National Division 1

4th February 2006

Earth Arena

Kick Off 1:30pm

Titans 32

Nottingham 23

V

Earth Titans: 15 Errie Claassens, 14 John Holtby, 13 WP Strauss, 12 Lee Blackett (Capt) (Mike Whitehead 26), 11 Anthony Carter (Gareth Brear 32) (Joe Bedford 71), 10 Ledowyk Strauss, 9 Morne Jonker, 1 Jon Golding, 2 Nigel Conroy, 3 John Rawson (Adam Hopcroft 62), 4 Jannie Bornman, 5 Tim Maslanyk (Louis McGowan 53), 6 Hendre Fourie 7 Neil Cochrane, 8 Scott Donald

Replacements Not Used

Neil Hanna, Sam Walsh.

Nottingham: 15 Ben Thompson; 14 David Jackson, 13 Tom Kirk, 12 Tim Molenaar, 11 Josh Kay; 10 Neil Stenhouse, 9 Tom Richardson; 1 Peter Cook, 2 Alex Loney, 3 Nigel Hall, 4 Paul Arnold, 5 Lee Morley, 6 Mark Easter, 7 Navdeep Sandhu, 8 Nic Fitisemanu.

Replacements: 16 Tonga Lea’aetoa, 17 Neil Fowkes, 18 Joe Duffey, 19 Richard Lloyd, 20 Alan Cook, 21 Mark Woodrow, 22 Will Logan.

Rotherham dominated for much of the contest, but just like last weeks effort at Plymouth, there was a 15 minute spell in the 2^nd half in which Rotherham lost their way.

Comfortably leading 22-10, Rotherham appeared to “switch off” and before they knew it, they trailed 22-23. Perhaps the “Mental Maturity” that Andre Bester spoke about last week, showed its head again. Credit to Rotherham however, they recovered to finish stronger and deny Nottingham a losing bonus point.

Regarding the 15 minutes of “Madness” in which Rotherham lost their way, Bester said, “I don’t know what happened there, if I did I would have sorted it - I’ll have a good luck at the video next week. But listen, they are a very good side and I reiterate what I said earlier in the week, outside of Harlequins they are the best side in the division!”

“We just lost a little bit of our shape, we had a few injuries and we gave silly penalties away again. I don’t want to criticise the referee because I always criticise the referee, but at the breakdown there was not enough communication for the players. But I’m happy with the win, that performance against this Nottingham side – I’m very very happy.”

Rotherham got off to a blistering start and had a “try” disallowed within the first minute. After a bustling break down the left flank by Jannie Bornman, he switched a pass inside for Hendre Fourie to crash over. However the touch Judge flagged late to indicate Bornman’s foot had just clipped the line.

On seven and ten minutes respectively Neil Stenhouse and WP Strauss traded penalties. Rotherham then started to dominate proceedings with good work from the pack. The hard work paid dividends on sixteen minutes.

A driving maul from Roth was halted ten metres short of the line, Morne Jonker provided quick ball along the line to Lee Blackett who in turn found WP Strauss. With the visitor’s defence rushing up, Strauss barely touched the ball in quickly finding John Holtby on the wing who smartly nipped in for the opening try of the afternoon. WP Strauss made the difficult conversion from near the touch line.

From the restart a lapse in Roth’s concentration allowed the visitors to hit back immediately. Poor tackling enabled Nottingham full back Ben Thompson to score in the corner all too easily. Stenhouse missed the extras.

Either side of the 30 minute mark Roth lost two players through injury. First Lee Blackett was helped from the field after taking a knock to his head and then Anthony Carter was stretchered to hospital with a broken leg. It is doubtful that the unlucky Carter will play again this season.

Rotherham re-grouped and continued to have the majority of the game. Four minutes before the break a catch and drive five metres from the Nottingham line saw Jon Golding bundled over for his first try of the season. WP Strauss tagged the conversion.

Half Time: Titans 17-10 Nottingham

The second half began in the same manner as the first half finished, with the hosts well on top. Three minutes in, a strong midfield break by Fourie caught the visitors defence at sixes and sevens. Fourie found support on his outside and the ball travelled through WP Strauss and Scott Donald before arriving with Bornman who crashed over near the corner for an unconverted try.

The game appeared to be a formality now for Rotherham. However - and not for the first time this season – the hosts “switched off” when in a commanding position.

Nottingham sensed this and scored two unconverted tries within the space of three minutes. The visitor’s impressive flanker Mark Easter scored the first and number eight Nic Fitisemanu crashed through for the second.

And when ten minutes from time Jonker was shown the yellow card and Stenhouse converted a penalty to give the visitors the lead, it appeared as though Rotherham had thrown the game away!

But once again credit has to be given to the determination and character of this young Rotherham squad.

Three minutes from time Joe Bedford collected the ball and set off down the left flank, he found support on his inside from Louis McGowan. The ball was fed back infield and went through Ledowyk Strauss and Scott Donald before arriving with WP Strauss. Strauss cut a nice line to crash through the defence to score Roth’s 4^th try of the game. Strauss dusted himself down to make the conversion.

Deep into injury time and the last play of the game saw Mike Whitehead strike one of the sweetest drop goals you will ever see from 45 metres. And with that went the whistle and Nottingham’s bonus point.

Final Score: Titans 32-23 Nottingham

Overall it was a satisfying performance from Rotherham against a more than decent Nottingham outfit. But if Roth can maintain their focus for the full 80 minutes of a game, they have the capability of destroying most teams in the division.

Tim Maslanyk, making his first start of the season can be pleased with his contribution and post match the youngster said, “Personally I think it went OK, it didn’t go fantastic. I was told all week to just get the basics right, line outs and scrums and I thought they went all right.”

Head Coach Bester said of Maslanyk, “I was very happy with him, we were 22-10 up when he went off and he played very well. Tim knows he has to put in a lot and he has to get a lot more urgent, but overall I was pleased.”

National Division 1

Exeter v Roth 11 February at the County Ground
.

kick off 3.00pm

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