National Division 1

28th October 2006

Park Lane

3.00pm

Sedgley Park 20

Titans 25

Earth Titans

15 Errie Claassens (Bernard Hennessey 61), 14 Brian Touhy, 13 Brendan Burke, 12 Jon Buchanan (Gareth Steenson 61), 11 Geoff Griffiths, 10 Mike Whitehead, 9 Joe Bedford, 1 Sam Walsh, 2 Nigel Conroy, 3 Steve Croall (Adam Hopcroft 23), 4 Barry Jacobsz, 5 Erik Lund (Mike McComish 71), 6 Hendre Fourie (Louis McGowan 51), 7 Neil Cochrane (Capt), 8 Jannie Bornman.

Replacements: 16 Adam Hopcroft, 17 Mike McComish, 18 Neil Hanna, 19 Gareth Steenson, 20 Louis McGowan, 21 Bernard Hennessey, 22 Jamie Blackwood.

Sedgley Park

15 Wilkinson, 14 Hall, 13 Briers, 12 Craig, 11 Voortman, 10 P. Jones, 9 J. Albinson, 1 Evans, 2 M. Jones, 3 Halsall, 4 Fourie, 5 Norris, 6 Newton, 7 Ponton (Capt), 8 Skurr.

Replacements:  16 Gazzola, 17 Roddam, 18 Du Plessis, 19 Jope, 20 Livesey, 21 Leck, 22 T. Albinson.

Post match Titans Head Coach Andre Bester said, “We’ve got the five points and that’s all that matters. Winning is all that matters, we’ve never won here before, we’ve always struggled here and they always raise their game against us.”

Bester went on to rightly heap praise on an inspired Sedgley Park, “I take my hat off to Sedgley because they played excellently today. They scrimmaged well, they played very well up front and they contested the rucks very well.”

On the Titans performance he commented, “We were lethargic, we had opportunities to score some tries early on, but everyone got try-line fever and everyone wanted to be on the score sheet.

“Even though we played shocking rugby today – the worst this season – we still came away with the five points. You have to take your hat off to the players for that. Now we move on and we concentrate on Plymouth next week.”

Quite right! They say it’s a sign of a good team that can win when not playing at their best. And Roth certainly was not at their best against Sedgley.

A pretty dour first half saw few chances created, Mike Whitehead and Phil Jones traded early penalties. Then on 10 minutes, Roth’s first serious march into the Sedgley 22, culminated with Joe Bedford scooting over for his second try of the season.

A good series of driving mauls arced towards the hosts line, the ball came out to Jannie Bornman who in turn found his vice captain, Bedford showed good awareness to go over near the corner. Whitehead just pushed the conversion attempt wide.

If Rotherham was hoping that the try would inspire them out of their stupor, they were wrong. Phil Jones closed the gap to just two points for Sedgley, with a well taken penalty after Roth were penalised for infringing at a ruck.

As they half wore on, Sedgley’s confidence grew and the Titans continued to make silly individual errors. Just before half time Phil Jones should have given the hosts the lead, but his penalty attempt was unsuccessful.

Andre Bester must have chosen the right words at half time, because with ten minutes of the second half Rotherham scored two tries!

First Brendan Burke finished off a good forwards move by touching down in the corner after receiving a crisp pass from Mike Whitehead, Then Jannie Bornman also touched down in the corner after receiving a pass up the blind side from the alert Joe Bedford. Whitehead was successful with the latter conversion.

Park were not about to lie down and responded on the hour mark with a try of their own through Phil Jones. Jones received from a 5 metre scrum and then nicely stepped back inside to score next to the posts. Jones dusted himself off to convert his try and reduce Park’s arrears to just 7 points.

Roth went in search of the try bonus and was rewarded two minutes from time. A 5 metre line out was collected and driven on. A whole host of Roth players joined the maul and some how replacement back Bernard Hennessey, popped up from the centre to ground for the bonus point try. Whitehead missed the difficult conversion attempt.

Deep into injury time Sedgley showed their spirit through full back Chris Wilkinson who brushed off Jannie Bornman to score under the posts. Jones converted and Sedgley secured a deserved losing bonus point.

Final Score: Sedgley Park 20-25 Rotherham

Although obviously not at their best, Rotherham nevertheless won away from home, scored four tries and picked up the maximum five points.

Ex Rotherham Coach and now Sedgley Park Backs Coach, Andy Northey said, “No team can play to 100% of their capability all year. Rotherham knew that they should have beaten us today, we gave them a scare, but it’s difficult to produce your best rugby in anything other than a top of the table game. We had a go today and it’s easier for us to play the likes of Rotherham and Leeds because the pressure is off.”

Well the pressure will be on for Rotherham next week as they travel deep into the South West to face the challenge that Plymouth Albion will no doubt pose. Maybe getting this disappointing performance out of the way this week will prove to be a blessing?

Attendance: 639

Other Weekend Results

Bedford 38-8 Coventry

Doncaster 25-15 Otley

London Welsh 32-47 Nottingham

Newbury 23-28 Plymouth Albion

Waterloo 19-38 Pertemps Bees

Sun 29 October 06

Cornish Pirates v Exeter

Leeds v Moseley

National Division 1

Plymouth Albion v Rotherham - 4 November, at Brickfields.

kick off 3.00pm