By Roth Admin
May 2 2004

Rotherham Titans continued their recent upturn in form by putting on an excellent performance against a strong Viadana side. A spirited comeback, coupled with a last gasp try by 20 year old academy star Mathew Rhodes, has given the Titans a realistic chance of reaching the Semi Final’s. However, Rotherham got off to a wretched start. Only three minutes had passed when Viadana’s tight head prop Emanuele Brancalion powered over from a five metre line out, which had the Rotherham defence at sixes and sevens. Viadana’s full back, Casper Steyn made the difficult conversion.

Rotherham’s Jon Benson and Viadana’s Casper Steyn then traded two penalties each to make the score 13-6. Rotherham were having the lion’s share of possession and territory, but were finding it difficult to penetrate the well organised Italian defence. Phil Jones had a try harshly disallowed on 28 minutes after Irish referee McDowell deemed he had knocked on before grounding the ball.

As the first half drew to a close Viadana made a rare foray in to Rotherham’s 22. From a set scrum Mazzantini sniped up the blind side to feed the onrushing flanker, Matthew Phillips to crash over in the corner. Steyn missed the conversion and a minute later the referee blew to close the half.

The second period was only five minutes old when Nick Lloyd and Emanuele Brancalion were sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. Constant disruption of the scrum was their alleged crime.

Viadana had certainly started the half better and a brace of converted tries in the space of three minutes by Masi and Beim looked set to make next weeks 2nd leg an irrelevant affair. And with just twenty minutes remaining with Rotherham trailing by 32 points to 6, few would have predicted Rotherham scoring four tries and changing the complexion of the tie. But there is a new found confidence in the Rotherham team at the moment.

On 60 minutes a clever chip by Benson over the top enabled Stortoni to score under the posts, Benson slotted the easy conversion. Four minutes later from a Rotherham line out on the Viadana five metre line, a catch and drive saw Geraint Lewis crash over for Rotherham’s second. Again Benson was successful with the conversion.

The pressure was mounting on Viadana as Rotherham’s pack started to dominate proceedings. As a result Viadana’s scrum half Matteo Mazzantini was shown the red card on 71 minutes for punching Anthony Elliott. Just three minutes later and quick ball from the base of the scrum by Harrison fed the veteran Mike Umaga who came in at pace to power over near the corner. Benson was unsuccessful with the conversion.

As the game entered the fourth minute of stoppage time Mike Umaga turned over the ball ten metres inside his own half and fed young Matthew Rhodes on the right flank. Rhodes slipped a challenge and won the 60 metre foot race with Viadana’s full back to dive over in the corner. Unfortunately Benson missed the difficult conversion that would have earned Rotherham a well deserved draw.

Rotherham’s Director of Rugby Steph Nel said afterwards, “I was really pleased with the second half display and the boys showed a lot of courage to come back like they did. I thought all the replacements made a big difference when they came on and Simon Bunting really added to the scrum and I was pleased for him.” Regarding the 2nd leg Nel added, “It’s going to be another tough game next week and we can’t take anything for granted, but if we play to our capability then I’m confident we can get the result.”

Rotherham Titans: Stortoni, Elliott (Rhodes 79), Pritchard (Umaga 51), Jones, Wood, Benson, Rauluni (Capt.) (Harrison 57), Lloyd (Bunting 69), Johnson, Noon, Kenworthy, Gross, Greeff, Pendlebury, Lewis

Viadana: Steyn, Dolcetto, Masi, Crane, Beim, feeney, Mazzantini, Savi (Capt.), Jimenez, Brancalion, Gumiero, Bowman, Phillips, Persico, Hayter.

Replacements: De Bellis, Gazzola, Gumiero, Angeloni, Bortolussi, Accorsi, Ceppolino.


Referee: R McDowell (Ireland)

Attendance: 1,200