Warriors hit Titans with second-half storm

Rotherham Titans were handed a stern reminder of the demands of life in the Champ as reigning champions Worcester Warriors ran out convincing 78-12 winners on a warm afternoon at Sixways.

The result was ultimately a fully deserved one for the home side, who produced a potent attacking display to run in 12 tries, whilst keeping newly promoted Titans to two scores.

Despite the eventual margin of victory, Rotherham made an encouraging start and competed exceptionally well during the opening half hour.

Indeed, Titans showed plenty of attacking intent and refused to be overawed by their illustrious opponents, with back rower Harry Stone and fullback Isaac Shaw both crossing the whitewash as Rotherham twice matched Worcester.

The second of those scores brought the sides level at 12-12 and, for a spell, the South Yorkshire outfit looked capable of making life extremely uncomfortable for the reigning champions.

However, Worcester gradually began to find their rhythm and, as the first half progressed, their quality and ruthlessness in attack started to tell.

Titans were punished for mistakes at crucial moments, whilst the Warriors demonstrated the cutting edge that had helped them claim the Champ title last season.

Having broken through the Rotherham defence with increasing regularity, Worcester finished the half strongly and added four further tries to their tally.

The six-try haul saw the hosts establish a 38-12 advantage at the interval, leaving Titans with a huge challenge to overcome in the second period.

To their credit, Rotherham responded positively after the restart and showed considerable character despite the size of the deficit.

Titans enjoyed periods of pressure and created opportunities to reduce the arrears, but Worcester’s defence stood firm.

The Warriors absorbed everything Titans could throw at them and refused to allow Rotherham the breakthrough they needed to launch a potential comeback.

Having weathered that early second-half pressure, the champions then turned the screw once again.

With the final 23 minutes approaching, Worcester demonstrated their class and attacking power, finding another gear as they ran in a further six unanswered tries.

Rotherham were increasingly stretched as the hosts moved the ball with purpose and exploited gaps in the Titans defence, with the relentless pressure eventually producing a final scoreline of 78-12.

For Titans, it was a difficult afternoon against a side that demonstrated exactly why they are the reigning Champ Rugby champions.

There will inevitably be disappointment at the size of the defeat, particularly after Rotherham had competed so strongly during the opening stages, but matches against a team of Worcester’s quality will not define the newly promoted side’s season.

Having already made a memorable start to life back in the Championship with victory over Coventry, Titans must now dust themselves down and quickly turn their attention to another demanding assignment.

Next Saturday sees Rotherham return to Clifton Lane, where they will face old foes Bedford Blues in another stern test as they continue their first season back at level two.

After the game Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:

“We spoke about this season producing the highs of highs and the lows of lows and I think that has happened in week 1 and in week 2.

“We probably got a bit of the confidence knocked out of us early doors, or at least up until about 30 minutes of the first half.

“I thought up until that point we were up for the fight and then our errors were an issue around our handling and to be fair, how good were they to go and take scores.

“In the second half I don’t have too much to talk about; our discipline, speed and set piece were probably the big turning points.

“We will quickly put this game to one side and move on to the next challenge; we moved on quickly from the Coventry game and we’ll do the same with this one.”

Titans: Stone (T), Shaw (T), Bennett (1C)

Worcester: Naulago (3T), J Garside (2T), Chapman (T), Trewin (T), Anstee (T), Cherry (T), A Garside (T), Taylor (T), González (T), Reed (9C)

Yellow Card: None

Referee: Jamie Parr

Assistant Referees: Jack Sutton & Kieron Henry

Titans: 15 Isaac Shaw, 14 Epi Rokodrava, 13 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, 12 Ali Mgijima (Hayes 40), 11 Ben Cambriani, 10 Russell Bennett (Capt.), 9 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti (Jackson52); 1 Zac Nearchou, 2 Morgan Veness (Kotze 40), 3 Andrew Foster (Bairstow 52), 4 Louis Guthrie (Maguire 54), 5 Alfie Bell (Gordon 40), 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Stone (Bustin 62), 8 Ellis Thomas.

Replacements: 16 Dewald Kotze, 17 Alastair Donkor, 18 Tom Bairstow, 19 Curran Maguire, 20 Travis Gordon (c/c), 21 Callum Bustin, 22 Brent Jackson, 23 Lloyd Hayes.

Worcester: 15 Will Trewin (Alfie Garside 57), 14, 13 Siva Naulago, 12 Tom Seabrook (Taylor 53), 11 Juan González, 10 Will Reed, 9 Will Lane (Williams 54); 1 Cam Miell (Keast 50), 2 Austin Wallis (Dickinson 50), 3 Fraser Balmain (Challenger 40), 4 Tom Savage ©, 5 John Hawkins, 6 Tim Anstee (Tyas 57), 7 James Cherry, 8 Hallam Chapman (Kvesic50).

Replacements: 16 Jack Dickinson, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Ashley Challenger, 19 James Tyas, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Alfie Garside, 23 Rory Taylor.