Rotherham Titans maintained their unbeaten start to the season after sharing the spoils at Park Lane with a hard-fought 22-22 draw against Sedgley Park.
The game could have gone either way and both sides could argue they deserved the win.
However, had Joe Carlisle’s long-range drop goal effort 3 minutes from time not narrowly missed the left upright, it would have been the South Yorkshire side that would have carried the day.
Despite Roth taking a fourth minute lead through a Jonny West penalty, it was Sedgley Park who looked the more threatening.
That threat was converted inside the first 25 minutes into a 17-3 lead, following two tries through Rob Birtwell and Matt Gallagher, with Steve Collins converting both and slipping a penalty over in between the tries.
Just after the half hour mark however Roth narrowed the deficit when from a line out close to the line, openside flanker Matti Williams peeled off the maul to crash over. West’s conversion attempt narrowly missed the right upright.
Titans were now fully in the game and looked more accomplished in their work. This turnabout saw them narrow the gap further when from another line out inside the 22, the Roth pack marched forward with authority to allow hooker Harry Newborn to crash over from the tail.
Jonny West expertly converted from out wide to send Titans in at the break trailing by 17-15.
The second half saw both sides batter away at each other as they looked to gain an edge and on 64 minutes it was Rotherham who managed to nose themselves in front with a fine score.
This time however it was a nicely worked move through their backline, when following a period of sustained pressure, Joe Carlisle zipped a pass out to Harry Dunne, who in turn broke through and exchanged passes with Connor Field before running through to dot down. Carlisle tagged on the extras to give Roth a 22-17 lead.
To be fair to the home side they looked dangerous throughout, but Titans nonetheless will be disappointed with what turned out to be the final score of the game to level the match.
From the breakdown on the Roth 10 metre line the Yorkshire side switched off for a moment and Sedgley picked up and broke through the middle allowing scrum half Dan Openshaw to race in from 40 metres for an unconverted try.
Both teams will look back on this one and feel it could have been their day and based on early season form, it’s quite like that both teams will be competing at the business end of the division come April.
Post-match Titans head coach, Steve Salvin, reflected:
“To come here in our second game of the season on what is probably the widest pitch in the division against one of the top sides and to get a draw, we have to be pleased; especially when you consider at one point we were 17-3 down.
“I think we are still quite some way off our potential, I think when we do hit our straps we will be a good side. I’ve just said to the boys that 5 weeks ago we lost to Sale and the week after Sedgley beat Sale, so we know that Sedgley are an outstanding side, but also it shows how much growth we’ve already had and we know there’s much more to come.
It’s always disappointing when you don’t win, but a draw here is better than a loss and we will take that one today.”
Referee: Michael Harris
Attendance: 300
Yellow Card: None
Titans: M. Williams (T), Newborn (T), Dunne (T), West (P, C), Carlisle (1C)
Sedgley Park: Birtwell (T), Gallagher (T), Openshaw (T), Collins (P, 2C)
Titans: 15 Cameron McDonald, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Jonny West (Carlisle 55), 9 Sam Boxhall (Pocklington 62), 1 Charlie Capps (Stout h/t), 2 Harry Newborn (Entressengle 66), 3 Colin Quigley (Capps55), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith (M. Williams 66), 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 7 Matti Williams (H. Williams 62), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Fran Entressengle, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Sam Pocklington, 20 Joe Carlisle.
Sedgley Park: 15 Andrew Riley, 14 Sam Lowthion, 13 Oliver Glasse, 12 Matt Riley, 11 Jamie Harrison, 10 Steve Collins, 9 Dan Openshaw (Tansey 71), 1 John Blanchard, 2 Matt Gallagher, 3 Andrew Curtis (Nonleh 23) (Curtis 44) (Nonleh 69), 4 Robert Birtwell, 5 Oscar Crowe (Chilvers 56), 6 Connor James, 7 Mark Goodman (Crowe 62), 8 Tom Ailes.
Replacements: 16 Beltus Nonleh, 17 Cashel Chilvers, 18 Elliot Crowe, 19 Jacob Tansey, 20 Alex Powell.
Photo courtesy of Steve Mettam