London Welsh
London Welsh v Rotherham Preview
By Mark W-J
September 23 2010
London Welsh face arguably their toughest test of the season so far with the visit of Rotherham on Saturday. Under South African coach Andre Bester the Titans finished as runners-up to Leeds in 2006-07, beating their Yorkshire rivals home and away. Having returned to Clifton Lane after three years, there are signs that Bester's already set about upsetting the established order in a similar vein.
After four rounds of fixtures,
our two clubs are neck-and-neck on 14 points, with three wins and two bonus points
apiece. Welsh are currently placed
fourth, one ahead of the Titans on points-difference – although we’ve scored 23
points fewer than our guests, they’ve conceded 41 points more than us. The statistics suggest a busy afternoon
awaits for the referee, as the two teams have conceded the most points from
penalties in the Championship – 48 for Welsh, 51 for Rotherham – but Roth have
also conceded eight tries, whereas our line has been breached only twice in
four matches. There have been 12
try-bonus points scored in the 24 Championship fixtures this season, and Simon
Whatling’s late drop-goal at Plymouth
last Saturday is the only one scored by any of the 12 clubs in those first four
rounds.
Rotherham beat Bristol
and Bedford in the opening two rounds, claimed a
losing bonus point against Worcester at Sixways
a fortnight ago, and then scored five tries in their 37-31 home win over Nottingham last Saturday. Three of those tries were
scored by flanker Adam Kettle, a summer signing from Doncaster,
and one of 20 new faces listed in their squad this season. The most high-profile signing was that of
Henry Paul from Leeds, replacing Kevin Maggs
in a player/ coach role, but the most significant new addition so far is
fly-half Juan-Pablo Socino – from Tonmawr.
The Argentine has replaced former London Welshman Mike Whitehead, who
has moved to Esher, and with 57 points so far he stands second in the scoring
charts behind Nottingham’s James Arlidge on
70.
That hard-won point at Worcester drew much
criticism from the home fans and coaches who suggested that Roth were content
to play ‘pick-and-go’ when the emphasis under the ‘new interpretation’ of the
laws is supposedly on a more expansive game.
The reputation that Bester likes to cultivate is very similar to that of
his compatriot and former team-mate, Brendan Venter, so you get the feeling
that he’s perfectly happy to have got under the skin of his opposite number and
riled the ‘Premiership’s 13th team’ TM – any criticism
from those quarters is taken by both coach and squad as a compliment. In his first stint at Clifton Lane, a period
in which first team regulars included David Strettle, Errie Claassens, Hendre
Fourie and Gareth Steenson, the locals seemed curiously loathe to accept Bester
in the same way that they’d adopted, say, Mike Schmid. His appointment as both Chief Executive and
Head Coach was strange but not unprecedented, but it’s a measure of his apparently
‘difficult’ nature that even the straight-talking Yorkshiremen appeared to
think his style to be too direct and abrasive.
This time around they seem to be
more forgiving. Maybe time has put his
achievements – fourth and second place finishes in the league - in better
perspective; maybe the renewed rivalry with Worcester has put a fresh spring in the club’s
step. When Welsh and Worcester were
promoted to Allied Dunbar Premiership Two in 1998, Rotherham
had established themselves as an aspiring top-flight club in the new
professional era, having lost a promotion/ relegation play-off to London Irish
over two legs at the end of the 1997-98 season.
And so began one of the most bitter rivalries ever seen at level two in
the league pyramid, as Worcester and Rotherham went toe-to-toe. They spent four of the next five seasons
alongside one another, Worcester taking the role
of the prince and Rotherham being cast as the
pauper, yet on each occasion it was the Yorkshiremen who came out on top. Three times they finished top of the pile,
winning promotion twice and being denied once by the outrageous dealings of the
Premiership cartel, as Worcester
picked up the bridesmaids tag. When Roth
were relegated for the second time – to be replaced, ironically, by Worcester –
they very nearly went out of business, and there was perhaps a feeling during
Bester’s first stint that a third promotion would amount to too much, too soon.
But early in his second spell
there seems to be a more upbeat feel among the Rotherham
faithful. Crowds are up significantly on
last season – over 1,900 for the opener versus Bedford,
up 50% on the equivalent fixture last season, and a reported 1,700 for Nottingham’s visit last weekend, an increase of 225%
year-on-year. Admittedly there are
seasonal variations to take into consideration – last season Nottingham
made the journey up the M1 on a Tuesday night in mid-February - but for the
opening home fixture against Bees the crowd at ODP was down 47% on the same
weekend against the same opposition last year.
Our backs are earning rave reviews with their try-scoring feats – only
one touchdown for the forwards so far – but the general feeling is that the Rotherham pack will provide a different test this
weekend. The clubs have met 20 times in
league rugby, with four consecutive wins for Welsh bringing the overall score
up to 13-7 in the Titans’ favour. Bester,
however, oversaw two big wins (55-10 and 47-6) during his first spell in charge,
albeit both at Clifton Lane
- so we owe him one! It’s a mark of the
new confidence around the club that the visit of a resurgent Rotherham would
have been met with trepidation a few years ago, but now the view of the
supporters seems to be ‘bring it on…’
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Looking forward to the game, if I was a betting man I think you could see a fair amount of pick and go given the pace you've got out wide and the potential absence of Hepworth and Welding.
Thanks for the updates Nigel.Bit of a good luck omen developing mate!!!
Good luck for the rest of the season and hope you give Wuss a run for their money.
Quote:Gorseinon Jack
super result lads,well done!
Thanks for the updates Nigel.Bit of a good luck omen developing mate!!!
6 tries as good as we have seen in several seasons at ODP.
Talk before the game was the dominance of the Rotherham pack but our scrum more than matched them, even when down to seven due to the yellow card. Top performances by Epi, Marc Breeze and Michael Hills in the pack.
Hopefully my last posting of scores for a while. Come back Blackheath Welsh, all is forgiven!
However very disappointed in Roth. I've been watching at ODP for more years than I care to remember but I've never seen a team stick so doggedly to plan A despite the game going away from them. I was expecting a change at half time and for them to at least try a run or two. I reckon their coach has to take a major part of the blame for this loss
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