National Division 1

7th April 2007

Clifton Lane

Titans 17

Doncaster 36

Earth Titans

15 Mike Whitehead, 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Showan Smith (Allen 66), 12 Jamie Blackwood (Stewart 55), 11 Errie Claassens (Turnbull HT), 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Joe Bedford (Capt), 1 Sam Walsh, 2 Neil Hanna (Conroy 76), 3 Adam Hopcroft (Croall 83), 4 Erik Lund (McComb 83), 5 Louie McGowan, 6 Hendre Fourie, 7 Bernard Hennessey (Cochrane 50), 8 Jannie Bornman.

Replacements: 16 Steve Croall, 17 Gareth McComb, 18 Nigel Conroy, 19 Neil Cochrane, 20 Tom Allen, 21 Andrew Turnbull, 22 Shane Stewart.

Doncaster

15 Anthony Carter, 14 Paul Bailey, 13 Ben Gollings, 12 Spencer Davey, 11 Wes Davies, 10 Cerith Rees, 9 Ben Jones, 1 Simon Bunting, 2 Steven Boden, 3 Ngalusele Ta'u, 4 Glen Kenworthy, 5 Luke Gross, 6 Russell Earnshaw, 7 Jason Forster (Capt), 8 Netani Talei.

Replacements: 16 Tom Davies, 17 David Griffiths, 18 John Rawson, 19 Simon Grainger, 20 Ben Phillips, 21 Dave Scully, 22 Oliver Cook.

Although disappointed that the Premiership dream has disappeared for this season, Rotherham can be proud of what they have achieved with less resources than many of the top clubs around them.

Post match a realistic Head Coach Andre Bester said, “They were just better than us today, we had a bad day at the office and they had a good one. Their defence won it for them, they were aggressive in defence, they turned us over, they pushed us away and they just walked over us.”

Bester went on and as always protected his players, saying, “We didn’t play well, we made the wrong decisions, but at the end of the day it is me that is responsible, I’ve always been responsible and accountable for the team and if it doesn’t work out then it’s not the players fault, it’s my fault. I am very proud of the players, they have done exceptionally well.”

Looking at what Rotherham has achieved this season Bester continued, “All season we have been punching above what was expected of us. The players have been fantastic and we came very close to what we wanted to achieve. I am very proud of them.”

And so you should be Andre. If anyone had suggested two years ago that Rotherham would finish runners up this season, the men in white coats would have been sent for.

Bester will be sorely missed, of that there can be no doubt. But it is now up to the people coming in to build on what the South African has done on the field and take it to the next level.

The match itself, well, although just the better side in the first half, Rotherham trailed 5-13 at the break. Neil Hanna opened the scoring for Roth with a catch and drive move where 12 Titans were committed.

Doncaster replied through a Cerith Rees penalty and tries from Ben Jones and Wes Davies. Jones’ try was particularly disappointing for Roth as first-up tackles fell away one after the other.

Davies’ try, deep into first half injury time came after Doncaster sucked too many Roth players into a maul near their own line. Doncaster then spread the ball back infield along their back line for a simple try.

The first score of the second half was always going to be critical to the final outcome. Unfortunately for Roth, Showan Smith spilled ball and Ben Gollings reacted quickly to hack on, collect and touch down near the sticks for the vital score.

From this point onwards there was only one side going to win. Roth did hit back briefly through winger Brian Tuohy who finished off precisely after receiving a neat pass from Mike Whitehead.

But three more penalties from Rees extended to visitors lead as they raced away. Roth who was collectively having a bad day at the office did manage a penalty try on 71 minutes as they gave their all to get back into the contest.

However on full time Doncaster put the icing of their cake as replacement David Griffiths crashed over to end the Rotherham dream and complete the double over their South Yorkshire neighbours.

Final Score: Rotherham 17-36 Doncaster

Attendance: 2871

Other Weekend Results

Sat 7 April 2007

Coventry 33-33 Pertemps Bees
London Welsh 10-47 Bedford
Moseley 38-32 Nottingham
Newbury 13-22 Exeter
Otley 12-40 Leeds
Plymouth Albion 19-9 Cornish Pirates
Waterloo 31-43 Sedgley Park
 

National Division 1

Leeds Tykes v Rotherham - SUNDAY 22 April at Headingley Carnegie.

kick off 2.30pm