By Leipziger
March 3 2013

The Falcons came away from the former Stafforce Stadium with five points yesterday but were given a huge scare by a spirited and tough Rotherham side.

Leading 28-0 in the first half, we conceded 22 points before two late penalties by stand-in fly-half Joel Hodgson made the win safe.

Hodgson was a late call-up to the starting XV on matchday with Jimmy Gopperth pulling out through illness, Waisea Luveniyali being promoted to the bench. Otherwise there were no changes to the 15 that beat Cornish Pirates last week. Sean Tomes and youngster George McGuigan were replacements though.

The Falcons started well on a dusty pitch under the bright Yorkshire sun, and were a man up within just a few minutes as Rotherham flanker Latu Makaafi was sin-binned for taking out the airborne Andrew Higgins.

The Titans missed the first scoring chance of the day when Garry Law failed to convert a penalty, but the Falcons soon took the lead when a flowing move came right and Scott MacLeod delightfully flicked a pass inside to second row partner James Hudson, who crossed.

Hodgson kicked the conversion.

Jamie Helleur increased the advantage with a storming break from long range to under the posts, the Rotherham defence being unable to stop the in-form Islander. A second Hodgson conversion made the lead 0-14.

Keeping up the record of at least a point a minute, on the quarter hour Rory Lawson finished off a move towards the left to squeeze in for the third try, which was again converted.

The bonus point try was not long in coming, though it seemed so since it followed several minutes of scrums on the Rotherham line. Finally the referee decided to award a penalty try and the score was 0-28.

Away fans were expecting the Falcons to kick on and run up a big score, but the teams on the pitch had other ideas.

Approaching half-time, Rotherham put together their first real spell of possession in our half and on the far right Michael Doneghan found a gap to fight his way over the line. Many questioned the grounding of the ball, but Law cared not as he whipped over the conversion.

A second try came in the dying seconds with Charlie Mulchrone intercepting a flat Falcons pass from a lineout and running from his own half to score, outpacing our offensively-positioned defenders. The score was back to 12-28 at half-time.

The first surprise of the second half was Matt Thompson's re-appearance from the dressing room after what looked like a nasty neck injury near the end of the first half, but apparently George McGuigan's first team debut would have to wait.

For most of the second half the Falcons could barely get their hands on the ball and had to rely on stoic defence to keep the Titans out. Dan Sanderson got the hosts' third try from close range and Law's conversion reduced the deficit further.

After missing another penalty, Law scored a kick to close the gap between the two teams to just six points. Worse for the Falcons was that replacement Taiasina Tu'ifua was sent to the bin for a late tackle.

Finally, late in the second half, our team managed to break out of their own area of the field and when we won a penalty, Hodgson knocked it over to take the scoreline out of the range of a converted try.

The Falcons should have had a fifth try when Alex Crockett was tackled as he steamed towards the line and momentum carried him over, but the replacement did not touch down and when the ball came out Hodgson's cross-field kick to the right was too far for Helleur to catch in play.

However, the play had been brought back for another penalty that Hodgson converted, and the Falcons were able to see out a 17^th league win of the season.

Nottingham's win over Plymouth this afternoon means we still need five points to be absolutely sure of finishing the regular season in first place, but with the Falcons showing resilience if not super form, it is hard to believe we won't get them in some form sooner rather than later.