By Roth Admin
November 16 2004

Rotherham lost their first league game of the season, going down 16-15 to league leaders Bristol. In a very tight affair in which only one try was scored and defences dominated, it wasn’t until the 79th minute that Bristol took the lead. A lead given them in extremely controversial circumstances. In a tight and tense first half it came down to the kicking abilities of the fly half’s. The extra experience of Ramiro Pez came to the fore. However it was Bristol who had the 1st opportunity to get the scoreboard ticking. After a Bristol foray into the Roth 22, the ball came back to Jason Strange in the pocket for a wayward attempt at a drop goal.

On four minutes Bristol lock Ollie Hodge was shown the yellow card for not rolling away in the tackle and preventing quick Roth ball. Just four minutes later and a similar offence gave Pez the opportunity to give Roth the lead – one he convincingly took. On 10 minutes Bristol levelled when Strange converted a Bristol penalty after Roth had infringed at the ruck.

Rotherham were having the lion’s share of possession and territory in what was developing into a tight encounter. On 14 minutes another Bristol infringement allowed Pez to take Roth into a 6-3 lead. Roth gathered momentum and a break by Ellioitt opened up the Bristol defence, he was tackled by Marsden who illegally wrapped him up on the ground to prevent quick ball. Marsden for his efforts received a yellow card and Pez converted the penalty to extend Roth’s lead to 9-3.

The 2nd quarter of the first period was scoreless with Roth in the main having the majority of possession and territory, but with defences wining the day. On the stroke of half time Mike Schmid received his first yellow card of his career! Afterwards he explained that his “crime” at the line out was a Bristol 2nd Rower falling on his head.

Rotherham started the 2nd period brightly and continued where they left off. Seven minutes in and another Bristol infringement allowed Pez to give the hosts a 12-3 advantage. On the hour mark Matt Salter was the villain of the piece this time. The Bristol captain took out a Roth back when he was chasing a kick-on deep in Bristol territory. Salter was rewarded with Bristol’s third yellow card of the afternoon. Pez once again stepped up to convert convincingly and give Roth a 15-3 lead with just 20 minutes to go.

Bristol however are a good side and they weren’t about to give up the ghost. On 64 minutes Strange whittled Roth lead with a penalty after the home side were caught offside. This gave the visitors a lift and Pez who had had a good game for 60 minutes for some reason started to kick away possession – straight down Bernardo Stortoni’s throat.

This in turn encouraged Bristol and they didn’t need asking twice. After a sustained period of forward pressure in which Roth defended superbly, Bristol number 8 Brownrigg collected 5 metres out and crashed over for a converted try and narrow the gap to just two points.

As the game entered the final minute and with Bristol in the ascendancy, the referee awarded a five metre scrum to Bristol. The scrum was reset three times before referee Tim Beadow lost his patience and awarded a penalty to Bristol. Quite how he could justify such a decision no one knows. Members of the Rotherham club who wish to remain nameless said that it was an absolutely disgraceful decision – one that gifted the game to Bristol.

From the penalty Rotherham old boy Jason Strange converted to give Bristol the lead for the first time. A lead they held onto until the end. When the whistle went for full time the Bristol players celebrated as though they had just won the league. Maybe this result will be the key for them in doing so?

Full Time: Rotherham 15 Bristol 16


Rotherham will be bitterly disappointed today! Not just because they lost – but the manner of it with the referee giving such a crucial decision at a crucial time. Rotherham had been more than competitive at the set scrum and there was no reason why they would need to infringe knowing that a penalty would be awarded if they did. The referee got it wrong big style, but hey, he’ll go home tonight thinking he’s had a great game.

On the positives, Roth will be pleased with their defence today and they’ll know that they can mix it with the big boys in this league. And once the new recruits that arrived this week, get chance to gel with the squad there will be plenty of room for improvement.

Although Bristol will now be firm favourites to win the league, Roth showed enough today to prove that they can win the reverse fixture and even go on to win the league.


Here are some post match comments from both Head Coach’s and players from either side.


Directly after the game a frustrated Mike Schmid said, “We had the edge every time in the hits, the scrum went down and he (Referee – Beadow) penalised us! The last thing we want to do in that situation is give away a penalty, it was a very tough call. I’d like to have a look at the video and see what’s what.”

Did Ramiro kick away too much possession in the second half? Mike responded, “I would agree, we didn’t kick well in the second half. We kicked to their back three and Bernardo loves catching high balls with time and space – we kept doing it.

I was very proud of our defence today, I thought the guys battled hard, we turned a lot of ball over, made some great tackles and didn’t give an inch anywhere. But the problem is when you keep your defence under pressure for long periods as we did in the 2nd half and then kick it right back to them you don’t relieve that pressure.

I was pleased with our 1st half display, we knew it was going to be a very tight game I think it’s just a shame that the game was decided on the type of penalty that was called. I’m disappointed because I thought we were getting the hit every time and pushing them off the mark, the last thing we wanted to do in that circumstance was to give away 3 points. I do feel a bit hard done by.

Rotherham skipper Craig Short added “I’m very disappointed, we started well 1st half and then 2nd half we didn’t get the basics right, we didn’t get them on the floor early enough and we let them play some rugby in our half which we should have cancelled out. Credit to Bristol though, they’ve come up here and they’ve gone away with a win. On our part though we are disappointed with how we performed in the 2nd half.”

Lee Blackett who was visibly disappointed said, “I’m absolutely devastated considering the position we were in with just 20 minutes to go. You have to give credit to Bristol though they started playing a lot better towards the end. Maybe the kicks we were putting in, in the first half we weren’t putting in at the end. Our kick-chase wasn’t brilliant towards the end. We didn’t have an off-day, we played excellent for the first 60 minutes and then you have to give credit to Bristol who played an excellent last 20.”

Ex Rotherham fly half Jason Strange added, “We came here as underdogs, we knew Rotherham had a good side they’ve got some quality players, we just had to get the win. It wasn’t a great spectacle to watch both defences were really tight and we thought it would come down to just a couple of points.

We said all week that it would probably come down to the last 20 minutes and we back ourselves on the fitness side. Like most tight games it always comes down to the last 20, that’s when we have to pull together and not panic.”

When Jason was asked whether it made a difference that Bristol are full time and Roth part time, he replied, “I think it definitely makes a difference, especially on the fitness side. But full credit to Rotherham I thought they played some terrific rugby. The commitment shown from one to fifteen was outstanding.”



A delighted Bristol Shoguns Head Coach Richard Hill said, “I was pleased we didn’t concede a try and these type of games are won by kicks. We tried to keep the ball in hand, at 15-3 we looked to be really struggling. With three people in the sin bin we played most of the game with 14 men which is not easy up here!

But we had faith in trying to play our game, we weren’t playing as well as we normally do but I think that was down to the huge pressure that Rotherham put on us, which is a step up for our boys today. But we kept the ball in hand and we were rewarded with a try. And I think as soon as that try went over I think everybody realised that we were going to win the game.

We had a chat at half time, we panicked, we weren’t playing the game, we were being unsettled, we were giving away silly penalties and that’s just down to the pressure.

That’s the best side we’ve come across this year. Their hits are better, they contest more at the breakdown and they are more intense all round. Consequently they didn’t give us much time on the ball. We are used to a bit more time against the Nottingham’s and the Coventry’s; we can play a bit of rugby and recycle the ball easily. There was huge pressure at every breakdown and we had to fight to win every single ball and it was hard. It took us a good 40 minutes to adjust to that.”

What was Richard Hill’s take on the controversial penalty decision at the death? “I think Mr Beadow’s has something about binding at scrums. We’ve had him before and in that match we were penalised three times for not binding on the tight head, so that’s one of his things that he likes to pick up on. It’s lovely to have the points but it’s a silly penalty to give away under your own posts.

When Richard Hill was asked what was the difference at the end he answered, “I think it was tactics and not fitness. I think tactically Rotherham just kicked too much ball away in the 2nd half. Pez kicked a couple of good high balls in the first half. But every time they got ball in the 2nd half they just kicked it down the throat of Sean Marsden and Bernardo Stortoni – they just gave us the ball back every time and played into our hands!

I personally wouldn’t have had Pez kicking the ball every time to a full back like Bernardo Stortoni, unless you are going to have people reaching man and ball. But he was given so much time to catch the ball, Pez was not finding touch.”

When questioned about Bristol’s prospects of going on to win the Championship, Hill played it cagey and said, “It’s very early days, this is a huge win for us and this was where we were going to find out whether or not we had any aspirations of doing that. And until now our fixtures have been really kind, the only time we have been really tested was against Plymouth and we lost that 12-7.

We’d only played teams in the bottom 3rd, we hadn’t played Exeter home and away, we hadn’t played Bedford home and away, we’ve still got Plymouth away and we hadn’t played Rotherham home and away. So we knew we had seven big games to test ourselves and this is the first one and we’ve just scrapped through.

Success does breed success and if you keep wining then you can go on a little run. If we had lost today – I wouldn’t say it would have been a big downer for us, but this may just keep us on our little run.





Roth Admin Man of the Match: Des Tuiavii and Craig Short. I couldn’t separate the pair.

Referee: Tim Beadow (3)

Attendance: 2,050

Scorers: Rotherham – Pez 5 pens. Bristol – Strange 3 pens, 1 con, Brownrigg try.


Rotherham:
15 Anthony Elliott, 14 Michael Wood, 13 Jason Keyter, 12 Lee Blackett, 11 David Strettle, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 1 Jon Golding, 2 Neil Briggs, 3 John Rawson, 4 Jon Pendlebury, 5 Glen Kenworthy, 6 Des Tuiavii, 7 Craig Short ©, 8 Mike Schmid.

Replacements: 16 Richard Emms, 17 Rod Latham, 18 Opeta Palepoi, 19 Jannie Bornman, 20 Brendan Haami, 21Tom Eaton, 22 Oriol Ripol.

Bristol:
15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Sean Marsden, 13 Rob Higgitt, 12 Jonathan Pritchard, 11 Luke Nabaro, 10 Jason Strange, 9 Ross Blake, 1 Alex Clarke, 2 Saul Nelson, 3 Darren Crompton, 4 Ed Pearce, 5 Ollie Hodge, 6 Matt Salter (capt), 7 Joe El' Abd, 8 Jim Brownrigg.

Replacements: 16 Danny Gray, 17 Greg Nicholls, 18 Sam Cox, 19 Dave Hilton, 20 Neil Clark, 21 Sean Fox, 22 Chris Morgan.