National Division 1

16th December 2006

Earth Arena

Titans 0

Exeter 29

Earth Titans

15 Mike Whitehead, 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Shane Stewart, 12 Bernard Hennessey (Allen 44), 11 Brendan Burke, 10 Gareth Steenson (Blackwood 64), 9 Joe Bedford (Capt), 1 Jarleth Carey (Corsar 28), 2 Nigel Conroy (Hanna 44), 3 Adam Hopcroft (Croall 66), 4 Gareth McComb (Bornman 44), 5 Louie McGowan (Lund 66), 6 Neil Cochrane, 7 Barry Jacobsz, 8 Mike McComish.

Replacements: 16 Steve Croall, 17 Stuart Corsar, 18 Neil Hanna, 19 Jannie Bornman, 20 Erik Lund, 21 Tom Allen, 22 Jamie Blackwood.

Exeter

15 Breeze, 14 Luff, 13 M. Fatilaofa, 12 A. Fatilaofa, 11 Kingdom, 10 Yapp, 9 Barrett, 1 Parks, 2 Blythe, 3 Horn-Smith, 4 Brown, 5 Hodge, 6 Walker, 7 Willis, 8 Baxter (Capt).

Replacements: 16 Grove, 17 Liddington, 18 Hanks, 19 Roques, 20 Bolt, 21 A. Staniforth, 22 Bedford.

Afterwards a disappointed Andre Bester paid tribute to Exeter, but bemoaned the pitch as his side was unable to implement Plan B, “Exeter were outstanding today and you have to give them credit, it’s the best performance in two years I’ve seen over here from any team. We were out-muscled up front, they played the pitch correctly and they played us the way we’ve been playing the lower sides.

They were outstanding at playing the pitch, you have to play a very one dimensional style, a forwards orientated style of rugby. When we had to kick into Plan B, we couldn’t do that on this pitch here today – and that’s a problem. And if you are out-gunned physically then you’re in trouble.”

No doubt about that, Roth were in trouble pretty much all afternoon and seldom threatened the Exeter line at any stage of the game. Hendre Fourie’s absence was a big loss, but surely Roth is not a one man team?

Too many Rotherham players had an off day, the “old timers” Mike Whitehead and Joe Bedford tried to rally the troops in the second half. But a multitude of Roth errors and tremendous Exeter resilience ensured the hosts never sustained any momentum.

Exeter fully deserved the bonus point win, which begs the question – Why the heck are they not up there challenging for the title.

Kicking with the breeze and sun behind them in the first half Exeter made the most of the elements. On 14 minutes the evergreen Tony Yapp kicked the visitors ahead after Roth had been caught off-side.

Ten minutes later, Exeter wing Jason Luff breezed in all too easily after a good break from skipper Richard Baxter. Luff then blotted his copybook five minutes later when he received a yellow card for preventing quick ball.

However Roth were unable to make the most of their numerical advantage, in fact it was Exeter who scored whilst down to 14 men on the paddock. This time hooker Sam Blythe crashed over after an impressive catch and drive from the visitors. Yapp converted to end the half at 0-15.

Rotherham came out for the second half with what appeared to be more direction and purpose; however the silly errors also came back out with them. In hindsight Roth last chance for stealing anything out of the match was a period of pressure ten minutes in.

Exeter conceded penalty after penalty at a scrum just five metres from their line. Many a referee would have awarded a penalty try for their misconduct – not Mr. Maybank. And when eventually after the scrum was reset for the 5^th time and Roth were penalized – in all truthfulness that’s when the game was lost. Exeter never allowed Roth another opportunity.

Two Exeter tries late on from Richard Baxter and Gary Kingdom – both neatly converted by Yapp – simply put the icing on the cake for the visitors. Before Yapp converted the final try, the Roth faithful could not endure anymore and went off to find solace in the clubhouse bar – no one can surely blame them!

Final Score: Rotherham 0-29 Exeter

There’s no point in over reacting to what was unquestionably a very poor performance. Whilst there’s no doubt the defeat is a crushing blow to the Titans title ambitions, there is still a very long way to go. Depending on Sunday’s results it is still possible the Titans will be no worse off in terms of points behind the leader.

That point makes it all the more disappointing that Roth did not make more of yesterday’s game. What it does mean though, is if Roth are to be challenging at the top come the end of the season, then the next two games against Doncaster and Leeds are now Must Win Games. Of that there can be no argument.

Attendance: 1217

Other Weekend Results

Sat 16 December 06

Bedford 29-15 Newbury
London Welsh 24-19 Waterloo
Moseley 15-13 Coventry
Pertemps Bees 7-27 Sedgley Park
Plymouth Albion 52-20 Otley
 

Sun 17 December 06

Cornish Pirates v Leeds
Nottingham v Doncaster

National Division 1

Doncaster v Rotherham - 23 December at Castle Park.

kick off 2.00pm