National Division 1

Saturday 29th October

Earth Arena, 3.00pm Kick off

Titans 7

Harlequins 22

v

Earth Titans: 15 Carter, 14 Strettle, 13 Mitchell, 12, Blackett (Capt.), 11 Claasens, 10 WP Strauss (Whitehead 64), 9 Bedford, 1 Golding (Carey 71), 2 Conroy (Hanna 71), 3 Rawson (Pienaar 75), 4 Bornman, 5 McGowan (McComb 75), 6 Donald, 7 Cochrane (Fourie 64), 8 Hala’ufia.

Replacements: 16 Jonker, 17 Carey, 18 Fourie, 19 Whitehead, 20 Hanna, 21 Pienaar 22 McComb

Harlequins: 15. Gavin Duffy 14. Simon Keogh 13. Tosh Masson 12. Mel Deane 11. Ugo Monye 10. Andrew Mehrtens 9. Steve So’oialo 1. Ceri Jones 2. Tani Fuga 3. Ricky Nebbett 4. Jim Evans 5. Simon Miall 6. Andre Vos (Capt.) 7. Luke Sherriff 8. Nick Easter

Replacements: 16 James Hayter, 17 Lorne Ward, 18 Kevin Burke, 19 Christopher Robshaw, 20 Ian Vass, 21 Mike Brown, 22 Tom Williams

 

MATCH REVIEW

Harlequins started much the brighter and were 8-0 ahead inside the first 10 minutes. Legendry Kiwi fly half Andrew Mehrtens with a penalty and outside centre Tosh Masson with a try suggested that Roth would be in for a torrid afternoon.

And in first twenty minutes of the match Roth were second best by some way. Missed tackles were aplenty and the line out continues to let them down – even allowing for the fact that Quins are expert in this facet of the game.

Roth however battled back and a quick tap around halfway from Anthony Carter saw Roth first real pressure result in a penalty on the Quins 22. Instead of taking the 3 points Roth kicked for touch and a 5 metre line out. Once again Roth’s frailty at the set piece let them down and Quins cleared the danger.

Roth were well into their stride now and put their illustrious neighbours under mounting pressure. Two good breaks, one from Carter and one from Hala’ufia tested the visitors resolve to the limit. But tenacious defending kept the hosts at bay and the half ended without any further scores.

Half Time: Titans 0-8 Harlequins

The second half began in frenetic manner with both sides making plenty of errors. Ten minutes in and Anthony Carter’s clearance kick found Simon Keogh, the winger proceeded to run the ball back and made around 40 metres before being tackled just short of the line. Keogh offloaded to ex Roth man Nick Easter who went over for a converted try to increase the visitors lead to 0-15.

Rotherham responded with character and ambition. A Carter break took Roth deep into Quins territory, as the ball came out of a ruck and along the line it appeared as Roth had scored their first try. Unfortunately for them the ball was knocked on at the crucial moment.

Not deterred and increasing the pressure, Roth took command. From a line out just outside the Quins 22 Bedford fed Blackett who slipped a lovely inside pass to Greg Mitchell who picked an intelligent line, to breakthrough and score under the posts. Strauss converted to bring Roth right back into it at 7-15.

On the hour mark Quins concede another penalty as a result of the constant Roth onslaught. From 45 metres out in difficult conditions WP Strauss just pushed his kick right of the posts. Titans skipper Lee Blackett said afterwards, “If that penalty had gone over it could have been a different story. Perhaps that was the turning point!”

Time was running out and with 8 minutes to go Quins sealed the match! A Quins catch and drive rumbled towards the Roth line and once again Nick Easter peeled of the back of the maul to score his 2^nd try of the match. Mehrtens converted.

Although the Londoners tried everything in search of the bonus try, Rotherham’s defence held firm to deny them.

 Final Score: Earth Titans 7-22 NEC Harlequins

Rotherham can be very proud of their performance! The defence was magnificent; lesser teams would have conceded at least double the number of tries. The scrum was dominated by the Roth pack and Roth more than competed at the breakdown when allowed to by the referee!

What of Harlequins? Well the quality is there to see by all, Mehrtens was a pleasure to watch. His kicking out of hand was excellent, the slight of hand passing outstanding and his ability to run a game unquestioning.

Although Harlequins have difficult tests ahead, particularly away at Bedford and Cornish Pirates, it’s difficult to see how a return to the Premiership is not going to be a formality. That is of course providing they keep the same mental approach that was displayed Saturday.

Post match reaction to follow, including an interview with Quins coach Dean Richards which was done in the Quins dressing room. Dean had just got out of the shower and only had a towel around him, then halfway through decided to put on his underpants and drop the towel. Not the best set of circumstances for a nervy amateur reporter to do an interview!

Bedford 35 - 18 Pertemps Bees

Exeter 19 - 18 Nottingham

London Welsh 27 - 27 Doncaster

Newbury 24 - 36 Coventry

Plymouth Albion 33 - 3 Otley

Cornish Pirates 53 - 8 Sedgley Park

Powergen Trophy - 5th Round

Roth v Halifax 5 November at the Earth Arena, kick off 2.30pm