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.
