By Roth Admin
January 10 2005

No disrespect to Sedgley Park, but not long ago Rotherham would have taken a team of their stature apart by half-time. But that was then and this is now and certainly times are a changing at Clifton Lane! And no one could deny Sedgley Park their deserved victory. On paper - despite all Rotherham have gone through recently – they should have comfortably secured a victory on their first visit to Park Lane. But as we know this game is not played on paper. In Rotherham’s starting 15, eleven had Premiership or equivalent experience. How many of Park’s squad could the same be said?

There are interesting times ahead for Rotherham and the board may have some tough decisions to make. Although Rotherham are going through a consolidating period, now is the time to determine what budget is available for next season so they can plan accordingly.

All at Rotherham must be relieved at the kindness of the fixture list, at the beginning of the season, because at the moment it’s difficult to see where the next victory may come from. Hopefully it will be next Saturday when Roth visit bottom of the table Orrell at Edge Hall Road.

On Saturday despite horrendous conditions, Rotherham started brightly and pretty much dominated things for the first 15 minutes. They should have nosed ahead on 6 minutes but Tom Eaton inexplicably missed a penalty 20 metres out and in front of the posts. Even with the poor conditions it was a howler.

Park’s first venture into the Roth 22 culminated in a try for James Ponton. It stemmed from a line out 15 metres from the Roth line – the resulting catch and drive was expertly executed for pontoon to be driven over. Feeney missed the very difficult conversion.

However Feeney extended the hosts lead on 23 minutes to 8-0 with a well converted penalty after Roth had infringed at a maul.

Two penalties from Tom Eaton on 27 & 36 minutes took Roth in at the break trailing by just two points.

Sedgley came out strongly in the second half and extended their lead on 43 minutes with a Feeney penalty after Roth were penalised for pulling down the maul. On the hour mark Jorgensen nearly made something out of nothing. He received the ball near the left flank on halfway and after avoiding one tackle chipped on and in the ensuing race he unfortunately knocked on just 5 metres short of the try line.

However Jorgensen made amends 8 minutes later when he chased a Lee Blackett grubber kick. The ball bounced nicely for Jorgensen who collected and showed good strength to power over near the posts for a converted try and give Roth a 13-11 advantage.

Sedgley came back and when Tom Eaton prevented the release of the ball 25 metres out, up stepped Feeney to regain a slender lead for the hosts. Rotherham huffed and puffed for the remainder of the match but seemed content to kick position away when retention of the ball would have been the better option.

Rotherham can’t have too many complaints at loosing their 8th game out of their last 10 games with the performance they showed at Sedgley Park.


Final Score: Sedgley Park 14 Rotherham Titans 13


Afterwards Assistant Coach Andy Northey said, “Did we meet the physical challenge in the first half – No! We played ineffective rugby; we didn’t have the killer touch and wherewithal to do the right things when we were in their 22. We played too much rugby in bad conditions, but fair play to Sedgley Park they kept the ball and drove the ball well – they deserved to win.”

When asked about Tom Eaton Andy said, “He’s in the big wide world now, he’s been asking for it and now he’s got it. He’s got to organise us as a 10, he’ll decide the pace and tempo of the game along with his nine. There were times today when he ran out of players and he tried to play and that’s what he’s got to learn – he puts boot to the ball and plays less rugby. He’s asked for his chance, he’s received it, he’s got the rest of the season and he’s got to learn fast!”


Roth Admin Man of the Match: Jannie Bornman – His best performance to date.


Rotherham Titans
15 Oriol Ripol, 14 Michael Wood, 13 Peter Jorgenson, 12 Lee Blackett, 11 Jason Keyter, 10 Tom Eaton, 9 Brendan Hammi, 1 John Rawson, 2 Neil Briggs, 3 Colin Noon, 4 Jonathan Pendlebury, 5 Glen Kenworthy, 6 Des Tuiavii, 7 Tu Tamarua, 8 Jannie Bornman

Replacements
16 Richard Emms, 17 Jon Golding, 18 Rod Latham, 19 Mike Schmid, 20 Tom Rice, 21 Jacob Rauluni, 22 Dan Naylor

Sedgley Park:
15 Feeley, 14 Bullough, 13 Naylor, 12 Voortman, 11 Welding, 10 Feeney, 9 Wilkinson,1 Du Plessis, 2 Oxley, 3 Thomas, 4 Fourie, 5 Lund, 6 Senior, 7 Ponton, 8 Skurr.

Replacements:
16 Keys, 17 Collie, 18 Lourens, 19 Hall, 20 McCormack, 21 Hassan, 22 Glynn