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.
