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.
