Penzance 24 Roth 3

Strettle
By Roth Admin
November 23 2004

Rotherham lost their second consecutive game in two weeks, going down 24-3 away at Penzance and Newlyn. And for the second time in two weeks Rotherham again failed to score a try. Although no one within the club are writing off their chances of wining the league – they are issuing a warning!

“Rotherham are going to have to face facts!” That’s the message from Titans assistant coach Andy Northey after Rotherham were deservedly beaten by Penzance. “Teams that are full time have a definite advantage and as the year goes on, your Bristol’s, Penzance and Coventry’s are going to get better. Rotherham are going to have to do the best they can with the limited squad and training time available. There are some home truths that have to be faced!”

“In the cold light of day we have to be realistic at where we are, where we are from and where we are going to finish up in the league. Don’t get me wrong I’m not writing us off, we are going to train hard and as often as we can with the resources and the squad we have.”

Rotherham who scored their least number of points at this level for over seven years, were comprehensively beaten by the Cornishmen, albeit under mitigating circumstances. The midfield general Ramiro Pez was forced off after just 10 minutes with an eye injury which resulted in a hospital visit along with Michael Wood who suffered a similar injury on 22 minutes.

The loss of Pez coupled with no direct replacement certainly had an influence on the final outcome. Northey added, “I’m very disappointed and we definitely under achieved but when Pez went off we lacked direction. There was no lack of effort but maybe not in the right directions.”

Titans skipper Craig Short concurred, “It was a game-changing moment! If you loose your 10 – he’s your General; he directs and makes the right calls. We lost some of our structure in the backs and that didn’t help.

Rotherham started brightly enough and could have been ahead after just three minutes when Elliott made a good break down the left and appeared to have Wood on his shoulder with just one defender to beat. However for whatever reason, Elliott took the contact instead of putting in Wood.

As the first quarter neared its death a series of pick and drives from the combatant Cornish pack resulted in quick ball out to the backs and some slick and speedy handling found winger Matt Jess whose pace was just enough to round Elliott to touch down in the corner. Jarvis impressed with the difficult conversion.
Soon after, Jason Keyter - who took over kicking duties - reduced the arrears with a penalty in front of the posts after Penzance had infringed at a ruck. However Penzance were not deterred and came back stronger and on 32 minutes Jarvis slotted over an easy penalty for the hosts.

Three minutes before the break saw the try of the match which began with a Penzance scrum on halfway. Livewire scrum half McAtee fed Jarvis who quickly fed Thirlby who at real pace cut inside and threw a miss pass out to winger Jess. Jess who is a real prospect with speed, took the perfect pass in his stride to run around Blackett to score in the near corner for an unconverted try.

Three minutes into injury time and under mounting pressure, Jason Keyter was sin-binned for killing the ball. Jarvis converted the resulting penalty to give the hosts an 18-3 half time advantage.

Rotherham improved in the second half securing lots of ball and territory, but they never looked like scoring a try. Penzance’s defence was committed and well organised. Indeed it was Penzance that scored next with a Jarvis penalty on 67 minutes. He added his fourth penalty of the afternoon with the last kick of the game to wrap up an impressive victory for the full-timers.

Rotherham’s performance was littered with errors. Knock on’s were prevalent, turnover ball was regular and the passing at times was hurried and wayward. Mike Schmid summed it up when he sad, “We deserved to loose – we didn’t play well enough to win. I was very disappointed!”



Roth Admin Man of the Match: Des Tuiavii

Attendance: 1783

Referee: Nick Williams (RFU)

Scorers: Rotherham – Keyter Pen. Penzance – Jess 2 tries, Jarvis 4 Pens 1 Con.


Rotherham:

15 Anthony Elliott, 14 Michael Wood (Blackett 22), 13 Peter Jorgensen, 12 Jason Keyter, 11 David Strettle, 10 Ramiro Pez (Ripol 10), 9 Jacob Rauluni (Haami 57), 1 Jon Golding, 2 Richard Emms (Briggs), 3 John Rawson (Latham 76), 4 Jonathan Pendlebury, 5 Glen Kenworthy (Palepoi 57), 6 Des Tuiavii, 7 Craig Short, 8 Jannie Bornman (Schmid 69)

Penzance and Newlyn:

15 Wes Davies; 14 Matt Jess; 13 Marc Sweeney; 12 Wade Kelly, 11 Rob Thirlby; 10 Lee Jarvis; 9 Rhodri Mcatee; 1 Alan Paver, 2 Nick Makin; 3 Nick Adams; 4 Martin Morgan (capt), 5 Heino Senekal; 6 Joe Bearman; 7 Iva Motusaga; 8 Ludoweyk Hanningh.
Replacements: Peter Ince, Dan Seal, Will James, Ryan Peacey, Ricky Pellow, Tom Barlow, Keith Davidson.