55th minute when the ball was spread wide to Dan Leake, the winger showed good skill and strength to beat the defence to score in the corner for an unconverted try to leave Titans trailing 29-26.

Rotherham continued to press forward and pretty much camped themselves inside the Caldy half; yet the hosts showed great resilience as they repeatedly kept out the visitors.

Finally on 77 minutes the crucial breakthrough for Rotherham was made by Seb Nagle-Taylor from a line out on the Caldy 22. The hosts backed-off at the set piece allowing the number 8 to show good awareness to charge through to score next to the posts. Dolly added the extras to give Titans a 33-29 lead.

The final throws of the match saw Caldy with a scrum 5 metres from the Titans line. However, full credit must be extended to the Rotherham pack as they disrupted the host’s set piece to steal the ball and clear their lines to seal a deserved victory.

Commenting post-match a delighted Joe Barker said, “We came out of the gates well and in the first 15 minutes we were very professional and we played some outstanding rugby. Unfortunately we then lose our discipline, which was disappointing because we’d spoken about not doing that in the week and as a result they score four tries and we go in at half time 10 points down.

“At the break we had a few harsh words and then we came out firing at the start of the second half which saw us score an outstanding try. We again start to play some outstanding rugby and we build massive pressure, but unfortunately we throw an interception and they run 90 metres to score.

“What was great to see on the back of that was the character shown by the boys; they didn’t get downhearted by the interception, they kept working hard and they bounced back to score 2 more tries.

“At the death we were under massive pressure close to our own line from their scrum, but our young front row were outstanding, especially when you consider they were up against a Championship quality front row and to come out on top in that situation shows a lot of character and we are delighted to come away with the win against a very good Caldy side.”

Referee: James O'Brien

Attendance: 352

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Irvine (T), Dunne (T), Poole (T), Leake (T), Nagle-Taylor (T), Dolly (4C)

Caldy: Dickinson (T), Barlow (T), Collister (T), Gerrard (T), Royle (T), Jones (2T)

Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne (Dever 53), 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson (Bergmanas 64), 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Will Dennis (Stout 6) (Dennis 69), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Cotterill 32) (Preston-Routledge 69), 5 Jamie Ure, 6 Luis Ball (Smith-Wano 54), 7 Zak Poole (Cotterill 75), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Tom Cotterill, 19 Smith-Wano, 20 Connor Dever.

Caldy: 15 Rhys Hayes, 14 Nick Royle, 13 Gavin Roberts, 12 Mike Barlow (Othuha 69), 11 Luke Hibberd, 10 Lewis Barker (Vasey 61), 9 Ben Jones, 1 John Whittaker (Salisbury 53) (Whittaker 73), 2 Ted Stagg, 3 Rob O'Donnell, 4 Martin Gerrard, 5 Tom Sanders (Capt.), 6 Jack Collister, 7 Nyle Davidson (Ridgway 69), 8 JJ Dickinson.

Replacements: 16 Callum Ridgway, 17 Derek Salisbury, 18 James Othuha, 19 Michael Cartmill, 20 Richard Vasey.

Titans 14 Cambridge 25

Rotherham Titans somehow managed to turn what should have been a comfortable win over Cambridge into a disappointing 25-14 defeat at Clifton Lane.

Rotherham went in at the break cruising to a comfortable 11-0 lead and having created a number of opportunities could have put the game to bed inside the first half.

This combined with the fact that the visitors had virtually offered nothing in terms of attacking threat and there wouldn’t have been too many inside the ground at half time willing to back against the home side.

So full credit must be given to Cambridge, who after scoring a breakaway try on 46 minutes, went on to arguably be the better side on the day and Rotherham will have to analyse why that was if they are going to get back on the winning trail.

Titans’ points in the first period came initially midway through the half when Seb Nagle-Taylor collected a pass close to the line from Alex Dolly, before showing tremendous strength and desire to crash over the line for an unconverted try.

Dolly stretched Titans advantage by adding penalties on 30 and 40 minutes respectively to send Rotherham in at the break with a comfortable 11-0 cushion of a lead.

The opening exchanges in the second half followed a similar pattern with Rotherham in the ascendancy. That was until the 46th minutes when just 10 metres out a Titans pass went astray; the loose ball was hacked on by Cambridge centre James Ayrton before full back Mike Ayrton collected and galloped 60 metres to dot down under the posts. Lawrence Rayner added the extras to make it 11-7.

Around the hour mark Alex Dolly sandwiched a penalty in between two from Cambridge replacement Jack Green, to leave Rotherham 14-13 ahead, but the momentum of the game had changed and the visitors started to look dangerous and threatening.

With almost a sense of inevitability Cambridge took the lead 9 minutes from time when following a period of forward pressure the ball was spun out to the backs, with it eventually arriving with winger Sam Yawayawa who touched down in the corner for an unconverted try.

Time was running out as Titans tried to retrieve the advantage they’d enjoyed for much of the match. As 80 minutes approached on the clock Rotherham cleared their lines, but the kick was too long allowing Cambridge plenty of time to run back at the home side.

This they did through winger Nana Asiedu who ran in from 70 metres unopposed to score under the posts to wrap up the match. Green slotted the extras from in front to seal an unexpected win for the visitors.

Commenting on the game a disappointed Joe Barker said, “That was very frustrating. The first half was a good one and we should have taken more points, but we still came in at half time 11-0 up. We even continued to dominate in the opening stages of the second half and at no point did they look like scoring a point, not even from a penalty.

“But as soon as they scored that full length try, I don’t know if our energy went or we stopped doing what we were good at, but we started to give penalties away because we were trying to force things rather than sticking to the system and being consistent.

“The first half worked so well because we stuck to our system and built pressure and pressure brings points; but we stopped doing that and we went back to trying to chase something rather than building it and then we end up making little errors that we didn’t make in the first half.

“Our discipline then killed us and we stopped defending the maul and we didn’t have as much dominance in the scrum and that’s credit to them because they took their chances and they played the referee very well. I think we could have handled him a lot better; he had certain ways of refereeing the game and we have to adapt to the referee and we didn’t do that very well.”

Referee: Daniel Collins

Attendance: 644

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Nagle-Taylor (T), Dolly (3P)

Cambridge: M Ayrton (T), Yawayawa (T), Asiedu (T), Rayner (1C), Green (C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan (Irvine 34) (Dever 65), 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson (Bergmanas 70), 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Will Dennis (Stout 66), 4 Conor Keys (Ball 57), 5 Jamie Ure, 6 Tom Cotterill, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

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

Cambridge: 15 Mike Ayrton (Capt.), 14 Nana Asiedu, 13 James Ayrton, 12 Matt Hema (Rayner 73), 11 Sam Yawayawa, 10 Lawrence Rayner (Green 55), 9 Kieran Duffin, 1 Henry Peck (Ibrahim 24) (Peck 72), 2 Alex Rayment (Ruddock 58), 3 Jack Higgins, 4 Gillan Benoy, 5 George Bretag-Norris, 6 Jake McCloud, 7 Keifer Laxton (Rawlings 52), 8 Stephen Hipwell (Conquest 55).

Replacements: 16 Cameron Ruddock, 17 Ben Ibrahim, 18 Rob Conquest, 19 Louis Rawlings, 20 Jack Green.

Picture Courtesy of Darren George

Ampthill 22 Titans 8

Rotherham’s five match winning streak came to an end as they crashed to a 22-8 defeat away to Ampthill at a blustery Dillingham Park.

Titans overall performance compared to recent efforts was disappointing and they will look to use this experience as a learning curve when the league recommences in two weeks’ time.

The uniqueness of the set-up at Dillingham Park and the slope of the ground was certainly handled better by the home team. However, had Titans taken some opportunities they created, particularly in the first half, they may well have made it 6 wins in a row.

The defeat leaves Rotherham fifth in the table, 4 points off the summit, but with 20 games remaining in National 1 there’s still everything to play for in this longest of seasons.

The game itself saw Titans make the worst start possible as Ampthill touched down after just 65 seconds through winger Nigel Baker. However, had Rotherham collected a loose ball on the ground from the kick off, it’s unlikely the home side would have scored after one minute.

Nevertheless, Rotherham began to settle into the game and enjoyed periods of territory and possession in the hosts half as they tried to make the most of the slope and strong wind.

Following a powerful drive up to the Ampthill line on 13 minutes it looked as though Roth would open their account; unfortunately for them they lost the ball at the crucial moment 3 metres from goal.

On 19 minutes had the final pass to Henry Roberts been an accurate one, the winger would have strolled in for one of his easiest dot downs of the season.

On 22 minutes had Seb Nagle-Taylor not unluckily spilled the ball forward diving over to score Rotherham would have secured their first points and on 32 minutes had another errant pass out wide not occurred, Titans very well may have touched down there too.

Titans did however get on the board after 34 minutes when Ellis Abrahams knocked over a penalty on the angle from 35 metres. Rotherham had turned down 2 other kicks at goal earlier in the game.

As the half drew to a close Rotherham pressed further looking to add to their total, but a resilient home defence made sure there would be no further score and Titans went in at the break trailing 7-3.

Both teams stayed out on the pitch at half time rather than walking back through the woods to the clubhouse. This new on-the-pitch half time team discussion didn’t hinder Rotherham one jot, as they took the lead 2 minutes into the second period.

Jamie Cooke collected the ball out wide on the right before showing excellent pace and power to run through Ampthill’s defence for a fine try. Abrahams narrowly missed the conversion as the strengthening wind pushed the ball across the face of the sticks.

To be fair however, Rotherham’s opportunities were limited in the second half as the hosts utilised the conditions well. The vastly experienced Ampthill pack trundled around the field to good effect and their backs looked sharp when given the ball; all of which meant Titans had to defend hard for long periods.

On 66 minutes Rotherham’s line was breached when scrum-half Euan McKirdy collected from the back of a maul to snipe round to score next to the posts from 5 metres out. Fly half Josh Sharp added the extras from in front to give the hosts a 14-8 advantage.

Things got worse for Rotherham on 72 minutes when Eru Smith-Wano was shown a yellow card for what the referee said was a no arms tackle. This was Titans second yellow card of the game after Connor Field was shown his on 14 minutes. From the resulting penalty Josh Sharp added the 3 points from 40 metres out to extend his sides lead to 17-8.

As the game went into injury time some sloppy defending by Rotherham allowed Ampthill to run in to score the final points of the game through Josh Sharp, who converted his own try.

Commenting post-match a disappointed Joe Barker explained, “The result is a tough one to take, but ultimately it will do us a world of good. We’ve been on a bit of a roll these last few weeks and sometimes you have to go through some tough results and this is one of those.

“This is now a challenge for us as a group; strong people come out of these situations stronger. You have to have good character to come through these moments and I believe this group has bags of it and there’s no doubt they will bounce back from this.

“I think defensively we were really strong and they gained field position through silly things and some of those things were outside of what we can control, but we still need to handle that.

“However in attack we didn’t get into many phases as we didn’t have the ball too often. Our fitness levels and commitment was outstanding once again and that’s a positive which will stand us in good stead going forwards.”

Referee: George Selwood

Attendance: 385

Yellow Card: Field & Smith-Wano (Titans)

Titans: Cooke (T), Abrahams (P)

Ampthill: Baker (T), McKirdy (T), Sharp (T, P, 2C)

Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Connor Dever (Dolly 50), 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Ali Thomson (Bergmanas 70), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 39), 4 Tom Cotterill (Keys 53), 5 Jamie Ure, 6 Luis Ball (Smith-Wano 50), 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

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

Ampthill: 15 Ciaran Whyte (Foster 74), 14 Spencer Sutherland, 13 Oli Morris, 12 Sam Hanks, 11 Nigel Baker, 10 Josh Sharp (Whyte 79), 9 Euan McKirdy (Williams 64), 1 Soane Tongauiha (Culverhouse 77), 2 Aleki Lutui (Walliker 40), 3 Matt Collins (Lutui 58), 4 Carl Burgess (Molitika 58), 5 Billy Johnson (Capt.), 6 Syd Blackmore, 7 Joe Bercis (Burgess 70), 8 Ma'ama Molitika (Allman 40).

Replacements: 16 Olly Walliker, 17 Jack Culverhouse, 18 William Allman, 19 Gavin Williams, 20 Will Foster.

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.

Birmingham Moseley 28 Titans 22

Rotherham’s high error count and a lack of discipline saw them fall to a disappointing 28-22 defeat against a rugged Birmingham Moseley side at a wet and windy Billesley Common.

Rotherham did however collect a bonus point for their 6 point loss and will look to get back to winning ways this week at home to Sale FC.

There were periods where Rotherham looked the better side, but a lack of discipline ultimately lead to their downfall, as Moseley cashed in with four driving maul tries through hooker Adam Caves.

Titans actually made a bright opening and quickly raced into a 10-0 lead following a Dan Leake try and a penalty and conversion from Alex Dolly.

However, Moseley’s pack of forwards reduced the arrears on 12 minutes when hooker Adam Caves crashed over from the tail of a maul close to the line.

Titans’ Dolly and Moseley’s James Williams then traded penalties before Caves bulldozed his way over again to level the scores at 13 apiece.

The game began to form a pattern where Rotherham tried to play some rugby, whilst the home side appeared to be content with their pack keeping the ball close as they rumbled around the park.

Three minutes before the break Dolly added his third penalty for Rotherham from in front of the sticks as Moseley’s slow retreat saw them pinned for being offside.

However, the final play of the half saw Caves secure his hat trick try from another driving maul close to the Titans line to send the hosts in at the break 18-16 to the good.

With the game finely balanced the first score of the second period would be vital; unfortunately for Rotherham Adam Caves scored his fourth try of the game from a maul just two minutes in, with Williams adding the conversion to stretch the home sides lead to 25-16.

To be fair Rotherham never stopped working hard as they tried to claw their way back into the game and this they did when either side of the hour mark Alex Dolly struck two fine penalties to reduce the arrears to 25-22 with 14 minutes remaining.

Both sides defended well in the final quarter as each team pushed for victory. However, in the final play of the game Moseley won a penalty at a scrum inside the Titans 22 and Williams nailed the conversion to end matters.

Commenting post-game Titans Joe Barker explained, “It was a disappointing result and there’s no doubt about that, but other than in the driving mauls I thought we were defensively strong. The only way they got into our half was through our poor discipline and our errors. We gave away far too many penalties which gave them field position and they used their maul to good effect.

“I think our decision makers, our 9, 10 and 15 controlled our kicking game very well and I think we dominated both halves in terms of that.

“However, if you can’t hold your discipline, scrums and mauls then you are going to find it hard to win games of rugby and these are areas that we have to sort out.

“It wasn’t a game for the purists and the weather conditions didn’t make it easy for either side. We have a young squad here, but they’re going to have to learn and learn quickly and we are going to have to sort it out at training.

“More than half the tries we have conceded this season have come via the driving maul and that’s an area we obviously need to sort out. We knew coming into the game we had a light back five as all four of our second rows are injured. But I can’t complain in terms of the boy’s effort, but sometimes weight wins when you’re in the row.”

Referee: Matt Turvey

Attendance: 736

Yellow Card: Baffour-Awuah (Moseley)

Titans: Leake (T), Dolly (5P, 1C)

Birmingham Moseley: Caves (4T), Williams (2P, 1C)

Titans: 15 Alex Dolly, 14 Dan Leake (Cooke 34), 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Joe Barker, 11 Henry Roberts, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Jack Bergmanas (Richardson 53), 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Rikki Stout (Dickinson 63), 4 Anton Petrowitsch, 5 Tom Cotterill (Preston-Routledge 63), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Dan Richardson, 17 Antony Dickinson, 18 Will Dennis, 19 Dan Preston-Routledge, 20 Jamie Cooke.

Birmingham Moseley: 15 Sam Hollingsworth, 14 Charles Baffour-Awuah, 13 Oliver Allsopp, 12 Sam Hayward, 11 Sam Atkin, 10, James Williams, 9 Rob Lewis (Capt.) (Pointon 61), 1 Tom Fidler (Tyack 76), 2 Adam Caves, 3 Jay Tyack (Boyce 60), 4 Buster Lawrence, 5 Lewis Bean, 6 Laurence Cowen, 7 Josh Poole, 8 Chris Brightwell (Le Roux 61).

Replacements: 16 Jamie White, 17 Jonah Boyce, 18 Jacques Le Roux, 19 Sam Smith, 20 Sam Pointon.

Titans 29 Rosslyn Park 12

Rotherham Titans secured their first National League 1 win of the season as they deservedly ran out 29-12 winners over Rosslyn Park at Clifton Lane.

Titans put in an overall impressive performance, but it was full back Alex Dolly who caught the eye as he bagged 8 successful penalty kicks, to add to an early try from winger Henry Roberts.

Park’s points came way of a try in either half from back rowers Hugo Ellis and Arthur Ellis, with former Titan Greg Lound converting the former from out wide.

Titans might have been concerned early on when inside 2 minutes the visitors stormed into the lead from a catch and drive which saw Hugo Ellis barge over for a dot down.

However, just 5 minutes later and Rotherham crossed the whitewash themselves when winger Henry Roberts showed superb strength to power his way over the line from inside the 22 to touch down in the left corner.

Titans controlled much of what followed and almost had their second try on 18 minutes from a superb break by Seb Nagle-Taylor. Unfortunately the number 8 was dragged down a metre short and although he attempted to release the ball and go again, the referee pinned him and subsequently Nagle-Taylor spent 10 minutes in the bin.

Titans added two penalties before the break through Alex Dolly, which sent the home side in at the break 11-7 to the good.

Rotherham were keen to score the first points of the second half and this they did through Dolly’s third penalty of the game to stretch the lead to 7 points.

However, Park bounced back and on 54 minutes another catch and drive close to the Titans line resulted in flanker Arthur Ellis dotting down for his sides second try of the game. Lound’s conversion drifted just wide of the posts to leave his side 2 points adrift.

As the game progressed it was Rotherham who managed the game more effectively and as the pressure mounted on the visitors they yielded a relentless stream of penalties.

Inside the final 18 minutes Park gave away 5 penalties from all over the field and Alex Dolly stepped up on each occasion to conduct a masterclass of kicking from the tee to nail the lot and give Rotherham a worthy first win of the campaign.

Speaking immediately post-match, Titans head coach, Joe Barker, explained, “I knew our first win was just around the corner and what we did really well today was we stuck to our process of how we were going to play.

“In our first two games we were in those games for a period of time, but we made mistakes and went away from what we wanted to do, but today fair play to the lads they really stuck with it today.

“We asked them to play a certain plan and they stuck to it for the full 80 minutes and that’s why we were relentless and ruthless with our approach all game long.

“I was also pleased with our defence, our positivity and our motivation. We know we have good players here and I believe we are a good team and I think we showed that today in beating a good Rosslyn Park side.”

Referee: Matt Turvey

Attendance: 513

Yellow Card: Nagle-Taylor (Titans)

Titans: Roberts (T), Dolly (8P)

Rosslyn Park: H Ellis (T), A Ellis (T), Lound (1C)

Titans: 15 Alex Dolly, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Joe Barker, 11 Henry Roberts, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Connor Dever (Davey 77), 1 Jack Bergmanas, 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Anton Petrowitsch, 5 Conor Keys (Preston-Routledge 58), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt).

Replacements: 16 Dan Richardson, 17 Antony Dickinson, 18 Dan Preston-Routledge, 19 Harry Davey, 20 Jamie Cooke.

Rosslyn Park: 15 Henry Robinson, 14 Bam Fadahunsi, 13 Nicolas Nieto (Barnes 51), 12 Jordon Turner-Hall, 11 Neville Edwards, 10 Greg Lound, 9 Oli Grove, 1 Maurice Nwakor, 2 Tom Vaughan-Edwards (Hughes 65), 3 Paul Doran-Jones (Lovell 60), 4 Jonathan Mills, 5 Gregor Gillanders (Barnard 54), 6 Adam Frampton, 7 Arthur Ellis (Vaughan-Edwards 79), 8 Hugo Ellis (Gillanders 58).

Replacements: 16 Owen Hughes, 17 Nick Lovell, 18 Jack Barnard, 19 Aaron Booth, 20 Dan Barnes.

Darlington Mowden Park 42 Titans 19

Titans’ first away trip of the season ended in disappointment as they went down 42-19 to pre-season favourites Darlington Mowden Park at the Northern Echo Arena.

The hosts deserved their victory as they ran in six tries to Titans three, although the scoreboard has a slightly flattering look to it, as Rotherham felt they were in the game more than the board would suggest.

Rotherham applied pressure on the hosts late on as they went in search of the four try bonus point, however Mowden Park’s defence held firm to deny Rotherham any spoils for their efforts.

Indeed Titans had much the better of the opening 20 minutes of the contest and had they taken the opportunities created, they would have opened up a healthy advantage. Alas for them they did not and the closest they came to opening up their account was a Callum Irvine drop goal effort on 13 minutes which bounced off the uprights.

As the half hour mark approached Mowden established some dominance which saw them score a brace of tries either side of the 30 minute mark through centre Ben Frankland and live-wire scrum half Bruno Bravo, both of which were converted by Warren Seals.

Just before the break Rotherham’s forward pack exerted huge pressure on Park’s line as they looked to cut the deficit on half time. Unfortunately for the Yorkshire side they were turned over and the opportunity was lost.

The second period started in similar fashion to the way the first had ended, as the hosts’ dominance saw them establish a stronghold on the game. As the hour mark was passed Park went over for their third try of the half through replacement Ben Stevenson, after Chris Georgiou and former Titan Talite Vaioleti had crossed the whitewash earlier. 

In between Titans got off the mark when replacement prop Dan Richardson showed good power to drive over from close to the line.

Ten minutes from time Rotherham secured further reward as they continued to battle on and not let their heads drop. Titans’ pack, which had put in a sterling shift all game, drove up to Park’s line before Richardson was on hand again to barrel over for his second try of the match.

Five minutes later and Titans hopes of securing a bonus point received a further boost when number 8, Seb Nagle-Taylor finished off another barnstorming forwards drive for his sides third try. Irvine drop goaled the conversion in an attempt to get the game restarted quickly.

Although Rotherham had some possession in the final stages, it was the hosts who brought the curtain down on the game as second rower Jake Brady smashed his way over for Park’s sixth dot down of the match. Seals conversion secured him a 100% success rate from the tee.

Commenting post match Titans head coach, Joe Barker, explained, “There were a lot of positives to build on, but I don’t want to keep saying that and we now need to start demonstrating our potential. The first 20 minutes we had them under massive pressure and I think they were shocked in how we were managing the game.

“Our kicking game was better and our set piece has improved a lot this week. I think Smithy, Jenks and Christian have done an outstanding job with the front five and the pack to get that set piece working and they fronted up today and you could see that with the tries we scored.

“I thought the bench also made a massive impact when we used it. They showed great intensity, tempo and physicality and they changed the way the game was played. 

“At times you can see what we are trying to do and we are nearly there, but today there were a few decisions made which proved to be wrong ones. I think that’s just a little bit of inexperience but that will come if we continue to work hard during the week.

“I really believe in this squad and I want our fans to be patient and continue to support the lads like they’ve done all along. It will take a bit of time but we will get there.”

Referee: Harry Walbaum
Attendance: 855
Yellow Card: Nott (Titans)
Titans: Richardson (2T), Nagle-Taylor (T), Irvine (2C)
Darlington Mowden Park: Frankland (T), Bravo (T), Georgiou (T), Vaioleti (T), Stevenson (T), Brady (T), Seals (6C)
 

Titans: 15 Harry Davey, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Ellis Abrahams (Field 58), 12 Joe Barker, 11 Connor Field (Dever 46), 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Josh Nott (Dunne 57), 1 Jack Bergmanas (Richardson H-T), 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Rikki Stout (Dickinson 49), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Keys 75), 5 Conor Keys (Petrowitsch 57), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Dan Richardson, 17 Antony Dickinson, 18 Anton Petrowitsch, 19 Connor Dever, 20 Harry Dunne.

Darlington Mowden Park: 15 Chris Georgiou, 14 Josh Hall (McTurk 66), 13 Jordy Hop, 12 Ben Frankland, 11 Ollie Walker (Stevenson 46) (Walker 72), 10 Warren Seals, 9 Bruno Bravo, 1 Alfie Barron (Harvey 66), 2 Jordon Poole, 3 Ralph Appleby (Darkintis 57), 4 Jake Brady, 5 Talite Vaioleti (Appleby 72), 6 Joe Duffy, 7 George Stokes, 8 Joe Craggs.

Replacements: 16 Ignas Darkintis, 17 Anthony Harvey, 18 Garry Law, 19 Ben Stevenson, 20 Chris McTurk.

Titans 33 Old Elthamians 34

Rotherham Titans started their National League 1 campaign with a heart-breaking 34-33 defeat to a much-fancied Old Elthamians side.

Titans out-scored their counterparts by 5 tries to 4 and collected 2 well-deserved bonus points for their efforts; however, poor starts to each half ultimately cost them dearly.

With just one player from last seasons’ Titans squad involved, it was always going to be a challenge to beat one of the divisions’ anticipated top sides, but they almost did and they can be content with their first competitive game together.

In particular Seb Nagle-Taylor who scored a hat trick, Tom Allott who chipped in with a brace of dot downs and fly half Callum Irvine who bossed the game effectively, all can be pleased with their first shift on the Clifton Lane pitch.

However, when the Titans trailed 10-0 after the opening 20 minutes, following a try from Dom McGeekie and a penalty and conversion from Tom White, the signs looked ominous for the home side.

Alleviating the distress, Titans eventually established a foothold in the game on 24 minutes when Captain Seb Nagle-Taylor barged over from close range for Ellis Abrahams to convert, which cut the deficit to 10-7.

Sloppy work at the set piece by Rotherham followed, which enabled the visitors to reinstate their 10 point advantage as winger Dom Lespierre breezed in for a dot down, with White added the extras.

On a balmy afternoon at the Lane Rotherham finally sprang in action and it was fly half Callum Irvine who proved to be the catalyst for 2 quick-fire tries just before half time.

A clever grubber kick from the former Carnegie man allowed Nagle-Taylor to collect nicely to dive over, before an outstanding 60 metre break downfield saw Irvine find Tom Allott in support to touch down under the sticks. Abrahams converted to send the home side in at the break 19-17 to the good.

The restart would be important and again Rotherham came up second best, just as they had done in the opening half. This time the visitors only needed 75 seconds to cross the whitewash as Hamish Barton finished under the posts a counter attack from Elthamians. White knocked over his third conversion from in front to give OE’s a 24-19 lead.

That lead was extended on 63 minutes when White knocked over a penalty and it was stretched further when back rower Harry Ledger secured a bonus point when he dotted down following a powerful maul close to the Titans line. White’s conversion widened the gap to 34-19.

What would have pleased the hierarchy at Clifton Lane was the resilience and character shown by the players to quickly come back with two converted tries of their own.

Full back Tom Allott collected nicely his own kick-through to score and that man Nagle-Taylor barged through to score his third try under the posts. Irvine successfully drop-kicked the conversion to get the game restarted.

If any team was going to score in the final moments of this thrilling encounter it was going to be the home side. However, a knock-on at the death signalled time and the home side had to be content with 2 points for their opening day efforts.

Post-game Titans head coach, Joe Barker, explained, “As a squad we are pretty new, we’ve only been together for 8 weeks and everyone knows in team sports it takes time for things to gel, especially in rugby union when you’ve got to get use to so many things from a technical standpoint.

“I think what we have achieved today makes me really proud of the lads and proud of Rotherham Rugby Club and what we have achieved over the summer in a very short space of time makes me happy that we could produce that kind of display in front of our own fans.

“Elthamians are a very good National 1 outfit and they have high ambitions for this season. They’ve been together for a long time and their aim is to get out of this league. On the back of our display I think we should be excited about where this group of players can take this club.

“I think as a group the lads put in a great shift, but I have to give a special mention to Seb Nagle-Taylor who put in a very destructive and powerful performance and Callum Irvine, who I thought bossed the game very well at 10 and who I thought showed his Championship experience.

“But overall as a team I thought we showed amazing character as we came back on numerous occasions in both halves. As a young group of lads I thought they showed great resilience and that gives us great confidence moving forward this season.”

Referee: Neil Chivers
Attendance: 579
Yellow Card: Ure (Titans)
Titans: Nagle-Taylor (3T), Allott (2T), Abrahams (3C), Irvine 1C)
Old Elthamians: McGeekie (T), Lespierre (T), Barton (T), Ledger (T), White (2P, 4C) 

Titans: 15 Tom Allott, 14 Henry Roberts, 13 Ellis Abrahams, 12 Joe Barker, 11 Connor Field, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Josh Nott (Dolly 64), 1 Jack Bergmanas, 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Rikki Stout (Dickinson 74), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Ure 60), 5 Conor Keys, 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole (Petrowitsch 66), 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Dan Richardson, 17 Antony Dickinson, 18 Jamie Ure, 19 Anton Petrowitsch, 20 Alex Dolly.

Old Elthamians: 15 Ben Howard, 14 Dom Lespierre (McGeekie 74), 13 Kieran Moffat (Claxton 74), 12 Max Wilkins (Surman 35), 11 Alan Hotston (Morris 74), 10 Tom White, 9 Oliver Claxton (Morgan 60), 1 Alex Rogers (Scutt 67), 2 Nathan Morris (Rudland-Thomas 60), 3 Kieron Scutt (Brown 52), 4 Fred Hosking, 5 Dom McGeekie (Ledger 67), 6 Harry Ledger (Messum 54), 7 Hamish Barton, 8 Ben King.

Replacements: 16 Lewis Brown, 17 Jay Rudland-Thomas, 18 George Messum, 19 Rhys Morgan, 20 Chris Surman.
 

Nottingham 38 Titans 5

Rotherham Titans finished off their Championship season with a disappointing 38-5 defeat to Nottingham under the lights at Lady Bay.

The final-day defeat brought a long, difficult season to a close for the South Yorkshire side which saw them win just 2 Championship games and as a result they will ply their trade in National Division One next year, as they aim to bounce back at the first attempt.

The game itself had few positives for Rotherham as the home side played with lots of energy and zest, as they looked to put on a show for their supporters in their final home game of the season.

Inside the opening 15 minutes Nottingham raced into a 14-0 lead after two converted tries from centre Gearoid Lyons and winger Jack Spittle.

The second quarter of the game was Titans best as they enjoyed significant periods of dominance, particularly at scrum time. During this spell Titans got on the scoreboard when a powerful driving maul was finished off by back rower Tom Burns on 21 minutes.

However, despite Titans worthy efforts to add to their tally in the first half, the hosts defended with great resilience to keep them at bay. Indeed just before the break it was the Green and Whites that scored next when Tiff Eden knocked over a penalty from just outside the Titans 22.

Coming out for the second half and trailing 17-5, the Titans needed to score first if they were to give themselves a chance of ending the season with a victory.

Those hopes were dashed within 4 minutes when Nottingham centre Will Millett darted through for his side’s third try of the match.

From then on a confident home side controlled the game and added two further tries through prop Tom West and late on through former Titan Ben Morris.

A reflective Nic Rouse commented post-match, “The game kind of summed up our season; we looked like the side that played on Tuesday night, but fair play to them they controlled the game and stopped us playing. We did have a bit of dominance in the first half but we didn’t make the most of that period.

“We were still in the game at half time, but unfortunately they scored early in the second half and it was difficult for us thereafter. It was their last home game and they wanted to send some boys off with the win before they move on. They were really up for it in front of their fans the way we were against Carnegie and they deserved the win.

“It was my last game and it would have been great to go out with the win, but that wasn’t to be. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Rotherham and have met some great people at the club and I’ll take away a lot of fond memories. The results didn’t go our way, but I think since Christmas the boys have made a good fist of it.”

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

Attendance: 1,055

Yellow Card: Hooper (Nottingham), Foster & Calladine (Titans)

Titans: Burns (T)

Nottingham: Lyons (T), Spittle (T), Millett (T), West (T), Morris (T), Eden (4C, P), Hakalo (1C)

Titans: 15 Will Thomas, 14 Drew Cheshire, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Lee Millar, 11 Jake Henry (Foley 52), 10 Caolan Ryan (Hamilton 67), 9 Rhodri Davies (Vieira 67), 1 Toby Williams (Tom Williams 56), 2 Luke Cole (Dolly 64), 3 Andrew Foster (Palmer 75), 4 Rob Louw, 5 Adam Peters, 6 Tom Burns, 7 Dan Grange, 8 Tom Calladine (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Tom Williams, 18 Brandon Palmer, 19 Joe Barker, 20 Ben Foley, 21 Wesley Hamilton, 22 Francisco Vieira.

Nottingham: 15 Sean Scanlon, 14 Jack Spittle, 13 Will Millett, 12 Gearoid Lyons, 11 Billy Robinson, 10 Tiff Eden (Hakalo 56), 9 Darryl Veenendaal (McConnell 64), 1 Tom West (Sio 61), 2 Jimmy Stevens (Brownlie 55), 3 Ben Hooper (Hall 52), 4 Tim Cardall, 5 Ben Morris, 6 Jordan Coghlan (Cecil 67), 7 Matt Everard (Capt.), 8 Josh Poullet (Buckley 55).

Replacements: 16 Ben Brownlie, 17 Aniseko Sio, 18 James Hall, 19 Seb Cecil, 20 Shane Buckley, 21 Murray McConnell, 22 Vili Hakalo.

Titans 30 Yorkshire Carnegie 26

Rotherham Titans mounted a stunning late comeback to snatch a thrilling 30-26 victory over county rivals Yorkshire Carnegie at a warm and sunny Clifton Lane.

Trailing 19-6 with 20 minutes to go Rotherham showed tremendous spirit and character to score two tries through Drew Cheshire and one from Jake Henry, with both Caolan Ryan and Lee Millar adding vital points from the boot to seal a well-deserved, dramatic victory.

The match itself started with the visitors in the ascendancy as they looked to put tempo into the game. Their early endeavours were reward inside four minutes as a powerful driving maul from a line out saw Carnegie hooker Mike Mayhew crash over from the tail. Stevie McColl bagged the impressive extras from out wide to give his side a 7-0 lead.

Carnegie continued to have the upper hand as the game progressed, but a spirited and resilient Titans defence repeatedly held out their Yorkshire rivals, often close to their own line.

Slowly Rotherham began to impose themselves on the game and just after the half hour mark Caolan Ryan struck a terrific long-range penalty to reduce his side’s arrears to 7-3.

Just before the break Titans were reduced to 14 players after lock forward Matt Postlethwaite received a yellow card for his part in a repeated set of penalties.

At the beginning of the second period Carnegie quickly exploited the man advantage as their backs moves the ball effectively across the line for winger Louis Brown to score in the corner. McColl again impressed with his successful conversion from out wide.

Titans’ Lee Millar narrowed the deficit on 47 minutes with a long-range penalty and 4 minutes later almost did the same again from 55 metres. This time however the ball agonising came up just short of the target.

Moments later Millar received what many in the ground thought a harsh yellow card for a ‘late tackle’ on Carnegie fly half Pete Lucock. Again the visitors quickly exploited their numerical advantage as hooker Mike Mayhew crashed over for his second dot down of the match. McColl missed the extras from out wide the leave Carnegie 19-6 to the good.

With just under 20 minutes remaining Titans needed some inspiration and that inspiration arrived from winger Drew Cheshire who collected the ball on the right flank before chipping ahead and outpacing Oli Fox to collect and dot down for a marvellous try. Caolan Ryan tagged over the extras from the touchline.

Five minutes later and Rotherham took the lead for the first time in the match when left winger Jake Henry collected and powerfully barged his way through to narrowly score in the corner under massive Carnegie pressure. Ryan bagged the extras impressively from the left touchline to nudge his side into a 20-19 lead.

With Titans now in full flow and the faithful from the Shed passionately egging their side on Cheshire scored a wonderful try as he dummied a pass before cutting back inside to score next to the sticks. Ryan knocked over the straightforward conversion to put Rotherham 27-19 up.

On 76 minutes Lee Millar again demonstrated his prowess with the boot as he nailed another impressive long-range penalty to stretch his sides lead to 30-19.

With Yorkshire pride at stake the visitors set the game up for a nervy finish after scrum half Oli Fox crossed the whitewash for his sides bonus point try. McColl’s extras reduced Carnegie’s arrears to 30-16.

Carnegie desperately pushed forward in their attempts to steal a victory but the men from Clifton Lane held on resolutely to earn a thrilling victory.

Commenting post-match Titans Nic Rouse explained, “This week has been the toughest week of the year for me as a coach and in terms of preparing the boys; at times we only had 12 boys training and we had to play football. 

“The numbers were so low in training it was difficult and our best session was the team run on Friday. We only had four boys on the bench today and one of those wasn’t really fit enough to go on, so effectively we only had 3 replacements.

“In the game we wanted to play some rugby against Carnegie and we wanted to take a bit of sting out of them. They rarely kick the ball so we needed to be good defensively and I was massively impressed with the boys in that area. Our patience and discipline was very good and I am very proud of the lads.”

Referee: Dean Richards
Attendance: 681
Yellow Card: Postlethwaite & Millar (Titans), Mitchell (Carnegie)
Titans: Cheshire (2T), Henry (T), Ryan (P, 3C), Millar (2P)
Carnegie: Mayhew (2T), Brown (T), Fox (T), McColl (3C)

Titans: 15 Will Thomas, 14 Drew Cheshire, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Lee Millar, 11 Jake Henry, 10 Caolan Ryan, 9 Francisco Vieira, 1 Tom Williams, 2 Luke Cole (Dolly 69), 3 Andrew Foster (Palmer76), 4 Rob Louw, 5 Matt Postlethwaite, 6 Tom Burns, 7 Adam Peters, 8 Tom Calladine (Capt.).
 
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Brandon Palmer, 18 Dan Grange, 19 Wesley Hamilton, 20 Joe Barker, 21 James Lasis, 22 Ben Foley. 

Yorkshire Carnegie: 15 Stevie McColl, 14 Tom Bullough, 13 Chris Elder, 12 Andy Forsyth, 11 Louis Brown (Dunne 60) (Bryce 66), 10 Pete Lucock (Davey 58), 9 Oli Fox, 1 James Thraves (Beech 60), 2 Mike Mayhew (Newborn 76), 3 Craig Mitchell, 4 Jack Whetton, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Ben West, 7 Richard Mayhew, 8 Richard Beck (Bainbridge 58).

Replacement: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Kevin Bryce, 19 Elliot Ward, 20 Josh Bainbridge, 21 Harry Davey, 22 Harry Dunne.

London Scottish 49 Titans 14

Rotherham Titans suffered an awful day at the office as an uninspired performance saw them get punished by a rampant London Scottish side in a crushing 49-14 defeat.

The Exiles ran in seven tries to Titans two, with the South Yorkshire side lacking the urgency and intensity which has been their trademark since the turn of the year.

Rotherham trailed from the off as Scottish raced into an 18-0 lead inside the opening 24 minutes, with tries from centre Ben Mosses and prop forward Dino Waldren; veteran fly half Jake Sharp added 2 penalties and a conversion.

Rotherham eventually worked themselves into the game and were rewarded for their efforts when tight head Andrew Foster crashed over from close range after a period of forward dominance from the Titans pack. Ryan added the extras.

Minutes later however the home side added a third try when prop Waldren barged his way over for his second dot down of the game, Sharp’s successful conversion extended the Exiles lead to 25-7.

As half time approached Titans enjoyed what would be their best period of the game as they camped themselves close to the hosts line. The Scottish scrum buckled on four separate occasions with each time referee Sara Cox awarding Titans a penalty. 

Eventually the referee awarded Rotherham a penalty try, but surprisingly no yellow card followed. Nevertheless Titans went in at the break trailing 25-14 and somewhat rejuvenated for the second 40.

It was vital Rotherham scored the first points after the restart if a comeback was to be a realistic option; unfortunately for them this wasn’t the case as on 47 minutes big second rower Tjiuee Uanivi bulldozed his way over for his sides bonus point try.

Galvanised and full of confidence, Scottish upped their game further and pretty much dominated proceedings for the rest of the match as they ran in another three tries through full back Joe Luca Smith, left winger Charlie Ingall and right winger Matt Williams to secure a deserved and convincing victory.

Speaking after the game Titans Nic Rouse explained, “Today’s performance wasn’t a reflection of how we’ve been since January; it was pretty poor today. I said before the game we need to take them on and there was a big opportunity to take them on up front and it took us until the 25th minute before we got our first penalty. We talk about it beforehand and then we don’t do it. 

“We came into the game confident of getting the result and the way we have been playing the last few weeks against the top sides gave us the confidence to come here and get the win, but I don’t think we really turned up and that’s very disappointing.

“We had good preparation coming into this one and I know the boys are going to be disappointed because they’ll feel they have let themselves down and that will hurt them. I think we needed to score first after the break, but we didn’t and we weren’t great today to be honest.

“Maybe the season has taken its toll on us with the small squad we have, but that’s an excuse and I don’t want to start looking for excuses. 

“I don’t really want to have a go at the boys because they have worked really hard for me and I back them 100%. We now need to pick ourselves up for a big game next week against Carnegie, because if we turn up for that one the way we did today then we are going to get a hiding.

“But we are back at home for a massive Yorkshire derby and we want to put in a performance that we and our supporters can be proud of.”

Referee: Sara Cox
Attendance: 1,330
Yellow Card: Henry (Titans)
Titans: Foster (T), Pen Try, Ryan (1C)
London Scottish: Waldren (2T), Mosses (T), Uanivi (T), Smith (T), Ingall (T), Williams (T), Sharp (2P, 4C),
 
Titans: 15 Will Thomas, 14 Ben Foley (Millar H-T), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Joe Barker (Hamilton 58), 11 Jake Henry, 10 Caolan Ryan, 9 Rhodri Davies (Vieira 65), 1 Toby Williams (Tom Williams 60), 2 Luke Cole, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Rob Louw, 5 Adam Peters, 6 Dan Grange (Burns H-T), 7 Charlie Maddison, 8 Tom Calladine (Capt.).
 
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Tom Williams, 18 Brandon Palmer, 19 Tom Burns, 20 Wesley Hamilton, 21 Lee Millar, 22 Francisco Vieira.
 
London Scottish: 15 Joe Luca Smith, 14 Matt Williams, 13 Ross Neal, 12 Ben Mosses, 11 Charlie Ingall, 10 Jake Sharp (Atkins 61), 9 Alex Walker (Hoadley 55), 1 Derrick Appiah (Harris 55), 2 Isaac Miller (George 55), 3 Dino Waldren (Cringle 55), 4 Ed Milne, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi (Curry 49), 6 Joe Atkinson, 7 Chris Walker (Eliet 69), 8 Danny Kenny (Capt.).
 
Replacements: 16 Dan George, 17 Jonny Harris, 18 Phil Cringle, 19 Oli Curry, 20 Matt Eliet, 21 Ed Hoadley, 22 Jacob Atkins.