National Division 1

10th March 2007

Clifton Lane

Titans 35

Plymouth Albion 27

Earth Titans

15 Mike Whitehead, 14 Brian Tuohy (Turnbull 76), 13 Showan Smith (Allen 82), 12 Jamie Blackwood, 11 Errie Claassens, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Joe Bedford (Capt), 1 Sam Walsh (Croall 80), 2 Neil Hanna (Conroy 70), 3 Adam Hopcroft (Kilbane 80), 4 Erik Lund (Cochrane 76), 5 Louie McGowan, 6 Hendre Fourie, 7 Bernard Hennessey (McComb 80), 8 Jannie Bornman.

Replacements: 16 Jamie Kilbane, 17 Steve Croall, 18 Nigel Conroy, 19 Gareth McComb, 20 Neil Cochrane, 21 Andrew Turnbull, 22 Tom Allen.

Plymouth Albion

15 Nat Saumi, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Regardt van Eyk, 12 Keni Fisilau, 11 Nic Sestaret, 10 Ed Barnes, 9 Ed Lewsey, 1 Tim Mathias, 2 Richard Oxley, 3 Scott Zimmerman, 4 Mike Lewis, 5 Tom Hayes, 6 Brett Stroud, 7 Danny Thomas (capt), 8 Chris Lowrie.

Replacements:  16 Matt Newman, 17 Wihan Neethling, 18 Arran Cruickshanks, 19 Andy Williams, 20 James Owen, 21 Jake Childs, 22 Dan Smith.

Afterwards Rotherham’s Head Coach Andre Bester said, “We controlled the match, we did look a little hurried at the end, but we did control the match very well. It’s important for us now that we do get the five points, it will be critical for us. The players were magnificent, they are doing themselves justice and they don’t want to let themselves down.”

Bester continued and explained how much it all meant to him personally, “We are now top of the league and it is massively satisfying from a personal point of view. It’s more satisfying than anything else I’ve ever done in rugby, more satisfying than taking Griques to the top tier of South African rugby and getting into the play-off’s.

“The fact that I’m doing it with the players on my own - I have my Team Managers, John O’Brien and Malcolm Whitaker and those two guys are great and will do anything for me – but in terms of coaching I am on my own and it is very satisfying.”

After such an outstanding team performance against a prickly Plymouth side, you can understand the South African’s pride in what his team has achieved already this season.

However it was the Devonians who started the brighter and wing man Nic Sestaret got them off to a flyer, when on 8 minutes he cruised all too easily through the Titans defence to score under the posts.

Undeterred, Rotherham set about their task and quickly got into their stride through the forwards. On 16 minutes they leveled matters when Adam Hopcroft touched down for his first try of the season after good work from a catch and drive close to the Albion line.

On 20 minutes the unfortunate Brian Tuohy slipped and got himself isolated, he was rightly penalised by the referee for holding on. The resulting penalty was neatly converted by Regardt Van Eyk. Two minutes later and Van Eyk was in the thick of it once again, this time from within the pocket he successfully kicked a drop goal from 30 metres as Albion increased their lead.

Almost immediately, Roth hit back through Gareth Steenson after referee Tim Beddow reversed a penalty. Then as the Roth pack stepped up its intensity and dominance, they were rewarded with two tries in the last 7 minutes of the half.

First up and having a cracking game was Erik Lund. Errie Claassens made the initial break down the left flank, a series of pick and drives followed before the Norwegian National Captain was driven over for his second try of the season.

Next it was Louis McGowan’s turn. McGowan who is having an outstanding season - and pushed Mike Whitehead close for the man of the match award - was on hand to receive a short pass from Joe Bedford; McGowan’s momentum was enough for him to barge over from close range.

Steenson’s conversion attempt hit the left upright and the half closed with the hosts holding a 22-13 advantage.

For all of Rotherham’s possession and field position in the second half, it took 20 minutes before their next score. It eventually came from a Steenson penalty from in font of the posts.

Roth pressed on looking for the bonus point try that they so desperately needed. Time and again they bashed the Albion defence with everything they had, but the visitors repelled attack after attack.

Then on 74 minutes and against the run of play, a rare Albion foray into the home 22 culminated with Ed Barnes skipping through a hole in the Roth defence, to touch down for a converted try and reduce the arrears to 5 points.

The tension inside Clifton Lane was now tangible, but Roth maintained their composure as they mounted yet another assault inside the Albion 22. With one minute of normal time remaining, Mike Whitehead’s beautiful long miss pass found Jannie Bornman who brushed off defenders before finding Showan Smith on the left flank. Smith showed good strength as he touched down one handed next to the corner flag for the bonus point try.

The 10 point gap as the game entered injury time should have been enough to calm the nerves, but Graham Dawe’s charges were not about to lie down. In the 5^th minute of added time up popped livewire winger Nic Sestaret to score his second converted try of the game and in doing so set the home pulses racing again.

As Albion went in search of a surprise victory Ed Barnes chipped through, however Louis McGowan was on hand to charge down and gather. As Roth poured forward and with the ball going through many hands, it was eventually fed out wide to Jamie Blackwood to finish the match off in the corner.

Final Score: Rotherham 35-27 Plymouth Albion

Post Match, Plymouth’s Director of Rugby Graham Dawe reflected, “My players battled really well and fair play to them. But Rotherham are a good side and we recognize that, they controlled the game for long periods. Rotherham are physical, they are strong and they’ve got all the good things you want to see in a team. Our guys hung in there and battled back well but fair play to Rotherham.

Any Rotherham player in particular catch the eye Graham, “Your six is a tremendous player, seven played well, but your six is tremendous and you’ve got to admire him. All the good things that happened for Rotherham went around him.”

Having played both Leeds and Rotherham who did Dawe belief to be the better side, “It’s very difficult to say, but a Leeds side with Andre Snyman in it might give them the edge. When we played them, he proved to be the difference really.”

Leeds last match of the season is away to Plymouth and it could prove to be a title decider. Now Plymouth are out of the running in terms of the league Championship, how hard will Plymouth be trying? The final word from Mr. Dawe, “We try to win every game of rugby we play and that game will be no different.”

Attendance: 1328

Other Weekend Results

Sat 10 March 07

Bedford 66-8 Otley
Doncaster 62-25 Pertemps Bees
London Welsh 32-17 Sedgley Park
Moseley 12-48 Exeter
Newbury 20-25 Coventry
 

Sun 11 March 07

Cornish Pirates 20-8 Nottingham
Leeds 66-0 Waterloo

National Division 1

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