National Division 1

21st January 2006

Earth Arena

2:00pm Kick off

Titans 41

Pirates 7

V

Earth Titans: 15 Errie Claassens, 14 David Strettle (Anthony Carter 82), 13 WP Strauss, 12 Lee Blackett (Capt), 11 John Holtby, 10 Ledowyk Strauss, 9 Morne Jonker (Joe Bedford 72), 1 Jon Golding (Attie Pienaar 74), 2 Nigel Conroy (Neil Hanna 74, 3 Adam Hopcroft (John Rawson 60), 4 Jannie Bornman, 5 Louie McGowan (Gareth McComb 72), 6 Hendre Fourie, 7 Neil Cochrane, 8 Scott Donald

Replacements Not Used

Mike Whitehead.

Cornish Pirates: 15 W Davies, 14 R Welding, 13 D Roke, 12 S James, 11 K James, 10 T Barlow, 9 N Chivers, 1 A Paver, 2 V Ma’asi, 3 D Seal, 4 H Senekal, 5 W James, 6 J Bearman (Capt.), 7 I Motusaga, 8 M Evans

Replacements

16 R McAtee, 17 M Jess, 18 S Peters, 19 S Betty, 20 N Makin, 21 J Beardshaw, 22 N Adams.

Head Coach Andre Bester although pleased with the result refused to get carried away and said, “It was a good all round performance but we have to forget it quickly, because you tend to get carried away by these performances. I’ve already said to them, the toughest session of the year will be on Monday evening.”

Beforehand it was said that this game would provide a yardstick to measure the improvement the team had made. Well it certainly did that, just five months ago Rotherham were slaughtered by the Pirates. It’s fair to say that Rotherham have “come on” a bit since then.

Their stunning performance never allowed the visitors to get any momentum going, Roth’s forwards smashed the Pirates back at every opportunity and the backs chipped in with four well taken tries.

Right from the start Roth showed their intention with some massive hits in the contact area and within 15 minutes were 10-0 to the good. David Strettle collected the ball with some neat footwork on 11 minutes and proceeded to gallop 60 metres up the right wing for the opening try.

WP Strauss converted and then four minutes later bagged a three pointer after Pirates had strayed off side.

On 20 minutes Pirates hit back with a five minute spell of pressure, it was the only period of the entire game that this happened. A driving maul from a line out near the Roth line saw number 8 Matt Evans crash over for a try which Tom Barlow converted.

Roth composed themselves and started to dominate proceedings, their combative pack of forwards were first to everything and showed real aggression in the tackle.

The home side was rewarded just before the break; the pack mauled brilliantly and traveled over twenty metres taking the ball just five metres short of the line. When the ball came out it was spread quickly along the line for Errie Claassens to steam in near the corner for an unconverted try.

Half Time: Roth 15-7 Pirates

Roth continued the second half in the same manner as the first and just ten minutes in Captain Lee Blackett crashed through for the third try, after some excellent work from Jannie Bornman. WP Strauss tagged on the extras.

Five minutes later after more tremendous forward pressure, Donald broke from the base of a 5 metre scrum to find Morne Jonker on hand to snipe through for the bonus fourth try. Again Strauss knocked over the extras to give Roth a 27-7 lead.

Rotherham were relentless and never showed any signs of slackening off, their focus and concentration levels were admirable against one of the top sides in the division.

For all of Roth’s dominance and possession, they had to wait until the first minute of injury time for their fifth try. From a five metre scrum Roth’s pack pushed their counterparts all over before Scott Donald picked up from the base to power over with a fine effort. Strauss missed the conversion.

There was still time for some late drama, eight minutes into injury time and with the Roth pack still ruthlessly hunting for more glory, replacement prop Attie Pienaar popped of a maul to go over from close range. Strauss converted to close out an incredible game.

Final Score: Roth 41-7 Pirates

A win in itself would have been remarkable, but the score line and the manner of victory was simply magnificent. It’s hard not to get carried away when you see such an excellent all round team performance, against a quality side like the Cornish Pirates.

The forwards to a man deserved all the credit they get, the tackling was ferocious, the scrimmaging was entirely dominant and the rucks and mauls were technically outstanding. Their appetite for the battle was unyielding and they proved what an excellent unit they’ve become.

The backs too played their part, never allowing the visitors to get away when the opportunities arose, always being on hand, tackling like forwards and executing some fine tries to boot.

Full post match comments to follow.

Exeter  31-5 Doncaster

Newbury 25-57 Harlequins

Nottingham 21-15 Plymouth Albion 

Otley 24-27 Coventry

Bees 26-10 London Welsh

Sedgley Park 29-45 Bedfoed

National Division 1

Plymouth Albion v Roth  28 January at Brickfields Recreational Ground
.

kick off 2.15pm

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