Old Elthamians 46 Titans 18

Rotherham Titans put in a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performance as they lost their way in a dysfunctional second half which saw them crash to 46-18 defeat to Old Elthamians.

As good as Rotherham were in the first half – and they were very good at times – their second half performance was enigmatically poor.

The first 40 minutes saw Rotherham put in one of their better performances of recent times; their energy and intensity levels were super high and the hosts struggled to cope with the Titans “in the face” approach.

Such was their first half superiority, the South Yorkshire side went in at half time leading 18-8 and deservedly so.

Good tries from hooker Jack Bergmanas and second rower Will Hughes capped off dominant periods of play for Rotherham.

OE’s first half points came via a penalty from ex-Titan Ollie Bryant and a try in the seventh minute of injury time from back rower Harry Ledger.

How different things may have turned out if Titans could have held out at this point and gone in at the break 18-3 up will never be known.

However, what followed in the second period could not have been envisaged at half time.

From the second half restart Rotherham dropped the ball; the resulting phases saw OE’s go over through centre George Eastwell.

You could almost sense the shift in momentum at this juncture. With every drop of confidence that left Titans, Old Elthamians picked it up and added it to their game.

What followed was a disaster for Rotherham as the home side ran in a further five tries through full back Louis Brown, centre George Eastwell, replacement back Alex Brown, winger Alex Goble and replacement scrum half Rhys Morgan.

The capitulation will be a concern to all involved at Clifton Lane and with the visit of Canterbury this weekend to Yorkshire, it is imperative that Rotherham put in an 80 minute performance.

Commenting after the game, Titans DOR, Martin Jenkinson, said, “As we’ve seen in the last two weeks, when we get enough people fit we can compete with the top-end sides. At the moment however, the problem is that we are only competing for periods in the game.

“I think anybody would say that the first 40 minutes from Rotherham was a good 40 minutes of rugby and worthy of being at the top-end of the division.

“However, the second half was really disappointing and as often the case turned on one or two little things.

“We drop a ball from the kick-off at the start of the second half, we fall off a tackle in the centres and before you know it they’ve score and score again and then the whole thing gathers a pace.

“All we can do is work; we have to continue to work hard and work hard on our fitness which is getting better. We’ve got to work on our mental attitude, which is also getting better and we’ve got to get there.

“We have another huge game at home next week against Canterbury, to say anything other would be wrong, people can see the league table.

“I’m not going to say we have to win, but really our situation would be greatly enhanced if we could get a win.”

Referee: Charlie Gayther

Attendance: 205

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Bergmanas (T), Hughes (T), Bunting (1P), Hollingsworth (1P, 1C)

Old Elthamians: Eastwell (2T), L. Brown (1T), Ledger (T), A. Brown (1T), Goble (T), Morgan (T), Bryant (1P, 4C)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Jamie Cooke (Hollingsworth 7) (Hughes 66), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Morgan Bunting, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Bergmanas 76), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Defelitto 60), 3 Will Dennis (Reece Ward 49), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Will Hughes (Elliott Ward 60), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Anthony Maka (Waddington 43).

Replacements: 16 Agustin Defelitto, 17 Reece Ward, 18 Elliott Ward, 19 Ben Waddington, 20 Sam Hollingsworth.

Old Elthamians: 15 Louis Brown, 14 Bryan Hotston (Alex Brown 55), 13 Marc Koteczky, 12 George Eastwell (Capt.), 11 Alex Goble, 10 Ollie Bryant, 9 Ollie Claxton (Morgan 56), 1 Cam Holenstein (Concu 40), 2 Nathan Morris, 3 Stefan North (Hay 40), 4 Perry Parker (McGeekie 47), 5 Adam Batt, 6 Harry Ledger (Parker 66), 7 Jared Saunders, 8 Mike Kovacic.

Replacements: 16 Austin Hay, 17 Tom Concu, 18 Dom McGeekie, 19 Rhys Morgan, 20 Alex Brown.

Blackheath 33 Titans 17

Rotherham Titans put in a much improved performance before going down 33-17 to high flyers Blackheath on a dark and dreary winters afternoon at Well Hall.

Despite the loss, which was their fourth in succession, Titans can take plenty of positives from a performance that pushed a good top-end side all the way.

Rotherham will however be frustrated with themselves that the occasional errors that are in their game at the moment resurfaced, and it was again either a poor decision here or a poor execution there which ultimately cost them a crucial victory at Blackheath.

The effort, determination and intensity was there in abundance and when the silly errors are put to bed, the victories will no doubt follow.

Blackheath’s opening score inside the first 10 minutes came about when a Titans 22 drop out went horribly wrong. The ensuing phases resulted in winger Jake Lloyd crossing the whitewash.

Six minutes later, from being deep inside the oppositions 22, Rotherham allowed the home side out, conceded a penalty from which the home side crashed over through a catch and drive from hooker Mike Perks. Suddenly Titans were 14-0 down and looking in deep trouble.

However, rather than taking the easy way out and rolling over away from home, Rotherham “bit down on the gum-shield” and mounted an enormously creditable comeback.

Before the first quarter elapsed Titans got themselves on the board.

From a line-out close to the line they drove up to the line, before spinning the ball out wide to winger Ben Robbins who finished off neatly in the corner. Hollingsworth’s conversion from the touchline was expertly nudged over.

Boosted by their success Rotherham impressed as they took the game to Blackheath, forcing them backwards with good pace and intensity about their work.

On the stroke of half time Titans reduced their arrears further when Hollingsworth added a 3-pointer from the tee, to send his side in at the break trailing 14-10.

The second half began well for the South Yorkshire side as their new-found energy and enthusiasm meant Blackheath had to defend with full vigour and hopes were high in the Rotherham camp of an unexpected victory.

However, the game changed one minute either side of the hour mark, when the home side ran in two converted tries from hooker Perks and scrum half Jack Daly to give the hosts a 26-10 advantage.

Despite the wind being knocked out of their sails Rotherham regrouped and showed great character to fight back and take the game to Blackheath.

They were rewarded for their endeavours eight minutes from time when following a terrific period of forward pressure close to the line the ball was spun out to Morgan Bunting who in turn found a pass to Sam Hollingsworth for him to race around to score.

However, at the death the home side had the final say when winger Jake Lloyd raced through for his second and Blackheath’s fifth try of the match.

Post-game, despite suffering another defeat, Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, was bullish in his assessment, “It’s no secret we’ve been in a dark place in recent weeks and we are still struggling to get players fit, particularly in the front row, but I think we made a big stride forward today.

“The boys stayed in the arm wrestle, we took a good side the full distance and the score line if anything flatters Blackheath.

“I am positive and these boys have got to be positive; I’ve just said to them that I’ve seen the first stride today for a side getting out of the trough.

“If we continue to work hard in training and if we keep the energy levels up, I firmly believe we will climb up this table and I’m certain of that.

“We are doing a lot of things right; some things this year have conspired against us, but you just have to get over that and crack on because all sides will have their ups and downs in sport.

“Next week we will travel to Old Elthamians for the win, and I’m convinced we are capable of achieving that.”

Referee: Alan Chandrachud

Attendance: 327

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Robins (T), Hollingsworth (T, 2C, P)

Blackheath: Lloyd (2T), Perks (2T), Daly (T), Cooke (4C)

Titans: 15 Sam Hollingsworth, 14 Dan Leake (Bacon 52), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Tom Bullough (Laxton 68), 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Morgan Bunting, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Defelitto 60), 3 Will Dennis (Armitage 72), 4 Elliott Ward, 5 Will Hughes (North 60), 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Keifer Laxton (Waddington 59), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Agustin Defelitto, 17 James Armitage, 18 Alfie North, 19 Ben Waddington, 20 Tom Bacon.

Blackheath: 15 Nick Foster (Ransom 54), 14 Jake Lloyd, 13 Alex Pickersgill (Staff 60), 12 Markus Burcham (Capt), 11 Craig Dowsett, 10 Mark Cooke, 9 Jack Daly (Foster 68), 1 Tom Williams, 2 Mike Perks (Fry 63), 3 Danny Herriott (Seward 41), 4 Jamie Ure, 5 Tom Stradwick, 6 Tom Baldwin, 7 Josh Poole (Owen 60), 8 Tom Burns.

Replacements: 16 Harry Fry, 17 Harry Seward, 18 Freddie Owen, 19 Ben Ransom, 20 Henry Staff.

Titans 7 Cinderford 30

Rotherham Titans suffered a bad day at the office crashing to a fourth successive home defeat as a dominant Cinderford side ran out 30-7 winners at a bleak and wintery Clifton Lane.

The loss leaves Titans 11 points adrift of safety in the relegation zone and a quick upturn in fortunes is now essential if their ambition of staying in National 1 is to be achieved.

The game itself started well for the South Yorkshire side as they looked bright and full of enthusiasm from the off and when captain Zak Poole crashed over on 8 minutes it was no more than the Titans deserved.

However, the momentum of the game soon shifted as the visitors dominance, particularly at scrum time, laid a foundation for three first half tries from number 8 Harry Hone, hooker Nathan Taylor and winger Ed Bogue.

The latter try was a bitter disappointment for Rotherham as it came from a loss line out on the stroke of half time when they were trailing by just 6 points. Instead, the wingers try saw Cinderford go in at the break with a lead of 20-7.

The second half began in similar fashion to how the first had ended, with the South West side in the ascendancy in most aspects of the game.

The match was effectively sealed around the hour mark when replacement flanker Matt Gilbert crossed the whitewash for his side bonus point try.

To their credit Rotherham never gave up and indeed spent the majority of the final quarter inside the Cinderford half in pursuit of some consolation. Unfortunately for them they were unable to cross the line and the visitor’s ran out worthy winners.

A disappointed Matt Smith commenting afterwards said, “It was a tough afternoon for our boys; Cinderford were quality up front and we struggled with that which was disappointing, and as a forwards coach it hurts even more.

“We had a scrum five metres out and we got turned over on our own ball; if we score there we’re back in the game.

“Then there was a set piece close to our line; we mess up a line out due to someone missing a lift and they end up scoring and that’s 14 points right there.

“When things are not going your way all these things seem to escalate and as a result the confidence goes and it’s always difficult when that happens. Everyone is hurting and everyone is trying their best to put things right, but it’s not going to get fixed overnight.

“I thought in the first ten minutes when we scored we looked really good; I also thought we looked good in the final 15 minutes, the lads found a lot of energy in the final quarter which I couldn’t understand, which maybe suggest it’s a mental thing.

“But once again you need to have that platform that comes off the scrum to allow you to get field position and attack teams and obviously we didn’t have that today.”

Referee: Ben Rayner

Attendance: 471

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Poole (T), Hollingsworth (1C)

Cinderford: Hone (T), Taylor (T), Bogue (T), Gilbert (T), Butler (2P, 2C)

Titans: 15 Sam Hollingsworth, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Morgan Bunting (Allan 64), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Defelitto 69), 3 Will Dennis (Nearchou 60), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Wilson 77), 5 Will Hughes (Ward 48), 6 Lewis Wilson (North 64), 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Agustin Defelitto, 17 Zac Nearchou, 18 Elliott Ward, 19 Alfie North, 20 Sam Allan.

Cinderford: 15 Ed Sheldon (Pointon 29), 14 Sam Smith, 13 Terence Babarinsa (Mansfield 55), 12 Jack Hayes (Capt) (Babarinsa 69), 11 Ed Bogue, 10 James Butler, 9 Jimmy Williams, 1 Ollie Dawe (Brockett 60), 2 Nathan Taylor (Shields 67) (Lane 69), 3 Tim Brockett (Elliot 40), 4 Jack Shields (Bennett 55), 5 Dale Lemon, 6 Matt Lane (Gilbert 64), 7 Joe Mullis, 8 Harry Hone.

Replacements: 16 James Elliot, 17 Matt Gilbert, 18 Matt Bennett, 19 Dan Pointon, 20 Will Mansfield.

Bishop’s Stortford 30 Titans 14

Rotherham Titans faded badly late on, as they crashed to a disappointing 30-14 defeat to Bishop’s Stortford on a gloomy afternoon at Silver Leys.

For much of the contest Rotherham held their own against a lively Stortford side that looked to attack at every opportunity through their speedy backline.

Titans had grafted hard to position themselves 14-13 ahead with just 5 minutes plus injury time remaining.

However, at that point, the hosts lock forward James Thacker crashed over for a converted try.

What was probably more disappointing for the South Yorkshire side was how easily Stortford controlled the final few minutes to knock over a penalty and another converted try from Thacker to deny Rotherham anything from the game.

Titans had deservedly gone in at the break 7-3 to the good after Elliott Ward scored a driving maul try just before half time, which wiped out Stortford’s lead from a Brad Burr penalty on 20 minutes.

Rotherham’s scrum had been pretty dominant throughout the half and indeed the match, but surprisingly wasn’t rewarded often enough with what they thought were penalty outcomes.

Titans increased their advantage early in the second half through their dominant number 8 Anthony Maka, as he crashed over following more powerful work from the Titans pack. Morgan Bunting successfully added the conversion to extend his sides lead to 14-3.

At this stage Rotherham looked good value for their lead.

However, shortly after the hosts full back Nick Hankin crossed the whitewash and scrum half Tom Banks firstly converted and then added a 3-pointer from the tee to make it a 1-point game.

Rotherham regrouped and steadied the ship and indeed had moments themselves where opportunities were created to add to their tally. However, a stern defence and a lack of accuracy ultimately meant they wouldn’t.

Titans will want to quickly forget the final minutes of a game where they conceded 17 points and regroup for another tough one on Saturday against Cinderford at Clifton Lane.

Commenting post-match a disappointed Anthony Posa said, “The first half, whilst not perfect, went pretty well and the lead we took in at the break was fully deserved.

At half time we addressed a few key areas where we believed we could improve further and to be fair to the boys they did well in the first 15 minutes of the second half, they were very good, we were in control of the game and we deserved our 14-3 lead.

“However, Bishop’s like to play quickly from transition-ball and we needed to be sharper in preventing them doing that; but we weren’t and the result really hurts because I don’t think that was a game we should have lost.

“We weren’t good enough in the last quarter of the game; whether that was a fitness issue or not being mentally tough enough I’m not sure, but we gave them too many piggy-backs at the end and that hurt us badly.

“Moving forwards we have to keep working hard, the injuries we have aren’t helping, but I don’t want to use that as an excuse because I believe we should have won the game.”

Referee: Jonathan Cook

Attendance: 425

Yellow Card: Leake & Frost (Titans)

Titans: Ward (T). Maka (T), Bunting (2C)

Bishop’s Stortford: Thacker (2T), Hankin (T), Burr (P), Banks (3C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne (Hollingsworth 50), 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Morgan Bunting (Dunne 60), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield (Williams 10), 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 27), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Elliott Ward (Frost 50), 6 Lewis Wilson (Laxton 64), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka.

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Toby Williams, 18 Kieran Frost, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Sam Hollingsworth.

Bishop’s Stortford: 15 Nick Hankin, 14 Rob Duff, 13 Sam Winter (Capt.), 12 James Ayrton, 11 Mike Ayrton, 10 Brad Burr (Stannard 50), 9 Tom Banks, 1 Will Roberts, 2 Harrison King (Caulfield 60), 3 Ben Harrison-Price (McCrone 60), 4 James Thacker, 5 Tom Lewis, 6 James Apperley, 7 Baxter Wilson (Ball), 8 Charlie Kingham.

Replacements: 16 Declan Caulfield, 17 Tom McCrone, 18 Luis Ball, 19 Josh Stannard, 20 Jake Spivey.

Titans 16 Rams 28

Rotherham Titans raised their level from recent performances, but unfortunately came up against a very good side in Rams Rugby, as they crashed to a 28-16 defeat at Clifton Lane.

Titans were outscored by four tries to one, with the hosts sole touch down coming in the final play of the game from number 8 Anthony Maka, via a catch and drive close to the Rams line.

Sam Hollingsworth added three penalty kicks and Morgan Bunting impressed with a conversion from the touchline at the death.

On a very heavy Clifton Lane surface, due to the torrential rain suffered in South Yorkshire during the previous 48 hours, it was the hosts who started the brighter.

Indeed Titans’ fly half Sam Hollingsworth nudged his side ahead on 2 minutes with the first of his three first half penalties.

However, the visitors, who came into the game sitting fourth in the table, looked to be a class act from early on.

Full back, Will Partington, dual-registered from Premiership side London Irish and former London Scottish centre Connor Hayhow in particular looked dangerous every time they had ball in hand.

Indeed, the latter got Rams on the board on 13 minutes with the first of his three tries, whilst the former expertly converted the first of what would be four conversions.

On 20 minutes a rampant Rams side extended their advantage when winger Conor Corrigan ran through to score.

Titans were made to work extremely hard in defence and to their credit this they did to great effect. Time and again Rams battered the gain line and time and again the Rotherham defence not only held firm, but drove the opposition backwards.

Coming out for the second half trailing 14-9 and attacking the clubhouse end of the ground, Rotherham had high hopes they could cause an upset against a top-end side.

However, either side of the hour mark, man-of-the-match centre Connor Hayhow ruthlessly finished off moves to add two further tries to wrap up the game.

Rotherham to their credit never stopped grafting and in the final play of the match picked up a consolation try, when number 8 Anthony Maka dotted down from a catch and drive close to the line.

Whilst naturally disappointed with the loss, Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, saw some green shoots of encouragement, “I hate losing, but it was a bit easier to take today as I was really impressed with Rams. They demonstrated in clinical fashion that our sport is a team game.

“They did the simple things right, they made very few mistakes and all their scores came after they calmly waited for us to make mistakes, which gave them field position, which in turn led to them scoring four tries.

“With regards to our performance; I think we made a step up on where we have been of late and our efforts today would have beaten some sides which we have lost to this season.

“Our performance was undoubtedly better than it has been in recent weeks; unfortunately we came up against a very good Rams side. I thought our scrum and line out performed better, but I thought we just looked a bit blunt at times in the final third.

“But we are hopeful that we have turned a corner and from here on in we aim to continue with our improvements.

“However, no side is going to roll over for you and we as a group have to keep working hard and keep battling so we gain enough wins to stay in this division.”

Referee: Joe James

Attendance: 483

Yellow Card: Frost (Titans)

Titans: Maka (T), Hollingsworth (3P), Bunting (1C)

Rams: Hayhow (3T), Corrigan (T), Partington (4C)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Dan Leake (Ward 52), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Sam Hollingsworth (Leake 73), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield h-t), 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 65), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost (Bunting 65), 6 Lewis Wilson (Laxton 65), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka.

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Elliott Ward, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Morgan Bunting.

Rams: 15 Will Partington, 14 Henry Bird (Rossiter 34), 13 Keiran Leicester, 12 Connor Hayhow, 11 Conor Corrigan, 10 Andrew Humberstone, 9 Ollie Cole (Moates 65), 1 Niall Kidd, 2 Ben Henderson (Moffitt 69), 3 James Baker (Zeiss 65), 4 Oliver Taylor, 5 Jamie Guttridge, 6 Louis Wolf (Collis 54), 7 Tom Vooght, 8 Robbie Stapley (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ollie Moffitt, 17 Cameron Zeiss, 18 Josh Collis, 19 Jack Rossiter, 20 Jack Moates.

Hull Ionians 20 Titans 20

Rotherham Titans put in a disappointing performance in wet, dismal conditions to draw an uninspired game 20-20 against Yorkshire rivals Hull Ionians at Brantingham Park.

The result could have been even worse for the South Yorkshire side had Ionians fly half Max Titchener not missed two penalties in the final three minutes of the match.

The conditions were same for both teams; however, the sodden ground made running rugby difficult to execute and certainly favoured the host’s forward-orientated style better.

This was aptly demonstrated as early as the 9th minute, when Ionians laid down a marker with a powerful scrum close to the Titans line. Rotherham were forced to halt the scrum illegally allowing referee James O'Brien to award a penalty try to Hull.

Stung into action Titans played the majority of the rest of the half deep inside Ionians territory. However, a combination of stout defending from Hull and poor execution and a lack of control from Rotherham, saw the visitors only add a 3-pointer from the boot of Morgan Bunting for their efforts.

Indeed to add to Rotherham’s disappointment, on the stroke of half time the hosts added their own 3-pointer from Max Titchener to send his side in at the break 10-3 to the good.

Titans stormed out of the blocks for the second period and looked full of energy and intensity. Their renewed enthusiasm was reward three minutes in when following a number of phases which included backs and forwards, the ball arrived with Zak Poole who powered over from close range.

However, despite Rotherham’s better start to the half, there was a stubbornness and determination from the hosts which meant they were not about to rollover.

On 53 minutes Titchener knocked over a penalty to increase Ionians advantage to 5 points.

Then just after the hour mark a piece of individual brilliance from Titans winger Dan Leake lit up what had been a damp squib of a match.

Following a series of neat passes along the backline the ball arrived with Leake on the right wing, he in turn cleverly chipped over the top and won the foot race to collect in his stride to dot down near the sticks. Sam Hollingsworth’s conversion gave Rotherham the lead for the first time in the game at 15-13.

Titans lead however would last just five minutes! From a line out close to the Rotherham line Ionians pack of forwards drove with real menace, and from a Titans perspective, all too easily over the try-line for their second try of the game. Titchener added the extras to nose his side 20-15 ahead.

Seven minutes from time and a quick tap penalty from Zak Poole caught the host’s cold. The ball was then spread infield before an interchange of passes from Tom Bacon and Jude Williams resulted in the former diving over in the corner for a terrific score which levelled the game at 20 apiece.

Unfortunately in the tricky conditions, the touchline conversion agonisingly came up short for Sam Hollingsworth and the Titans.

Commenting post-match a disappointed Anthony Posa reflected, “I think we left 3 points out there today and we are very frustrated with that; the amount of piggy backs we gave them hurt us a lot. We had a certain game plan and what is really frustrating is the few times that we stuck to our game plan we scored some great tries.

“Credit to Ionians though as their scrum and driving maul was strong, but we are hurting at the moment with numerous guys out injured and in particular at tight head prop. We had to ask a teenager (Zac Nearchou) from Wasps to come in and do us a job and he made a good fist of it and we are very grateful to him and Wasps for that.

“However, the nature of National 1 rugby is that if you have a weakness it will be exploited and both Ionians tries came from the scrum or the maul.

“It’s hard to win any game when your scrum is going backwards and even harder when it’s wet and pouring down with rain. You need a platform to launch from and when your scrum isn’t functioning you just don’t get that.

“But we will fix it and we’ll keep working hard on the training paddock. Hopefully next week we will have some guys coming back into contention that have a lot of experience at this level. “

Referee: James O'Brien

Attendance: 411

Yellow Card: Makin & Laverick (Hull Ionians)

Titans: Poole (T), Leak (T), Bacon (T), Bunting (1P), Hollingsworth (1C)

Hull Ionians: Penalty Try, Stephenson (T), Titchener (2P, 1C)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Connor Field (Hollingsworth 35), 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Jude Williams, 10 Morgan Bunting, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield 66), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Harry Whitfield (Nearchou 32), 4 Elliott Ward (Preston-Routledge 50), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson (North 72), 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Agustin Defelitto, 17 Zac Nearchou, 18 Dan Preston-Routledge, 19 Alfie North, 20 Sam Hollingsworth.

Hull Ionians: 15 Luke Thundercliffe (Kerr 46), 14 Harrison Astley, 13 Billy Hardy, 12 James Tincknell, 11 Jack Colbourne, 10 Max Titchener, 9 Joe Green (Fummo 76), 1 David Laverick (Edward Brown 66), 2 Ben Stephenson (Adam Brown 68), 3 Benjamin Bell (Peace 60), 4 Joe Makin, 5 Tom Peters, 6 George Mewburn, 7 James Sanderson, 8 Edward Brown (Carlile 60).

Replacements: 16 Ben Carlile, 17 Josh Peace, 18 Adam Brown, 19 Zach Kerr, 20 Marco Fummo.

Titans 6 Richmond 23

Rotherham Titans suffered a disappointing 23-6 home defeat to Richmond at a wet and windy Clifton Lane.

Richmond, who were relegated from the Championship last term, managed the tricky conditions much the better and executed their simple game plan to great effect.

The London based outfit outscored the Titans by two tries to none, to maintain their position at the top of the league.

Rotherham now need to regroup ahead of their big local derby next weekend against Hull Ionians.

The wet conditions and heavy pitch probably suited the Richmond style more than it did Rotherham’s. However, as the game wore on the greater physicality shown by the league leaders ultimately saw them home to a comfortable victory.

Richmond’s experienced pack of forwards had the edge throughout, particularly so after opening the scoring on 12 minutes through loose head prop Alex Banfield, following a series of pick and drives inside the Titans 22. Full back Rob Kirby converted the dot down and added two further penalties during the first half.

Rotherham did have some bright moments in the first period, but all too often at crucial times poor decision making or poor execution, frustratingly let them down.

With the final play of the half however Rotherham put a spell of pressure together through their pack which had the visitors scrambling around in defence at sixes and sevens and although unable to cross the whitewash Rotherham did get on the board through a Sam Hollingsworth penalty.

Coming out for the second half Titans hopes were high that a comeback was on the cards, particularly with the gusty breeze now in their favour.

Those hopes received a further boost just five minutes in when another 3-pointer from Hollingsworth reduced Rotherham’s arrears to 13-6.

Unfortunately for the South Yorkshire side, that was about as good as it would get!

Last season’s Championship side showed their experience by slowly exerting control at the set piece and the breakdown, which in turn set the platform for what was to follow.

Richmond extended their lead on 50 minutes when a powerful catch and drive was finished off by hooker Ross Grimstone and converted by Kirby. The latter added a penalty two minutes later to stretch his side’s advantage to 23-6.

Although Titans would not score again, they do deserve some credit as they ensured neither would their opponents.

Commenting post-match a disappointed joint head coach, Matt Smith, explained, “It was a tough game against the league leaders and one of the key aspects for me was the amount of mistakes that we made compared to them. I think we both had similar game plans, but Richmond executed theirs better than we did.

“To be fair Richmond didn’t make too many errors; I didn’t think they did much, but they didn’t need to because our errors gave them enough opportunities.

“I thought at times we got ourselves into the right areas; in the first half we had a driving maul that got held up, but we came away with 3 points which was positive.

“In the second half on the couple of occasions that we got into their 22 we couldn’t turn that pressure into points and that’s probably the most disappointing aspect that we couldn’t turn our positive moments into points.

“The difference was when Richmond got into our 22 they did come away with points.

“We are very frustrated with how we performed, hopefully the boys can learn from today’s experience, how to see games out and how to suffocate teams, because that’s what Richmond did really well today.”

Referee: Charlie Gayther  

Attendance: 517

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Hollingsworth (2P)

Richmond: Banfield (T), Grimstone (T), Kirby (3P, 2C)

Titans: 15 George Castledine (Bunting 50), 14 Tom Bacon, 13 Connor Field, 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Agustin Defelitto (Bergmanas 25), 3 Will Dennis (Whitfield 15), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Waddington 66), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Alfie North (Ward 50), 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Elliott Ward, 19 Ben Waddington, 20 Morgan Bunting.

Richmond: 15 Rob Kirby (Dennett 73), 14 Dan Kelly, 13 Cameron Mitchell (Capt.), 12 Giles Bromley-Martin, 11 Hamish Graham, 10 Tom Hodgson, 9 Jamie Gibbs (Dabell 64), 1 Alex Banfield (Green 72), 2 Ross Grimstone (Gibbings 69), 3 Ken Dowding, 4 Byron Hodge, 5 Max Crawford, 6 Jake Parker (Nixon 73), 7 Toby Saysell, 8 Jesse Liston.

Replacements: 16 Luke Green, 17 Charlie Gibbings, 18 Ryan Nixon, 19 Toby Dabell, 20 Lewis Dennett.

Chinnor 24 Titans 26

Rotherham Titans put in an outstanding second half defensive shift to earn a hard-fought, but deserved 26-24 victory over a very good Chinnor outfit at Kingsey Road.

Rotherham have suffered three heartbreaking defeats this term by a single score, so it was sweet for them this time to get on the right end of a narrow result.

However, following a bright start from the hosts, which saw them cross the whitewash twice inside the first 16 minutes, the portents looked gloomy for the South Yorkshire outfit, although a 3-pointer from Sam Hollingsworth kept his side within touching distance at 10-3 and then 10-6 before the half hour mark with another successful effort from the tee.

Chinnor to be fair though did look the better side at this point and the Thame based outfit looked dangerous in attack, with former Titan Caolan Ryan particularly threatening with ball in hand.

There was a sense of inevitability the hosts would score next and this they did shortly after when centre Jason Worrall ran in for his side’s third try. Laurence May converted to extend Chinnor’s advantage to 17-6 and there was a concern the game could be over before half time.

Sensationally however, Titans responded just before the break with two brilliant tries in the space of a couple of minutes.

Firstly from a line out move off the top, the ball was fed out wide to winger Tom Bacon who showed a good turn of foot to race in for a fine score in the corner.

The Bacon got himself involved again almost immediately as he made good ground as he broke through, before drawing a tackle to send in Connor Field to score under the posts. Hollingsworth’s conversion from in front of the sticks incredibly gave Rotherham a 18-17 lead.

Disappointingly for them however in the final play of the half and following some intense pressure from the hosts, Jason Worrall ran in for his second and Chinnor’s fourth try of the game.

Titans came out for the second period with good intensity about them and they look far more menacing than they had previously.

Their lively opening efforts saw them pin Chinnor deep inside their own 22, before Rotherham fly half Sam Hollingsworth expertly put in a cross-field kick which resulted in Tom Bacon snaffling the ball to dot down for his second try of the game.

On 47 minutes Titans took the lead for the second time when Hollingsworth again proved successful from the tee, as he nosed his side 26-24 ahead.

Remarkably with over 30 minutes remaining there would be no further score!

The defensive effort which followed from Rotherham was of outstanding quality and physicality and it was during this period that the Titans boys earned the right to win this highly competitive encounter.

Speaking on the pitch afterwards, Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, explained, “This result is massively satisfying because these lads have put in a heck of a lot of work; at times the bounce of the ball has not gone with us, and you need that, and we’ve finished just on the wrong side.

“I’ve just been talking to the boys and the word I’ve used more than any other is character!

“That second half was all about character; our defensive sets were absolutely top drawer, we got off the line and we went and smashed them.

“They are a top-end team and a good side and we’ve come here and done the job in a very professional manner and we are all delighted with an absolutely outstanding win.

“I think today has shown that Rotherham are capable of getting results against the very best teams in this division. The standard in National 1 goes up year on year and we regard our squad and systems as good as anyone’s in the division and I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t get more than our fair share of victories.

“It was a massive all round team effort, but I have to mention Toby Williams. Toby is a man of very few words, so when he does speak people start listening and he had some words to say at half time which completely transformed the game for us.

“On top of that we have to remember he did 80 minutes, Harry Newborn very nearly did 80 minutes and Harry Whitfield went on at tight head, even though he’s a loose head.

“We also have to mention Tom Bacon for a bit of brilliance towards the end of the first half when he completely opened up the opposition to put Connor Field in for a terrific try.

“But this is a 20 man game and it was a 20 man performance.”

Referee: Harry Walbaum

Attendance: 512

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Bacon (2T), Field (T), Hollingsworth (3P, C)

Chinnor: Worrall (2T), Treviranus (T), Yawayawa (T), May (2C)

Titans: 15 George Castledine, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Connor Field, 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Tom Bacon, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Harry Newborn (Defelitto 76), 3 Will Dennis (Whitfield 54), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Keifer Laxton (Waddington 54), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

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

Chinnor: 15 Caolan Ryan (Laverick 40), 14 Samu Yawayawa, 13 Jason Worrall, 12 Danny Barnes, 11 Josh Hodson, 10 Laurence May, 9 Jake Ashby, 1 Tom Fidler (Southworth 48), 2 Nick Selway, 3 Josh McNulty, 4 Ben Thomas (Gray 70), 5 Cameron Gray (Ehizode 55), 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 7 Matt Marley (Manning 60), 8 Willie Ryan.

Replacements: 16 Charles Robinson, 17 Dan Southworth, 18 Ehize Ehizode, 19 Ben Manning, 20 Pete Laverick.

Titans 13 Darlington MP 18

Rotherham Titans were once again on the wrong side of a single score defeat as Darlington centre Ben Dixon went over in the final play of the game to inflict a 18-13 loss on the Titans.

The visitors outscored Rotherham by two tries to one in a very close and highly physical encounter. The defeat leaves Titans with just 2 wins out of the first 6 games.

However, the South Yorkshire side can take some comfort from the fact they have been extremely competitive in all the games to date this season; they now need to make sure they are the ones getting on the right side of these close games.

Rotherham enjoyed the better first 40 minutes, although the game was a tight affair throughout with both sides putting in a tremendous effort in defence.

Following a Warren Seals penalty towards the end of the first quarter Titans rallied well and deservedly took the lead on the half hour mark when referee James Clarke awarded the hosts a penalty try after a high tackle close to the line by Euan McKirdy prevented a try; McKirdy received a yellow card for his misdemeanour.

Titans extended their advantage to 10-3 four minutes later when fly half Sam Hollingsworth expertly converted a mid-range penalty from in front of the sticks.

Back came Darlington however and a massive forward effort put Rotherham under huge pressure inside their own 22 for what seemed like an age. Massive credit at this point must go the hosts as time and again they smashed the visitors backwards, before eventually clearing their lines.

However, in the final play of the half, in the eight minute of stoppage time Park’s number 8 Oliver Hodgson came on to the ball to run in to score near the posts. Seals’ conversion sent the sides in at the break at 10 apiece.

The second period followed the pattern of the first, in that both sides showed huge determination in their work, and all too often the defences cancelled out the others efforts.

Eventually 12 minutes from time Titans nosed ahead when Hollingsworth calmly struck a 3-pointer following Park’s lack of discipline at the breakdown.

On the 80 minute mark however Titans indiscretion at the breakdown resulted in Seals levelling the game at 13 all after he knocked over a well-taken penalty from around 40 metres.

A draw would probably have been a fair result, but at this moment in time Rotherham are just not getting what they deserve.

In the final play of the game former Titan Callum Irvine collected the ball just outside the 22 and proceeded to dance his way pass 3 defenders before offloading to centre Ben Dixon who dived over to break Titans hearts and seal the game.

A disappointed Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, reflected post-match, “I feel we are dying in games and again we are involved in a single score game where we have come out on the wrong side. At the minute we just haven’t got enough in the tank to get us to the right side of the single score games.

“I think Darlington probably deserved to edge the game; equally it could have gone either way and it was disappointing that it was a glaring error and then a lack of fitness at the end that allowed Darlington to get the final score.

“We have now got to regroup and to do some hard work; we identified our problems a couple of weeks ago and we haven’t sorted them in a fortnight and so we’ve got to keep working until we get it right.

“There was some very good defence from the boys, but defending is massively tiring and we’re doing too much of it.

“When we’re putting our kicks in and when we are in possession of the ball we’ve got to be doing more with it, so that we’re not back on our 22 doing another defensive set again.

“At certain times we didn’t get off the line quick enough, which in turn gave them the room to play and that is disappointing; we can do no more than regroup, work hard and get back.”

Referee: James Clarke

Attendance: 617

Yellow Card: McKirdy (Darlington)

Titans: Penalty Try, Hollingsworth (2P)

Darlington Mowden Park: Hodgson (T), Dixon (T), Seals (2P, C)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke (Bunting 3), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Connor Field, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield 39), 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Reece Ward (Dennis 5), 4 Elliott Ward (Preston-Routledge 32), 5 Lewis Wilson (Ward 64), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton (North 54), 8 Anthony Maka (Wilson 76).

Replacements: 16 Harry Whitfield, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Dan Preston-Routledge, 19 Alfie North, 20 Morgan Bunting.

Darlington Mowden Park: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Brandon Asher-Wood, 13 Oliver Walker (Moloney 64), 12 Ben Dixon, 11 Callum Mackenzie, 10 Warren Seals, 9 Euan McKirdy, 1 Conrad Cade (Barron 56), 2 Ralph Appleby (Duffy 48), 3 Ignas Darkintis, 4 Max Davies, 5 Dave Fisher, 6 Dan Grange (Marshall 54), 7 George Stokes, 8 Oliver Hodgson (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Alfie Barron, 17 Joe Duffy, 18 Talite Vaioleti, 19 Tom Marshall, 20 Aedan Moloney.

Birmingham Moseley 15 Titans 11

Rotherham Titans away day blues continued with a narrow 15-11 loss at Birmingham Moseley, leaving the South Yorkshire side still without an away victory in three attempts this season.

The contest was a tale of two halves, as it tends to be at Moseley, with the famous slope at Billesley Common often dictating who wins the half and it did again on this occasion.

Titans went in at the break 11-3 to the good after Lewis Wilson had crashed over after just two minutes and former Moseley fly half Sam Hollingsworth hit two successful penalties. His counterpart, Ben Penfold registered a 3-pointer for the hosts.

At halftime, maybe inside the Titans camp there was a belief that it was ‘easy’ and just running out for the second forty was all that was required.

If so, a rude awakening lurked around the corner, as the hosts used the slope expertly to work themselves firstly back into the game and then ahead.

By the hour mark second rower Aaron Croft and centre Oliver Morris both crossed the whitewash to give Moseley the lead.

Late on in the game Rotherham had their moments close to the line, but unfortunately they were unable to capitalise on them and as a result had to settle for a losing bonus point.

Commenting post-match, Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, said, “It was a difficult contest, Moseley have started the season well and it’s always difficult to take them on here on their own patch.

“It’s a strange set of emotions really; because on the one hand I feel like how did we not win that game; equally I could say how did we manage to get a point.

“Some of the play in the second half seemed to be a comedy of errors from both teams and games often turn on a series of incidents.

“The biggest incident in the game was the scrummage in the corner where we were pressing their line and then in one passage of play it’s a last-ditch tackle to save a try on our line and then their tails are up again.

“On a different day it could have been a different result, but we must start winning these close games.

“There are so many close games in this division and so many are decided by a single score and the art is to be on the right side of that single score.”

Referee: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 775

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Wilson (T), Hollingsworth (2P)

Birmingham Moseley: Crofts (T), Morris (T), Palmer (P, C)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan (Bunting 25), 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Tom Williams, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Dan Leake, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall (Wilson 80), 1 Harry Whitfield (Toby Williams 29) (Whitfield 41) (Toby Williams 58), 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Reece Ward (Dennis 29) (Ward 41) (Dennis 58), 4 Elliott Ward (Preston-Routledge 60), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson (Laxton 61), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka.

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

Birmingham Moseley: 15 Cliffie Hodgson, 14 Aquile Smith, 13 Oliver Morris, 12 Kieran Joyce, 11 Mason Tonks, 10 Ben Palmer, 9 Jack Jolly (Arr 41), 1 Joe Foreman (Priest 66), 2 Peter Austin (Tanner 58), 3 Osman Dimen (Hunt 58), 4 Aaron Crofts (Dawes 50), 5 Danny Wright, 6 Michael Stephens, 7 Morgan Dawes (Monks 41) (Austin 80), 8 Buster Lawrence.

Replacements: 16 Ethan Priest, 17 Rhodri Tanner, 18 Alex Hunt, 19 Morgan Monks, 20 Johnny Arr.

Titans 22 Cambridge 17

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee: Ben Rayner

Attendance: 572

Yellow Card: Hutchinson (Cambridge)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plymouth Albion 33 Titans 27

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee: Ben Russell

Attendance: 964

Yellow Card: Hollingsworth (Titans)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Titans 31 Sale FC 20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee: Andrew Jackson

Attendance: 687

Yellow Card: None

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rosslyn Park 38 Titans 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee: Karl Dickson

Attendance: 495

Yellow Card: Wilson (Titans)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wharfedale 22 Titans 19

Rotherham ended their pre-season campaign with a disappointing 22-19 defeat to Wharfedale at the picturesque, but at times wet and windy setting of The Avenue.

The loss is a set-back for the South Yorkshire side following their opening warm-up game seven days earlier which saw them convincingly beat Preston Grasshoppers. Titans will need to regroup quickly in the week ahead as they prepare to open their National 1 campaign with a visit to Rosslyn Park next Saturday.

However, few in the ground would have predicted the final outcome after 28 minutes of an entertaining contest; as during that opening spell Rotherham raced into a 19-0 lead following three tries from Dan Leake, Harry Dunne and Sam Hollingsworth.

Maybe that was the problem for the Clifton Lane side, maybe up to that point it had become all too easy as their hard work, both in attack and defence had been so very impressive.

However, as Rotherham found out 12 months ago, Wharfedale do not roll over at home and if you are going to beat them at The Avenue you have to put your game together for more than half an hour.

So full credit to the home side for continuing to graft hard and although they enjoyed some favourable decisions at key moments, their endeavours saw them cross the whitewash twice before the break to draw to within 5 points.

The second half saw Titans start brightly and they enjoyed long periods inside the hosts 22. Unfortunately for them however they were unable to breach the whitewash; tenacious defending from the Green Machine, combined with plenty of ‘old school’ slowing the ball down paid tremendous dividends.

On the hour mark ‘Dale drew level when they scored their third try of the match to set-up a tense final 20. Rotherham did have their moments in the latter stages, but on 80 minutes the hosts were awarded a penalty in front of the posts which they eagerly converted to wrap-up a game Titans couldn’t quite believe they’d lost.

Commenting post-game Titans’ Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, explained, “I think Wharfedale are a good outfit who are very well drilled by Jon Skurr and Jon Feeley and on their own patch they are always very difficult to beat. We’re not trying to make excuses, but we have lots of new boys and lots of work-ons, but the good thing is you can see where we were breasking down and those things can be fixed.

“Obviously time is short before Rosslyn Park next Saturday and we know that’s going to be a massively difficult trip and we will need to regroup quickly.

“The thing which pleased us was the individual stuff. We’ve got some very good players with some very good physicality, but we need to bring that together into a cohesive unit and we need to play sensible rugby in the right areas of the park.

“If you look at the two Wharfedale scores in the first half, they both came about when we didn’t exit when we had the opportunity to do so. We must give all opposition the respect they deserve and play solid rugby at all times.

“There will always be work-ons and time is short in the environment we’ve got, but I’ve got every confidence in the squad we’ve got. I don’t believe that one result changes all the thought processes we’ve had through the summer; I believe we are knowledgeable about the game and I believe this squad will perform and be competitive all the way through the season.”

Old Elthamians 31 Titans 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee: Veryan Boscawen

Attendance: 327

Yellow Card: None

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blackheath 28 Titans 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee: Richard Haughton

Attendance: 673

Yellow Card: None

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

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

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

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

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

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

Titans 41 Bishop’s Stortford 35

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee: Jack Lewars

Attendance: 547

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cinderford 36 Titans 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Referee: James O'Brien

Attendance: 360

Yellow Card: None

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

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

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

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

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

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

Titans 29 Caldy 5

Rotherham Titans claimed their second successive 5 point win with a worthy 29-5 victory over a tenacious Caldy side at a sunny Clifton Lane.

Two tries by Jack Bergmanas and one each from Callum Irvine and Ali Thomson, plus nine points from the boot of Alex Dolly proved to be enough to secure the points for Rotherham.

Titans’ victory ensured they did the ‘double’ over their North West opposition this term, having triumphed 33-29 at Paton Field earlier in the season.

In fact the only side to date Titans haven’t registered a win against in National 1 is top of the table side Ampthill; only Old Elthamians in second place, who the Titans face on the last day of the season can emulate that.

The game itself saw Rotherham enjoy long periods of territory and possession and ultimately run out healthy winners, achieving their third biggest margin of victory this season.

However, they did have to wait for an Alex Dolly penalty on 17 minutes before they eventually got the scoreboard moving; the Sydney-born scrum half nailed his impressive effort from out wide on the left hand side.

The pressure Titans forwards exerted on Caldy inevitably paid off shortly after when in the space of 10 minutes Rotherham hooker Jack Bergmanas crashed over for a brace of tries. Both stemmed from catch and drives close to the line and both were expertly converted by Dolly to see Titans race into a 17-0 lead.

The one disappointment during the match for Rotherham came in the final play of the first half when Caldy full back Lewis Barker ran in all too easy for his side’s only points of the game, which sent the Titans in at the break leading 17-5.

The second period resumed in similar fashion to the first and the Caldy boys have to be credited as their defence repeatedly held out the home side under the sternest of pressure.

However, on the hour mark after another sustained period of pressure, one in which the Titans retained the ball for multi-phases, the inevitable breach of the defensive line was exploited when fly half Callum Irvine skipped through to dot down under the posts. Dolly’s converted to make it 24-5.

With the result now effectively in the bag, the one question which remained unanswered is would the home side be able to score a bonus-point try. The Titans faithful had to wait until 2 minutes from time for the answer, which eventually came from replacement hooker Ali Thomson who crashed over from the tail of a maul in the corner to round off an effective Rotherham performance.

Commenting on his sides victory post-match, Joe Barker explained, “I don’t think we’ve had a game like this one for a while, where we were fairly comfortable for pretty much the full 80 minutes. There were times when Caldy did put us under pressure, but we managed to weather those periods when they came and I don’t think we spent too much time in our own 22.

“I was pleased with how the boys controlled the game, obviously we still have lots of areas where we can improve but that will always be the case in rugby. I thought defensively we were really strong, as conceding only 5 points in a game would suggest.

“Our penalty count was pretty low too and that helps to keep the opposition out of your 22. Our attack started to flow better in the second half and we showed some good variety, after our pack had done some great work in the first half. And without being too picky I think we left at least another 2 tries out there; but we’ll take the result and build towards Cinderford.”

Referee: John Meredith

Attendance: 696

Yellow Card: Nagle-Taylor (Titans)

Red Card: Salisbury (Caldy)

Titans: Bergmanas (2T), Irvine (T), Thomson (T), Dolly (P, 3C)

Caldy: Barker (T)

Titans: 15 Dan Leake, 14 Henry Roberts (Allan 63), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne (Abrahams 50), 11 Connor Field, 10 Callum Irvine, 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Thomson 50), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 49), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Ure 70), 5 Jamie Ure (Cotterill 40), 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ali Thomson, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Tom Cotterill, 19 Sam Allan, 20 Ellis Abrahams.

Caldy: 15 Lewis Barker (Dickinson 79), 14 Nick Royle, 13 Luke Hibberd, 12 Mike Barlow, 11 Rory Hardman, 10 Rhys Hayes, 9 Jake Squirrel (Jones 73), 1 John Whittaker, 2 Callum Ridgway (O'Donnell 47), 3 Derek Salisbury, 4 Jack Collister (McGowan 73), 5 Tom Sanders (Capt.), 6 David Jones (Crowe 60), 7 Nyle Davidson (Ridgway 65), 8 JJ Dickinson (Cross 74).

Replacements: 16 Rob O'Donnell, 17 Louis McGowan, 18 Stuart Cross, 19 Harrison Crowe, 20 Ben Jones.