By Roth Admin
December 14 2003

Rotherham Titans went down 35 – 13 to Narbonne in the 1st round 2nd leg Parker Pen Challenge Cup on Friday evening. Rotherham’s points came through a Michael Wood try and two penalties and a conversion from Jason Strange. The final aggregate score over the two legs was 52 – 23 to the French side. An estimated band of one hundred Rotherham supporters made the journey into southern France, to witness the Titans relinquish their involvement in this years Parker Pen Challenge Cup.

The French side took the lead on 4 minutes; Cedric Rosalen converting a penalty after Rotherham had been caught offside. But just 4 minutes later and a Jason Strange penalty levelled the scores. On the quarter hour mark Rotherham took a deserved lead when Strange succeeded with his second penalty of the evening. Some indifferent refereeing from M. McDowell (Ire) gave Rosalen an easy opportunity to bring the score to six apiece on 20 minutes.

The second quarter of the first half saw Narbonne begin to get on top. Particularly up front, the big French pack was exerting tremendous pressure on the Rotherham front five. However the next score didn’t arrive until the 39th minute and despite Narbonne being a man short (Sebastien Petit – Yellow card) once again it was the French full back Rosalen who succeeded with his third penalty of the match.

That looked like being the half time score with Rotherham still in good shape for overall victory. But once again as has happened time and again all season long, Rotherham conceded a try in injury time. Narbonne’s blind side flanker Peter Short crashed over after some strong work by the French pack. Rosalen converted.

Half time Narbonne 16 Rotherham Titans 6

Within ten minutes of the restart, the match was effectively over. Olivier Olibeau the big French lock forward scored two try’s within a four minute spell (45 and 49 minutes). Rosalen converted the second one.

At this point Rotherham were defending desperately and Narbonne really started to string the phases together and inconsistent refereeing by McDowell didn’t help the Titans cause. Finally with about 20 minutes left Rotherham started to play some fast fluent rugby and give their small travelling band of supporters something to cheer.

So it was against the run of play when Narbonne scored their 4th try of the match on 77 minutes, when Peter Short went over for his 2nd try. Rosalen converted. But Rotherham came straight back and scored an excellent try of their own. Some slick handling through the backs found an onrushing Michael Wood to break through and go over from about 30 metres. Jason Strange converted. It was no more than Rotherham deserved.

Full time: Narbonne 35 Rotherham Titans 13 (Agg: 52 – 23)

Rotherham Titans: Benson, Keyter, Jones, Pritchard (Umaga 77), Wood, Strange, Harrison (Rauluni 57), Lewis (Remnant 59), Earnshaw, Greef, Pendlebury, Kenworthy (Cook 60), Rawson (Lloyd 60), Smyth (cap) (Johnson 47), Bunting.

Attendance at the Parc des Sports was an official estimate of 1,700.

Referee: M. McDowell – Ireland