National Division 1

Saturday 22nd October

Earth Arena, 3.00pm Kick off

Titans 38

Newbury 23

v

Earth Titans:15 Carter, 14 Strettle, 13 Mitchell (L Strauss 83), 12, Blackett (Capt.), 11 Claasens, 10 WP Strauss (Whitehead 58), 9 Bedford (Kirkwood 83), 1 Carey (Golding 54), 2 Hanna (Conroy 54), 3 Hopcroft (Rawson 40), 4 Bornman, 5 McGowan, 6 Donald, 7 Cochrane (McComb 75), 8 Hala’ufia.

Replacements:16 Kirkwood, 17 Whitehead, 18 L Strauss, 19 Golding, 20 Conroy, 21 Rawson 22 McComb

Newbury:15 Roberts, 14 Bingham, 13 Ireland, 12 Bell, 11, Nutt, 10 Feeney, 9 Smaje, 1 Faulkner, 2 Cooper, 3 Carter, 4 Smith, 5 Radbourne, 6 Styles, 7 Cracknell, 8 Lubans.

Replacements:16 Baxter, 17 Aiono, 18 Tibbetts, 19 Bruce, 20 Briggs, 21 Scothern, 22 Boot

MATCH REVIEW

Rotherham couldn’t have dreamed of making a better start. Neil Hanna scored his first try for the club after just two minutes. A catch and drive saw the Titans maraud 20 metres up-field for the hooker to be driven over. WP Strauss pushed the conversion just right.

From the restart Donald collected and made 15 metres, from the breakdown the ball was fed to the right wing where David Strettle was lurking. Strettle proceeded to race off cutting infield leaving a trail of would-be tacklers in his wake, to touch down under the posts for an excellent try. Strauss converted.

Back came the visitors and from a line out on the Roth 22, the ball was spread quickly right along the line. This culminated with Newbury wing Ken Bingham touching down near the corner. Feeney missed the conversion.

On 12 minutes Roth were awarded a penalty, but turned down the easy 3 points and kicked for touch and a 5 metre line out. As has happened far too frequently this season, Roth lost their line out and Newbury cleared the danger.

On 21 minutes Blackett made a good break in midfield and found Strettle who’s pace caused real problems. This resulted in Newbury’s outside centre Mark Ireland receiving a yellow card for a high tackle. Strauss converted the penalty. Three minutes later and another Strauss penalty put Roth 18-5 up.

Approaching the half hour mark and Roth were looking dangerous every time they had ball in hand. This time after Newbury dropped the ball on half way Scott Donald collected and set off. It was astounding to see the flankers pace as he outstripped the visitor’s winger Bingham in a chase to the line. Strauss converted.

As half time neared, Feeney nibbled at Roth’s lead with a well taken penalty. And then in injury time Anthony Carter struggled with a poor pass on his goal line. From the resulting scrum Newbury pushed over for prop Rob Faulkner to score Newbury’s 2^nd try of the game. Feeney converted to end the half and remind Roth they were still in the game.

Half Time: Titans 25-13 Newbury

Rotherham took no heed of the reminder and a sloppy re-start brought about renewed pressure from the visitors. A five metre line out saw Newbury hooker Glenn Cooper crash over for his side’s third try of the afternoon. Feeney converted to reduce the arrears to just 5 points.

Seven minutes in and Strauss who was having a fine game scored his 3^rd penalty of the match. On the hour mark a fumble by Newbury around halfway was hacked on by skipper Lee Blackett. The ensuing foot race was won by Blackett as his speed proved to be enough. This was Blackett’s third try of the season. Replacement Mike Whitehead converted.

Feeney converted his second penalty on 65 minutes and four minutes later Titans No8 Chris Hala’ufia was shown the yellow card for a swinging arm although many thought it a little harsh.

This gave Newbury a needed spur and they committed men into attack in great numbers. Rotherham defended magnificently in this period and centre Greg Mitchell acted as flanker in the scrums in the absence of Hala’ufia.

In fact it was Rotherham who scored while down to fourteen. A booming penalty from Mike Whitehead forty metres out sealed the game for the hosts. That kick will have boosted the fly half’s confidence no end.

Final Score: Titans 38-23 Newbury

Rotherham will be pleased with the improvement that is being made, especially when you consider they are still a relatively new squad. A top four finish is certainly not beyond this group of players.

Next weeks test against high flying Harlequins should be a good barometer as to how much further they need to improve. Although the message coming out of the Titan camp is, “We can certainly beat Quins!”

Full match reaction to follow.

Coventry 7 – 13 Plymouth Albion

Harlequins 70 – 5 Exeter

Nottingham 10 – 25 Bedford

Otley 24 – 16 Doncaster

Pertemps Bees 24 – 36 Cornish Pirates

Sedgley Park 32 – 28 London Welsh