Titans 35-30 Plymouth

Gareth Brear
By Roth Admin
September 25 2005

They may have a new name but the old Roth spirit was in abundance as they shot down Plymouth Albion 35-30 at the Earth Arena. It was a deserved victory for the hosts who, ravaged with injuries, played the first hour with pace and invention and defended the final 20 with grit, character and spirit.

Andre Bester’s new squad obviously need more time to “gel” and they will no doubt suffer more defeats this season. However if the same skill, spirit and character is shown throughout, the loyal band of supporters will be in for a treat. Saturday’s game produced 65 points, 8 tries and a heart stopping finale.

Titans started the brighter and took a deserved lead on 7 minutes when Anthony Carter made a break in midfield; he drew the defence and then made a sublime switch pass inside for Scott Donald to crash through for his 3rd try of the season. Mike Whitehead slotted the conversion to give Roth a 7-0 lead.

On the rampage now and playing some exhilarating rugby Roth were dominating and almost secured their 2nd try just 3 minutes later. Good work by the forwards took Roth into Albion’s 22, when the ball came out, it was quickly spread along the line to Tom Allen who touched down in the corner, unfortunately the touch judge deemed that Allen’s foot had just been in touch. Referee Small however brought play back for a Roth penalty and Whitehead converted.

Against the run of play Albion hit back on 14 minutes with a catch and drive try for blindside flanker Tom Hayes. Nick Defty made the conversion.

Mike Whitehead nudged Roth further ahead on 25 minutes with a 40 metre penalty. Ten minutes later and debutant Gareth Brear (On for the injured Tom Allen) touched down in the left corner after good work from Scott Donald. Whitehead missed the difficult conversion.

Then on the stroke of half time Roth rounded off a superb first 40 with a gutsy forwards try. Phase after phase of forward pressure culminated with Hendrie Fourie being driven over for his 1st try of the season. Once again Whitehead converted to take Roth in at the break leading 25-7.

Two minutes into the 2nd half and a silly error at the base of the scrum allowed Albion to turn over Roth ball. The resulting break saw Keni Fisilau breeze through the Roth defence to score all too easily. Defty converted to reduce the arrears.

Whitehead and Defty then traded penalties before on 56 minutes after a sustained period of Roth pressure captain Lee Blackett received the ball in midfield and proceeded to crash through Albion’s defence to score under the posts and secure a bonus point. Whitehead made the conversion to extend Roth’s lead to 35-17.

With 20 minutes to go the game should have been dead at this point, but credit must go to Plymouth for their resolve. At this point the old warhorse and Plymouth coach Graham Dawe entered the fray.

Plymouth reverted to their forwards game and scored two tries in the final 20 minutes, both unconverted. Their tries from Nic Rouse and Martin Rice were identical; both came from the rolling maul.

Deep into injury time with Plymouth pressing hard and Roth defending with all their worth, Roth conceded another penalty. With time just about up Albion chose to kick at goal and secure the 2nd bonus point and to be fair it was no less than they deserved.

Final Score: Earth Titans 35 – 30 Plymouth Albion

Man of the Match:
Scott Donald

Earth Titans:
Lodewyk Strauss, Dave Strettle, Tom Allen (Gareth Brear 15), Lee Blackett (Capt.), Anthony Carter, Mike Whitehead, Joe Bedford, Jon Golding (Jarleth Carey 71), Nigel Conroy, John Rawson (Adam Hopcroft 67), Louis McGowan, Gareth McComb, Hendré Fourie (Ben Wade 84), Neil Cochrane, Scott Donald.

Replacements not used: Jonker, Hannah, Pike.

Titans Scorers:
Donald (1T), Brear (1T), Fourie (1T), Blackett (1T), Whitehead (3C 3P).

Plymouth Albion:
N Defty, J Fabian, K Fisilau, L Arscott, N Sestaret, E Barnes, M Albina, M Rice, S Friswell, R Hopkins, N Rouse, T Hayes, M Schusterman, D Thomas (capt), A Tooala.

Replacements: N Saumi, R v Eyk, N Cane, S Zimmerman, G Dawe, J Brown, C Lowrie.

Albion Scorers:
Hayes (1T), Fisilau (1T), Rouse (1T), Rice (1T), Defty (2C 1P), Saumi (1P).


Referee: A. Small (RFU).


Other Weekend Results:
Doncaster 31 – 29 Coventry
Exeter 16 – 43 Cornish Pirates
London Welsh 24 – 40 Bedford
Newbury 42 – 27 Otley
Nottingham 10 – 32 Harlequins
Sedgley Park 33 – 33 Pertemps Bees