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.
