Titans 32-11 Sedgley Park

National Division 1

10th December 2005

Earth Arena

2:00pm Kick off

Titans 32

Sedgley Park 11

V

Earth Titans: 15 Errie Claassens, 14 David Strettle, 13 Lee Blackett (Capt), 12 WP Strauss (L Strauss 70), 11 John Holtby, 10 Mike Whitehead, 9 Joe Bedford (Jonker 70), 1 Jarleth Carey (Golding 55), 2 Nigel Conroy, 3 Adam Hopcroft (Rawson 55), 4 Jannie Bornman, 5 Gareth McComb (McGowan 60), 6 Scott Donald 7 Neil Cochrane (Fourie 68), 8 Chris Hala’Ufia

Replacements

16 Morne Jonker, 17 Ledowyk Strauss, 18 John Rawson, 19 Neil Hanna, 20 Jon Golding, 21 Louie McGowan 22 Hendre Fourie.

Sedgley Park: 15 Arno De Jager, 14 Mike Peters, 13 Shaun Woof, 12 Ian Voorthan, 11 Richard Hopkinson, 10 Phil Jones, 9 Dave McCormack, 1 Gerallt Evans, 2 Paul Keys, 3 Huw Thomas, 4 Chris Rowe, 5 Erik Lund, 6 Richard Senior, 7 Jimmy Ponton (Capt), 8 Tim Fourie

Replacements

16 Gareth Roberts, 17 Richard Oxley, 18 Phil Gazzola, 19 Sam Anania, 20 Jon Skurr, 21 Chris Wilkinson, 22 Rory Drysdale.

Roth scored three tries in an excellent second half team performance, to add to the two scored in the first. In greasy conditions on a pudding of a pitch, Rotherham dispelled the myth that wide running rugby cannot be played on such surfaces.

Head Coach Andre Bester said, “The difference this week was our mental preparation. I wanted them to play some running rugby and I wanted to try and get a little bit of enjoyment back into the game. The guys are working very hard, I know the talent is in there and the ability is there. I was pleased with the width that we put on the game today.”

In a slow and scrappy opening it was the visitors who registered the first points on four minutes. Ex Roth fly half Phil Jones, converted a penalty after Roth had lurked offside at a maul.

Although play was mainly in the Sedgley half, their stout defending initially frustrated Rotherham. Sedgley’s rough-house tactics didn’t help matters either and went largely unpunished by Referee Bruce Robertson.

However on 25 minutes Roth were rewarded for their dominant forward display. From a scrum ten metres from the Sedgley line, Roth’s pack drove them back for Hala’ufia to pick up from the base to crash over. Mike Whitehead missed the extras.

Just two minutes later, a rare Sedgley foray into Roth territory resulted in a penalty which Jones appeared to have got just inside the posts; however both touch judges thought not! On the half hour mark, another Jones penalty this time from within his own half, sailed straight through the middle to nudge the visitors into a 6-5 lead.

Two minutes later Claassens fielded a kick just outside his 22, off he galloped and as the defender approached he chipped over and collected at pace and then he drew the full back in only to offload to Chris Hala’ufia who raced in for his second try. Whitehead tagged on the extras to give Roth a half time advantage.

Half Time: Roth 12-6 Sedgley Park

Roth came out full of confidence and a terrific break by Gareth McComb split the Sedgley defence, unfortunately for him no support was on hand. With Roth’s continued dominance Sedgley inevitably conceded a penalty which Mike Whitehead slotted over nicely.

Midway through and Roth scored their third try, one which Bester described later as the, “Roth’s best of the season!” Lock McGowan found himself at stand off and quickly found prop Golding at first receiver. In turn he fed the outside “centre” Jannie Bornman who made good ground before cutting back inside and offloading to “winger” Scott Donald who showed terrific pace to breach the whitewash. Whitehead missed the conversion.

Five minutes later with Roth playing some excellent stuff another Claassens chip and chase created an opening and as the defence approached he kicked through for John Holtby to cleverly keep in play with excellent footwork to score in the corner for an unconverted try.

Roth were now playing the rugby that all knew they were capable of. Strong forward possession supplying quick ball for the speedy backline, it was a joy to behold. On 71 minutes a good initial break by replacement centre Ledowyk Strauss was taken on by Mike Whitehead who crashed through the cover defence only to be tackled just short of the line by the last man.

However Sedgley prevented quick release and conceded a penalty. Roth called for the scrum and proceeded to drive the visitors back for Hala’ufia again from the base to crash over for his hat trick. Whitehead tagged on the extras.

Credit to Sedgley though, they never stopped battling and competing and they were justly rewarded with a consolation try seven minutes into injury time when lock Chris Rowe crashed over in the left corner for an unconverted try.

Final Score: Roth 32-11 Sedgley Park

Rotherham ran out deserved winners and showed a lot of character after the performance at London Welsh last week. The back-line were all playing in positions they preferred and it showed. The balance was right and players looked more comfortable with the ball.

The forwards continue to bully their bigger and more experienced counterparts and this augurs well for next season, providing Bester can keep the nucleus of the squad together.

Full post match comments to follow.

Coventry 19 – 24 Exeter

Doncaster 31 – 27 Pertemps Bees

London Welsh 17 – 20 Cornish Pirates

Newbury 17 – 50 Bedford

Otley 29 – 20 Nottingham

Plymouth Albion 16 – 23 Harlequins

National Division 1

Otley v Roth v 26 December at Cross Green.

kick off 2.00pm