The first victory of the season for Rotherham - and consequent embarrassment for the Powergen Cup Winners, the Falcons? Or the first victory in the league since the turn of the year for the Falcons?

At the final whistle the Falcons had won, and the Rotherham Titans had secured only their third bonus point of the season, but there was precious little to celebrate and cheer for either side.

Rotherham now depart to National Division One - and possibly to Loftus Road as the latest manifestation of South African London Pride, if the latest rumours are to be believed - whilst the Falcons face the prospect of Europe next season, but cannot be relishing the prospect on the basis of this performance.

Firstly let’s get the issue of the referee out of the way. There is no denying that the referee had a significant impact on this match. It was Mr Debney’s first time in charge of a Premiership match and it showed. Maybe he was nervous, but the whistle hardly stopped all game. The penalty count favoured the Falcons but that is not to say that Rotherham were guilty on every occasion - even the most die-hard Falcons supporter would not admit to that. No, the fact is that the referee failed to take control of the match and was too liberal with his use of the whistle: as a consequence the game was disjointed and neither side was able to get any rhythm or momentum. However, despite the views expressed by some Rotherham supporters and by Titans Director of Rugby, Ross Reynolds, taking charge for his first match, the referee is not the reason that Rotherham lost this match.

The plain fact is that Rotherham were not good enough, even on a day when the Falcons seemed to lack a motivation to win, or at least to deliver a killer punch when faced by opponents reeling on the ropes.

The Falcons stepped onto the pitch with a few last minute changes of personnel. Hugh Vyvyan picked up an injury against London Irish and so took his place in the stand. In his absence, and despite the large electronic information board, the Falcons supporters were left playing ’Guess Who The Captain Is?’ The concensus of opinion favoured Warren Britz but newspaper reports suggest that the honour fell to Mark Mayerhofler: whatever the truth, the uncertainty as to who was captain was reflected in much of the Falcons’ play.

At Twickenham much of the success of the Falcons was due to the disciplined and driving play of the forwards. Against a solid Rotherham pack, bolstered since the sides last met by a number of Marius Hurter’s compatriots, the Falcons forwards failed to exert enough dominance to control the game. And the Falcons also struggled in the line-outs as James Isaacson had great difficulty hitting his jumpers. Behind such a weak platform, the backs - including Jamie Noon playing in an amazing fiftieth consecutive Premiership game - could do little.

Rotherham had the best of the early play, but the first score of the match went to the Falcons after eight minutes as Dave Walder slotted home a 40 metre penalty after the Rotherham defence was caught offside.

Within five minutes, however, the Falcons had allowed the Titans to take the lead. Rotherham stole a Falcons line out. An interchange of passes between Geraint Lewis and Bernardo Stortoni and weak defending allowed the Titans full-back Bernardo Stortoni to break through and slip the final pass to veteran Samoan centre Mike Umaga who crashed over for the first try of the match, duly converted by Phil Jones.

But the Falcons came back strongly. First, in the 23rd minute, Michael Stephenson restored the lead for Newcastle when he rounded off a Falcons' attack involving Dave Walder and Tom May by crossing in the corner and running round to touch down under the posts The try was converted by Walder, and soon after he stepped up to kick another conversion, after flanker Jon Dunbar had forced his way over under the posts following a series of drives by the Newcastle pack.

Although the Jones kicked an injury time penalty, after the Falcons were penalised for coming in from the side at a maul, the score was 17-10 to the Falcons at half-time.

All that was necessary was for the Falcons to come out for the second half and build upon that lead. At first it seemed as if they would do just that. With the wind at his back, Walder extended the lead to 20-10 with another long range penalty in the 42nd minute. Then it all started to unravel.

Mark Wilkinson came on for Mayerhofler, who departed with an ankle injury, and the balance of play changed. First Umaga ran through a huge gap and when Ben Gollings tackled him five metres short of the Newcastle line, the ball was recycled to the Titans fly-half Jones, who sold a dummy, cut back inside the defence and strolled over for a try, then added the conversion for good measure.

With the score 20 -17 in favour of the Falcons, things were starting to look less comfortable. Fortunately the referee was keen to hand out penalty opportunities.

Walder - in excellent form throughout the match - kicked a penalty from the half-way line to extend the Falcons lead by a further three points. Then the Falcons were given the opportunity of an extra man advantage, as a yellow card was issued to Titans flanker Des Tuiavi'I. In the event, however, the Falcons were unable to exploit the advantage. The Titans put the Falcons under pressure and eventually were rewarded when the visitors were penalised for being caught blatantly off side. It was Jones once again who stepped up to put his team back into the game - knocking over a 30-metre penalty that cut the deficit back to three points.

All that was left was for the Falcons to mount another last-ditch stand. The final score of the match came from a late penalty goal by Walder - one minute from time after Rotherham were penalised for not releasing in the tackle.

The match ended with the Falcons the victors 26 - 20 and the Titans left to contemplate a return to National Division One having equalled the unenviable record of West Hartlepool in 1995/96, failing to secure a single victory in the top flight.

The Powergen Cup-winners struggled against a side who had not won a single one of their previous 21 Premiership matches. Rotherham did not look like a side that would change that record, but the Falcons did their best to present them with the opportunity to savour at least one victory in the Premiership.

As so often this season, the Falcons made too many mistakes, allowing Rotherham back into the game time and time again. As a consequence Rotherham were given the opportunity to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. As Rob Andrew said after the match, "With the scores at 26-20 and Rotherham pressing for the last five minutes, this had 27-26 written all over it with the Titans scoring in the corner and their fly-half kicking a touchline conversion to win it. Fortunately our players managed to find something in the tank to hold out." And Rotherham failed to take advantage of the Falcons’ generosity.

Rob Andrew has been quoted as saying, "In real terms, our season finished three weeks ago with our victory over Sale in the Powergen Cup final on April 17. All the players had to play for on Saturday was their professional pride. Rotherham played well and you could see from our players' body language that they were way off the pace."

As Falcons’ supporters contemplate significant increases in the costs of season tickets, match day prices and even car park charges, plus the cost of away travel to Worcester and the far-flung outposts of Europe next season, there must be a few wondering after this performance whether they can be motivated to write the cheques. The sweet taste of Powergen Cup success is fading fast.