By Stefan
March 13 2006

HARROGATE stunned the Earth Titans A-team with a 26-19 victory at Clifton Lane. Previously unbeaten in the league, the Titans now drop to second place in the NCA North table, overtaken by next week's oppononts Wharfedale.

Any repeat of this dismal performance and A-team's chances of lifting the NCA North title are gone for good this season.

The Clifton Lane side were outplayed in several key positions and made too many irritating errors that you lost count of the number of times the ball was needlessly given away.

However, the A-team are still well placed to win NCA North but this setback should serve as a brutal warning to take nothing for granted.

There can be no excuses for the horror show which handed the result to Harrogate who led 14-5 at the break.

The Titans had the better of early exchanges and went ahead on 12 minutes with a catch and drive try credited to lock forward Andrew Robinson.

Harrogate replied with their 26 points - four tries in 40 minutes - to crush the home side's hopes. During this critical period, the home were not at the races. Poor decision making and sloppy defending made it surpisingly easy for the visitors and left the home side with far too much to do.

Even though important players were missing from the lineup, the A-team - handing debuts to five players - had sufficient talent to win this game at home.

Centre Will Kirtley, who shone yet again, launched the fightback setting up a try on 72 minutes. His powerful burst down the left flank followed by neat passing opened the door for winger Peter Lewis on the opposite wing to record Roth's second try which was converted by Tom Outram.

Rotherham's forwards now dominated possession and with Tim Maslanyk and Greg Burnham in the thick of the action, scoring positions were created but not taken. They had the bulk of possession in the closing stages but were thwarted by unforced errors.

Replacement centre Charlie Hands' last minute dart through middle of the flagging Harrogate defence gave Rotherham the final word in the contest. His converted try left the A-team seven points adrift with no time left on the clock.

Earth Titans:
15 Gareth Brear (Charlie Spon-Smith 22); 14 Gareth Morley (Peter Lewis 35), 13 Will Kirtley, 12 Tom Outram (Charlie Hands 40), 11 Dave Bolton; 10 Tom Bullough (Tom Outram 40), 9 Alex Drage; 1 Tom Dixon (Carl Banks 64), 2 Jonny Larby (Scott Crookes 75), 3 Martin Kent, 4 Tim Maslanyk, 5 Andrew Robinson (Simon Lye 58), 6 Nick Barrett (Will Crossley 40), 7 Greg Burham, 8 Andy Enevolvsen (Richard Westran 56).

Titans Scorers:
Andrew Robinson (T), Peter Lewis (T), Charlie Hands (T), Tom Outram (2C).

Other Results this weekend:
Doncaster 14-21 Wharfedale