National Division 1

24th February 2007

Clifton Lane

Titans 28

Sedgley Park 7

Earth Titans

15 Mike Whitehead, 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Showan Smith, 12 Shane Stewart (Blackwood 80), 11 Errie Claassens, 10 Gareth Steenson (Turnbull 80), 9 Joe Bedford (Capt), 1 Sam Walsh (Croall 80), 2 Nigel Conroy (Hanna 54), 3 Adam Hopcroft (Kilbane 80), 4 Erik Lund (Cochrane 68), 5 Louie McGowan, 6 Hendre Fourie, 7 Bernard Hennessey (McComb 76), 8 Jannie Bornman.

Replacements: 16 Jamie Kilbane, 17 Gareth McComb, 18 Steve Croall, 19 Neil Hanna, 20 Neil Cochrane, 21 Andrew Turnbull, 22 Jamie Blackwood.

Sedgley Park

15 Chris Hall, 14 Ledua Jope, 13 Chris Briers, 12 Jason Duffy, 11 Andrew Craig, 10 Phil Jones, 9 James Albinson, 1 Philip Gazzola, 2 Jonny Roddam, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 4 Tim Fourie, 5 Ed Norris, 6 Adam Newton, 7 James Ponton (Capt), 8 Jon Skurr.

Replacements:  16 Gareth Roberts, 17 Paul Keys, 18 Garrelt Evans, 19 Ben Lloyd, 20 David Livesey, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Thomas Albinson.

Playing some of their best rugby of the campaign in the first quarter, the Titans seemed capable of going through the 50 barrier for the 4^th time this season. However, a combination of a collective “Job done” mindset and Park’s tenacious resolution not to roll over ensured the visitors made Roth work a lot harder than they wanted to.                 

A satisfied Head Coach Andre Bester said afterwards, “For 20 minutes we played the game like I want us to play the game. Speed it up when we want, slow it down when we want and totally control possession. We created so many chances, giving little off-loads, chipping through and it became so easy.

“But in the second half we became too fancy and it didn’t work out. The trademark of my sides is teamwork, but it became too easy and everyone wanted to score a try.

“Sedgley Park played very well, as they did earlier in the season against us and their pack played well in stages today. But as I’ve said before, all that matters for us now, are the five points and that’s another one we’ve ticked off.”

Ex Roth player and coach and currently Sedgley Park’s assistant coach Andy Northey explained “The better side won, it’s that straightforward. Rotherham had too much ball; they were disciplined with the ball and kept the ball very well. And what’s pleasing for us was Rotherham’s reaction, Rotherham took us seriously.

“We did have a lot of the ball in the second half but we didn’t have the same discipline that Rotherham had, we made some silly mistakes whereas Rotherham were a little more clinical when they got into the danger areas.”

That was certainly true for the first 25 minutes of the match as Rotherham raced into a 21-0 lead. First of all Jannie Bornman picked up from the base of a 5 metre scrum to crash over for the first try. Earlier Bornman had been instrumental in causing havoc in the visitors defence with a couple of barnstorming charges.

Roth’s 2^nd try on 18 minutes stemmed again from Bornman. Once again he broke the gain line before off-loading to the inspirational Errie Claassens whose quick hands enabled Bernard Hennessey to touch down for an easy score.

On 23 minutes and with Roth playing some of their most exiting rugby of the season Shane Stewart scored the third try of the afternoon. A break from Hendre Fourie put the visitors on the back foot, then as the ball went though many hands with quick off loads in the tackle, Sedgley were dragged all over Clifton Lane. Eventually the move was finished off with neat interplay from Brian Tuohy and Nigel Conroy as they set up Stewart for his try.

Roth continued to dominate the rest of the half. It was not until three minutes into injury time that Park entered the host 22 for the first time. Then with the last play of the half, Park’s tight head prop Petrus Du Plessis scored a try from close range.

It was mentioned to Andy Northey afterwards that there was some doubt about the try and maybe the ball was half a metre short of the line. Northey quipped, “That’s a try then because we work to the nearest metre!”

The second half developed into a hard going affair for Rotherham. The visitors had the majority of territory and possession, but they were unable to convert their pressure into points and as a result never looked like producing an upset.

Park did appear though as they could prevent Roth from collecting the much needed bonus point. However Mr. Reliable Hendre Fourie popped up at the death for one of his trademark tries from close range with a number of defenders hanging from him.

Gareth Steenson converted all four tries to make this the second consecutive game in which he completed a 100% kicking success rate.

Final Score: Rotherham 28-7 Sedgley Park

Second half replacement back rower, Neil Cochrane said afterwards, “First half was good, but I think we made hard work of it in the second half. But take nothing away from Sedgley Park, they played well in the contact area and kept it tight. Maybe we could have mixed it up a little bit more because our pick and drives weren’t as effective today. I’m happy though because we got the five points and that’s our objective for each game.

“I make no bones about it I want to start every single game, but it’s just the way it’s gone with an injury here and there and missing eight games of the season. It’s been a stop start season for me, especially after a good season for me last year. But there’s still a lot of rugby to be played and hopefully I can add something to the rest of the season.”

Attendance: 1231

Other Weekend Results

Coventry 17-24 Bedford
Exeter 11-6 Cornish Pirates
Moseley 6-29 Leeds
Otley 9-19 Doncaster
Pertemps Bees 43-21 Waterloo
Plymouth Albion 29-7 Newbury

Sun 25 February 07

Nottingham v London Welsh

National Division 1

Nottingham v Rotherham - 4 March, at Meadow Lane

kick off 2.30pm