Roth Battle to beat Bedford

Lee Blackett
By Roth Admin
February 13 2005

Rotherham arguably put on their best display of the season to deservedly beat Bedford 17-12 at Goldington Road yesterday. In an enthralling contest played in wet and windy conditions Roth scored three tries to nil, two from David Strettle and Pete Jorgensen scoring his 8th try of the campaign.

It wasn’t the kind of display that was shown for 40 minutes against Pertemps Bees and Plymouth earlier in the season where Roth were running in tries for fun. It was a dogged, committed and very hard working performance for the full 80 minutes.

Post match Head Coach Andy Northey said, “The performance today was full of endeavour, character and the will to work for one another. Ultimately to come to Bedford and work like that and get the result – That is a very pleasing victory.

“The lads put their bodies on the line today and some of them carried injuries and I said to them, “Toughen up cock – because you’re not coming off!” The lads earned that victory and when they get back to Clifton Lane they can hold their heads up very high.”

Northey had a special praise for prop Rod Latham, “For me Rod Latham epitomises the spirit that’s running through the place at the moment. The lad’s not fit enough, God knows what age he is and he puts his hand up and he knows he isn’t. But he gives you every week, every single sinew in his body and when there’s nothing left we bring him off.”

Bedford started the brighter kicking down the slope with the driving wind and rain behind them and could have taken the lead after just 2 minutes. An error by Roth allowed the hosts to turn ball over and quickly spread it wide, only a superb last ditch tackle from Morley saved the try.

As conditions worsened on 18 minutes Roth turned over Bedford ball and fed it out to Strettle on the left flank. The speedster cut back inside and jinked through three challenges before being tackled 15 metres from goal. From the recycled ball Eaton’s miss pass found Strettle once again who sped over in the corner for an unconverted try.

There wasn’t much pretty rugby being played and errors were in abundance, particularly on behalf of the home side. But there was no lack of commitment or aggression. Bedford lock Arthur Brenton however over stepped the mark on 25 minutes and was shown the yellow card for excessive use of the boot at a ruck.

Three minutes into 1st half injury time and Roth conceded a penalty in front of their posts after being caught offside. Leigh Hinton who was at Roth during the summer stepped up to score and bring the half to a close with Roth leading 5-3.

Once again Bedford started the half better and had Roth on the back foot early on. Errors started to creep into the Titans game and on 54 minutes Hinton put the Blues ahead for the first time with a penalty after Roth had been penalised for being offside.

On 61 minutes Roth snaffled up the loose ball on halfway and the ball arrived with Opeta Palepoi. Palepoi showed surprising speed as he eluded two tackles and galloped 25 metres down the left wing. As Hinkins lined him up for the tackle he offloaded a perfect ball to Jorgensen who once again showed good pace and power to score near the posts for a converted try to give Roth a 12-5 advantage.

Almost immediately Hinton chipped away at Roth’s lead with another assured kick after Roth had pulled down the Bedford maul close to the posts.

Twelve minutes from time and another loose ball was gathered by the eager Roth pack. Pendlebury threw to wide pass to Strettle who galloped down the right wing. As the last defender approached Strettle chipped over and won the race to touch down deep into the in-goal area for Roth’s third try of the match. Eaton missed the difficult conversion to leave Roth 17-9 ahead.

Bedford mounted a late assault and Hinton kicked his 4th successful penalty on 80 minutes after Referee Goodliffe adjudged Rotherham had not bound correctly at the scrum. Eight minutes of nervy injury time was played, but the spirited Roth defence held out for a thrilling and deserved victory.

History has shown that games between these two sides are tense and tight - this encounter was typical of that. The footings of this victory were laid in the first half when defending up hill into the driving wind and rain. To go in at the break leading must have given Roth a tremendous boost to their confidence.

Finally that’s three out of four victories for acting head coach Andy Northey. The only blip so far being the defeat at Plymouth – so no disgrace in that. Under Northey the players appear to be responding to his style of leadership – long may that continue.


Final Score: Bedford 12 Rotherham 17


Scorers: Roth – Strettle 2T, Jorgensen T, Eaton 1C. Bedford – Hinton 4P

Attendance: 1,712

Referee: R. Goodliffe (9) Must be the best Ref in the division!

Roth Admin Man of the Match: Could be any number of players, but my choice is Lee Blackett – Set a fantastic example of commitment and tackles like a forward. Lee does a lot of unseen good work.


Rotherham Titans:

15 Wood, 14 Strettle, 13 Jorgensen, 12 Blackett, 11 Morley, 10 Eaton, 9 Rauluni (Haami 72), 1 Golding, 2 Emms, 3 Latham (Lynch 79), 4 Palepoi, 5 Kenworthy (Pendlebury 64), 6 Tuiavii ©, 7 Tamarua, 8 Bornman.

16 Rice, 17 Boulton, 18 Lynch, 19 Pike, 20 Pendlebury, 21 Haami, 22 Hopkinson.

Bedford Blues:

15 Hinton, 14 Hinkins, 13 Staten, 12 Harris, 11 Booth, 10 Hepher, 9 Vass, 1 Tonga’uiha, 2 Ross, 3 Brooks, 4 Phillips, 5 Brenton, 6 Strauss, 7 Lewitt, 8 Paramore ©

16 Volland, 17 Johnson, 18 Comb, 19 Brady, 20 Malone, 21 Burton, 22 Saayman.