Rotherham Titans were beaten 21-16 by Preston Grasshoppers on a bitterly cold afternoon at Lightfoot Green Lane.
Each team scored 2 tries with Titans dot downs coming from Marcus Payne and Callum Bustin.
Rotherham got off to a horrible start which saw them trail 15-0 inside 11 minutes. The gap would prove too big to overcome despite great effort from the South Yorkshire outfit.
Following Hoppers fly half Will Hunt knocking over a penalty on 5 minutes, the home side quickly extended their lead when Hunt put in a marvellous cross-field kick which was collected by winger Tyler Spence to run in from close range.
Two minutes later and Hunt was in the thick of it again when he ran back a Titans clearance kick, before finding centre Jacob Browne who in turn sent in Tyler Spence for his second try. Hunt added the extras to make it 15-0.
Rotherham found it difficult to get and then maintain possession for any length of time, but they eventually did and the game became a more even affair.
Corban Ollivent got Titans off the mark on 18 minutes with a penalty and from there Roth began to compete well; their scrum and line out performed well all afternoon.
Unfortunately for them however at crucial times their decision making and skills let them down, although to be fair it wasn’t easy for either side in the bitterly cold conditions with a liberal sprinkling of snow underfoot.
Hunt was having a good game as he pulled the strings for the home side and before the half hour he added to his tally with a nicely taken drop goal from just inside the 22.
Roth worked hard to try and reduce their arrears before the break but the home side managed to keep them at out.
Titans started the second period with good energy and Ollivent nibbled into the deficit on 46 minutes with a 3-pointer from in front of the sticks.
Just 8 minutes later and Roth’s hopes of a comeback took a boost, when from a five metre scrum the ball broke loose and flanker Marcus Payne was on hand to dot down for an unconverted try.
Back came the home side though and on the hour mark Edward Keohane knocked over a penalty after Hunt had left the field.
Roth’s pack had performed well all game and on 64 minutes they were rewarded; from a line out close to the line they powered over with Callum Bustin dotting down for an unconverted try.
With 15 minutes remaining there was plenty of time for Rotherham to kick-on and take the win. Unfortunately for them however they never really got into the right areas and Hoppers saw the game out without too many nervy moments and when the full time whistle went the Preston lads celebrated with great enthusiasm.
Speaking after the game a disappointed forwards coach, Matt Smith, said:
“We seem to find new ways of shooting ourselves in the foot; today we just made bad decisions and some of our skills were just not good enough for this level and we were made to pay.
“We constantly put pressure on them throughout, but then we’d make an error and release that pressure and that’s disappointing because there’s lots of effort there.
“I can see the players trying hard, but what we’ve got to do is make better decisions and execute our skills to a higher level than where they are at the moment.
“We all have to take a look back at this game and have an honest chat with ourselves about how and where we can improve, because at the moment we are performing below par. We know we have a good group of lads; it’s just about how we improve going forwards as a group.
“But as I’ve said, the one thing that can’t be questioned is the lad’s effort; it’s plain to see they are giving it everything, what we’ve got to do is put that effort into better quality and better decision making. If we can do that then we can start making progress going forwards.”
Referee: James O’Brien
Attendance: 247
Yellow Card: None
Titans: Payne (T), Bustin (T), Ollivent (2P)
Preston Grasshoppers: Spence (2T), Hunt (1P, 1C, 1D/G), Keohane (1P)
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Fraser Jones, 13 Jack Taylor, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ollie Parker, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 57), 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 32) (Capps 60), 2 Harry Newborn (Inman 75), 3 Gareth Denman (Donkor 40) (Denman 60), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Cambier 77), 6 Callum Bustin, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 28 Cade Cambier, 20 Kai Ramrattan.
Preston Grasshoppers: 15 Ben Pearson, 14 Will Clapham, 13 Jacob Browne, 12 Edward Keohane, 11 Tyler Spence, 10 Will Hunt (Swarbrick 57), 9 Harry Moulding (Capt.) (Squirrell 75), 1 Oga Mabaya (Orry 66), 2 Chris Taylor, 3 Olli Trippier, 4 Will Riley (Jones 75), 5 Ally Murray, 6 Ben Dorrington (Thompson 77), 7 Josh Longson, 8 Scott Richardson.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thompson, 17 George Orry, 18 Josh Jones, 19 Jake Squirrell, 20 Harry Swarbrick.
