National Division 1

18th November 2006

Goldington Road

Kick Off 3.00pm

Bedford 32

Titans 34

V

Earth Titans

15 Michael Whitehead, 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Brendan Burke, 12 Bernard Hennessey, 11 Andrew Turnbull (Claassens 69), 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Joe Bedford (Capt), 1 Sam Walsh, 2 Nigel Conroy (Hanna 69), 3 Adam Hopcroft, 4 Henry Head (Lund 48), 5 Louis McGowan, 6 Hendre Fourie, 7 Barry Jacobsz, 8 Michael McComish.

Replacements: 16 Steve Croall, 17 Gareth McComb, 18 Erik Lund, 19 Neil Hanna, 20 Tom Allen, 21 Errie Claassens, 22 Jamie Blackwood

Bedford

15 Ross Broadfoot, 14 James Hinkins, 13 Liam Roberts, 12 Matt Allen, 11 Ollie Dodge, 10 Ben Patston, 9 Karl Dickson, 1 Matt Volland, 2 Chris Whitehead, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Jon Phillips, 5 Marc Comb, 6 Nic Strauss, 7 Sacha Harding, 8 Shaun Brady.

Replacements: 16 Matt Price, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Arthur Brenton, 19 Adam Kettle, 20 Ollie Brown, 21 Alex Page, 22 Paul Kendall.

Afterwards a pleased Andre Bester said, “We played very well in stages, very positive and everybody worked very hard for each other. We just said that we shouldn’t have a fear of loosing anymore. We scored four tries and should have scored a fifth at the end.

“Everyone played very well and Mike McComish was outstanding coming in from the cold. He’s put down a marker today.

“I had a knot in my throat at our brilliant defence when we went down to 14 – they just couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t say much to the players afterwards.

“The problem sometimes with professional rugby is that you can just turn up for the pay check. With amateur rugby it’s different. I said to the players before the game today, “If you don’t bleed for each other, you shouldn’t be involved in rugby.” Today the players bled for each other and they bled for the shirt and they bled for Rotherham.

“It was good to see afterwards supporters come up to me with tears in their eyes, and that’s what I want to see, I want to see that emotion.

A thrilled Titans skipper Joe Bedford added, “We showed this week that we do have the bottle to take on the big boys.

“But I just want to make a special mention for Mike McComish; I thought he was absolutely outstanding – by a mile. He stood up today, he was brilliant and it’s all credit to him. He’s going to take some shifting from this team now because he really wants it.”

The game itself started off disastrously for Roth, conceding an unconverted Ollie Dodge try in the first minute and a Ross Broadfoot penalty on four minutes.

However Roth bounced back soon after with a training paddock move, which saw the impressive Mike McComish go under the posts for a splendid try. The ball went through many hands, but Brian Tuohy fed McComish at the right time having drawn the last man.

Roth began to dominate, particularly in the mauls and the set scrums. They were rewarded on 24 minutes when referee Rowan Kitt awarded the Titans a penalty try after the hosts broke up a scrum just before their own line.

Two more Broadfoot penalties levelled matters at 14 apiece. Then three minutes before the break a neat break from McComish set up a series of Roth pick and drives. This culminated with Hendre Fourie crashing over from close range. Steenson converted to give Roth a deserved 21-14 lead at the break.

With the breeze and the slope in their favour second half, Roth may have assumed things would get easier. And when Steenson converted a 42^nd minute conversion to extend the visitors lead to 10 points, this correspondent thought Roth might set some kind of record win at Bedford.

Of course Bedford are too proud and too capable to let any side have an easy afternoon at Goldington Road. Within 8 minutes of the restart Bedford was level. A try by James Hinkins and a Broadfoot penalty and conversion threw everything back into the melting pot.

Roth were in no mood to lie down and wilt and just before the hour mark after a number of pick and drives, Hendre Fourie touched down near the posts with two Bedford players hanging from him. Fourie is freakishly strong. Steenson converted to give Roth a 31-24 advantage.

On the hour mark Roth’s star man Mike McComish received a yellow card for killing the ball. Incredibly, Bedford for nine of the next ten minutes were literally camped on the Rotherham try line.

In that time Bedford were held up over the Roth line on three occasions. The 14 man Roth defence was tenacious, spirited and extremely brave. Just how they kept the hosts at bay will remain a mystery, but that 10 minute spell probably won Rotherham the game.

Broadfoot nibbled at Roth lead with a 74^th minute penalty. Then from the restart a magnificent unconverted try from Bedford’s fly half Ben Patston put the hosts into a 32-31 lead.

Patston’s try was all his own making. He received the ball deep in his own 22 and proceeded to break out. As the defence approached he chipped over and collected and then did the same again to take the ball into Roth’s 22. Unluckily for Brian Tuohy he could not collect the bouncing ball and Patston arrived at pace to collect and crash over near the corner for a wonderful try.

One minute from time Bedford conceded a penalty after more good work from the Rotherham pack. Up stepped the youngster Gareth Steenson who seemingly does not suffer with nerves to slot the ball straight down the middle to give Roth a deserved victory.

Full Time Bedford 32-34 Rotherham

A wonderful afternoon of rugby was witnessed by a pleasing crowd of almost 2500. Bedford played their part and may even feel they deserved to win. They certainly dominated much of the second half, but as Roth have found out recently – you don’t always get what you deserve.

Bester said last week that it was not a sprint, but a marathon. How right he was, and I’m sure they’ll be a lot more twist and turns along what’s left of the 26 miles.

Other Nat 1 fixtures this weekend

National Division 1

Roth v Moseley 25 November at the Earth Arena
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kick off 2.00pm