Pirates End Titans’ Two-Year Home Record

Rotherham Titans’ impressive unbeaten home record stretching back more than two years came to an end on Sunday as Cornish Pirates produced an outstanding performance to claim a deserved 40-21 victory at Clifton Lane.

On a grey and damp afternoon in South Yorkshire, the visitors outscored Titans by six tries to three, demonstrating their considerable physicality and attacking threat to take full advantage of their opportunities.

There was certainly no lack of effort from Rotherham, who put in a tremendous shift against one of the strongest sides in the Champ, but ultimately Pirates proved too good on the day.

Titans made an encouraging start and took the lead just after the 15-minute mark when number eight Callum Bustin burst through the Cornish defence to touch down, giving the hosts a 7-0 advantage.

However, the visitors responded impressively, gradually gaining control through a relentless display of forward power which put Rotherham under sustained pressure.

Their dominance eventually told as winger Arthur Relton crossed for the first of two unanswered tries, before fly half Arwell Robson added a second to turn the game around and put Pirates 14-7 ahead.

As the first half moved into injury time, came what could prove to have been a significant turning point.

Rotherham thought they had found a way back into the contest when they were held up over the Pirates line, but instead of going into the interval with the scores level, it was the visitors who struck moments later.

Number eight Hugh Bokenham powered over to give Pirates a crucial third try and leave Titans facing a 21-7 deficit at the break.

It was always going to be a difficult task for Rotherham to recover against such a well-organised and physical Cornish outfit, but the home side showed plenty of character and determination in their attempts to get back into the contest.

Pirates extended their advantage shortly after the restart when winger Henry Palmer raced through to score, but Titans refused to buckle.

Full back Isaac Shaw produced a terrific break to create the opportunity for loose-head prop Zac Nearchou to finish well, reducing the deficit and giving the home supporters renewed hope.

The visitors, though, continued to find answers whenever Rotherham threatened a comeback, with hooker Morgan Nelson crossing just after the hour mark to strengthen their position.

Once again, Titans responded. A smart attacking move created the opening for winger Ben Cambriani to finish neatly in the corner, bringing the score to 33-21 and keeping alive hopes of a late rally.

With 12 points separating the sides heading into the closing stages, Rotherham threw everything into their efforts to secure a fourth try and a valuable losing bonus point.

However, Pirates’ defensive organisation was outstanding as they repeatedly repelled the Titans attacks, refusing to allow the hosts a way through.

In the final play of the match, the visitors moved up-field and put the finishing touch on an excellent afternoon’s work when replacement hooker Matt Pritchard dotted down from the tail of a catch-and-drive to seal a 40-21 victory.

While there will undoubtedly be disappointment in the Rotherham camp at the result and the end of their remarkable home record, there can be no question about the effort and commitment shown by the players.

Pirates fully deserved their victory, but Titans can take considerable encouragement from their endeavour against one of the leading sides in the division.

There will be little time to dwell on Sunday’s disappointment, however, as a quick turnaround sees Rotherham travel to Lady Bay on Friday evening to take on Nottingham under the lights.

Speaking afterwards Titans Harvey Biljon said:

“Gavin Cattle spoke to me when we were down at one of the Champ meetings and he spoke of how we would see a difference between the full-time teams and those that aren’t.

“And I think that showed today with the pressure they could put on our line out with some of the detail. That’s an area where can probably adapt and be better; I think that had an impact in the second half.

“You can see they are a powerful team, and you can see they’ve got a process which they stick to which is very good.

“But besides all of that, I’m immensely proud of the attitude, the energy and the enthusiasm our players showed today.

“Our accuracy, probably not, because there was a couple we didn’t get right, but sometimes you get days where things just don’t fall your way. I think we need to be able to learn to take those in our stride and just move on to the next moment in the game.

“Just before half time there were big moments for both teams. We were held up over the tryline and then for them from the line out and the scrum through to their score – those were big moments.”

Titans: Bustin (T), Nearchou (T), Cambriani (T), Hayes (3C)

Cornish Pirates: Relton (T), Bokenham (T), Palmer (T), Nelson (T), Pritchard (T), Robson (T, 4C), Mawson (1C)

Yellow Card: None

Referee: Charlie Gayther

Assistant Referees: Iain Kiy & Gregg Dawson

Titans: 15 Isaac Shaw, 14 Jackson Barling, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Ben Cambriani, 10 Russell Bennett, 9 JB Bruzulier (Nordli-Kelemeti 51), 1 Zac Nearchou (Toerien 73), 2 Morgan Veness (Kotze 53), 3 Corrie Barrett (Bairstow 60), 4 Curran Maguire (Guthrie 51), 5 Frankie Gascoigne (Stone 60), 6 John Okafor, 7 Travis Gordon (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin (Ravuvu 73).

Replacements: 16 Dewald Kotze, 17 Zach Toerien, 18 Tom Bairstow, 19 Louis Guthrie, 20 Harry Stone, 21 Lekima Ravuvu, 22 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, 23 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola.

Cornish Pirates: 15 Will Becconsall, 14 Arthur Relton, 13 Chester Ribbons (Radcliffe 53), 12 Harry Ascherl, 11 Henry Palmer, 10 Arwel Robson (Elderkin 74), 9 Dan Hiscocks (Mawson 73), 1 Alessandro Heaney (Clark 73), 2 Morgan Nelson (Pritchard 62), 3 Alfie Petch (Dimen 72), 4 Milo Hallam (Cannon 60), 5 Josh King, 6 Alex Everett (Capt.), 7 Jack Forsythe (Agbongbon 33), 8 Hugh Bokenham.

Replacements: 16 Matt Pritchard, 17 Jamie Clark, 18 Osman Dimen, 19 Matt Cannon, 20 Tomi Agbongbon, 21 Angus Mawson, 22 Joe Elderkin, 23 Josh Radcliffe.