By Roth Admin
October 2 2005

Earth Titans Head Coach Andre Bester has gone on record as saying, “These players will “bleed” for this club!” On Saturday against Exeter Chiefs, Bester’s words inconclusively proved to be true, both figuratively and literally, as Roth secured a narrow victory over the Devonians by 17 – 10. The game was played in difficult blustery conditions and free flowing rugby was never going to be an option. Exeter’s bulky pack gave Roth a torrid time in the first half, but the spirit and character shown by Roth’s young and inexperienced squad throughout, was both amazing and outstanding.

Exeter playing with the strong wind behind them in the first half started much the brighter and after just 2 minutes won a penalty. Instead of kicking the relatively easy points, they opted for touch and set up a line out just 10 metres from Roth’s line.

Having obviously watched a video of last weeks game, where Roth conceded 3 tries to Plymouth by the same tactic, Exeter must have been confident of doing the same. However, Rotherham were not going to follow the script. The home pack stole Exeter ball and proceeded to drive 20 metres up field!

However on 13 minutes and after relentless pressure from the visitors pack, the ball was spun quickly across the line for wing Gary Kingdom to steal in at the corner. Tony Yapp made the difficult conversion to give the Chiefs a deserved 7-0 lead.

In what was becoming a brutal forwards encounter saw Titans Joe Bedford helped from the field after tacking a bang to his head on 21 minutes. Soon after Exeter’s open side flanker Tony Roques suffered a horrible compound fracture of his leg, which has ruled him out for the rest of the season.

The Chiefs continued to dominate proceedings and could have had three further tries in the first half. A combination of poor passing and poor decision making proved to be their downfall.

Three minutes into injury time Tony Yapp extended Exeter’s lead with a penalty after Roth were deemed to have infringed at a ruck. But in a rare foray into the visitors 22 Roth earned a penalty of their own, Mike whitehead slotted home nicely in the difficult conditions.

Then on the stroke of half time Mike whitehead converted another Roth penalty after Exeter came in from the side of a maul in an attempt to stop the Rotherham drive. As the teams left the field with Roth trailing by only 4 points, you got the feeling that the hosts were going to make the visitors pay for their first half blunders.

With the lessening wind behind them, Rotherham stepped up the pace in the 2nd half. Just eight minutes in and Whitehead’s third penalty of the afternoon saw Roth cut the deficit to a single point.

Five minutes later and an error from Exeter’s full back (Al Murray look-alike Chris Catling) saw Hendrie Fourie make a burst forward. Fourie found the lively Strettle who danced across the field to find Brear. The youngster showed good hands and pace to deliver on to skipper Lee Blackett, who in typical fashion crashed through the defence to score his 2nd try of the season. Whitehead pushed the conversion just right of the posts.

Roth extended their lead on 62 minutes from another Whitehead penalty after Exeter failed to release in the tackle.

Exeter huffed and puffed to try and secure more than just a losing bonus point, but Roth’s spirit in defence ensured that they never came close.


Final Score: Earth Titans 17 – 10 Exeter Chiefs


Another win against on of the divisions “big” teams much surely give this young and inexperienced Roth side a massive confidence boost. With currently nine injuries/suspensions to the 1st team squad, plus the arrival of Jannie Bornman in the next couple of weeks, things are starting to look a lot better for the Yorkshire side.

However the big games keep coming thick and fast. Next week Roth travel to high flyers Bedford who are unbeaten this season and only trail Quins by a single point at the top, after their demolition of Cornish Pirates Saturday.


Roth Admin MOTM: Neil Cochrane – He reminded me of Spenner at his best!


Earth Titans:
15 Anthony Carter, 14 Dave Strettle, 13 Lodewyk Strauss 12 Lee Blackett (Capt.), 11 Gareth Brear, 10 Mike Whitehead, 9 Joe Bedford (Kirkwood 21), 1 Jarleth Carey (Golding 61), 2 Neil Hannah (Conroy 61), 3 John Rawson (Hopcroft 74), 4 Louis McGowan, 5 Gareth McComb, 6 Hendré Fourie, 7 Neil Cochrane, 8 Scott Donald.

Replacements:
16 Michael Kirkwood, 17 Greg Mitchell, 18 Nigel Conroy, 19 Adam Hopcroft, 20 Jon Golding, 21 Ben Wade, 22 Nathan Pike.

Exeter Chiefs:
15.Chris Catling 14.Stephen Ward 13.Junior Fatialofa 12.Mark Fatialofa 11.Gary Kingdom 10.Tony Yapp 9. Kevin Barrett 1. Danny Porte 2. Simon Jenkins 3. George Davis 4. Chris Bentley 5. James Hanks 6. Tony Walker (C) 7. Tony Roques 8. Richard Baxter

Replacements:
16.Keith Brooking 17.Richard Liddington 18.Mark Gabey 19.Gary Willis 20.Ian Wilson 21.Adam Staniforth 22.Pete Fisher

Scorers: Roth – Whitehead 4P, Blackett 1T. Exeter – Yapp 1C1P, G. Kingdom 1T.

Referee: B. Robertson (RFU).

Other Weekend Results
Bedford 31 – 12 Cornish Pirates
Harlequins 27 – 7 Doncaster
Nottingham 22 – 16 London Welsh
Otley 33 – 27 Sedgley Park
Pertemps Bees 29 – 7 Coventry
Plymouth Albion 41 – 52 Newbury