Rotherham Titans 17 Doncaster Knights 36
Steely determination wins it for sharp Knights
Despite the upset of losing John Cannon and Donovan Van Vuuren to midweek training injuries, the Knights produced a top drawer performance fully of steely determination to complete the season double over Rotherham, and in so doing end their hopes of catching Leeds Tykes in the title race. The crowd enjoyed warm sunshine and the players created a dust storm at times on a hard dry pitch but nothing stopped both sides giving their all in a high intensity contest deservedly won by the visitors.
The Knights started brightly, with a full two minutes of possession that probed the Titans’ defences, but the concession of two penalties quickly put Titans in good field position with an attacking line out, but Like Gross stole the ball and drove out, only for a third penalty to be conceded for side entry at the ensuing breakdown. It was a simple three point opportunity but Gareth Steenson elected to go to the corner, from where a well controlled catch and drive saw Neil Hanna driven over to give the Titans the lead on ten minutes. This signaled the start of two separate eight minute periods of sustained Rotherham attacking pressure, some of it self imposed by the Knights as errors handed possession back to the Titans on the few occasions the Knights did try to break out. The home pack, though, were laborious in their close quarter work, trying to bully the Knights’ defence with short range pick and drive tactics and a streetwise Knights’ defence was well up to the task of snuffing out any real threat. The siege lifted as the first quarter ended, it seemed that the Knights’ confidence matched their determination. They looked much the sharper and more aggressive in the contact area and when they did get upfield into a good position, Cerith Rees potted the penalty on offer as the Titans went to ground. And immediately from the restart, Anthony Carter secured the kick off under pressure, stayed on his feet to set up a strong maul out of which eventually burst Netani Talei, ball in one hand and brushing defenders aside. His pass to Ben Jones was perfectly timed and the scrum half stepped the last defender before setting off at an angle for the corner flag for a wonderfully executed try. It gave Doncaster a lead they would never surrender.
From the restart Mike Whitehead gathered and made a lovely run into Knights’ territory, where a tackle penalty presented Steenson with an opportunity to tie the scores. He chose to go for the corner as he had profitably done earlier – the Titans were, after all, expecting a four try bonus point win and this was a chance for try number two, they argued afterwards. In fact during the ten minutes leading up to the break there were three such opportunities to take the points on offer and all three were spurned. Ambition or tactical naivety? Most spectators thought the latter. Nonetheless, incessant home pressure, given added impetus with the sin binning of Talei for slowing ball close to his line, yielded nothing as the one dimensional Titans’ game plan failed to crack a superb Knights’ defence. Clive Griffiths often says that defence wins matches. Finally, the siege was lifted, the Knights got into home territory and a scrum penalty won, but Rees put the kick just wide. Then an overlap was worked on the right which almost saw a try in that corner: recycled ball went left where Ben Gollings switched direction cleverly confusing the home defence and when it went quickly left again, up popped Jason Forster in the centre to create the overlap that allowed Wes Davies to make the left corner. Having had 75% of the first half, and a man advantage for ten minutes, the Titans found themselves 5-13 behind to a Knights side who had used their little possession to devastating effect. Would the refusal to take the points on offer come back to haunt them?
It was quickly proven to be the case! After an opening ten minutes of intense midfield action, in which the Knights were forcing Titans’ errors, the game quickly turned in the visitors’ favour. Titans attacked off a midfield line out, centre Showan Smith was tackled hard by Spencer Davey, the ball spilled and the alert Gollings was there to kick along the ground, chase through the defenders, gather an awkward bouncing ball and sprint to the line. Rees added the extras with ease. Back, though, came Rotherham – they handled well, made the line break and Brian Tuohy sprinted into the right corner to reduce the gap to ten. Moments later at the other end, a moment of controversy! From the restart Talei had made another powerful run, breaking tackles and side stepping despairing defenders, to get into the ’22. One on one with the last defender, he drew him and gave a perfect “scoring” pass to the supporting Forster, who was cynically tackled off the ball by Nigel Cochrane, who rightly was shown the yellow card by referee Maybank who astonishingly failed to award the penalty try for the try which “probably” would have been scored. Rees was left to take the three points instead of seven. He added three more shortly after as the increasingly rattled Titans conceded repetitive penalties which drew no more than the threat of yellow from the referee. There was one last major period of Titans’ effort, even a man short. They had a five minute spell camped in the Knights’ 22, won penalties and by now it was too late to take the easy points on offer. They elected to take two kicks to the corner; and also four scrums as the Knights shelled penalties as if they were peas. Why referee Maybank didn’t get his yellow card out was something of a mystery to even the most diehard Knights’ fan, but he probably had his earlier inconsistencies in his mind. In the event, the Titans were awarded a penalty try when the fourth scrum was deemed to have been illegally disrupted, and Steenson converted. Back now with just a nine point deficit, the Titans may have fancied getting something out of the game but the Knights do seem to have learned how to close a game out these days. Rees used his hand kicking to good effect to pin the Titans in their own half, forcing them to take risks. Steenson, seeing the Knights defence up fast, chipped over and chased but both his centres were ahead of him and offside. Rees took three more points to hammer the nail home. And in the dying moments came the bonus point try that few if anyone would have predicted before the game! Rees again put a lovely deep kick behind the Titans and the chasing players jackled the defender to force a holding penalty. Rubbing salt into the wounds, Rees this time went to the corner from which line out a perfectly executed catchy and drive saw Bryn Griffiths score his first try for the club. Rees added two more and there was grudging admiration from the home fans for the manner of a thoroughly well won victory. For the visiting fans in the 3000 crowd it was something akin to euphoria, as a second place finish can now be the Knights’ unlikely target, with the two remaining games at home, starting with bottom club Waterloo in two weeks’ time. Play like this, and it is a distinct possibility.
Titans: Whitehead, Tuohy, Smith (Allen 64), Blackwood (Stewart 53), Claasens (Turnbull 40), Steenson, Bedford, Walsh, Hanna (Conroy 73), Hopcroft (Croall 78), Lund (McComb 78), McGowan, Fourie, Hennessy (Cochrane 49), Bormann.
Knights: Carter, Bailey, Gollings, Davey, Davies W, Rees, Jones (Scully 78), Bunting (Davies T 70), Boden (Phillips 65), Tau (Rawson 60), Kenworthy (Griffiths 65), Gross, Earnshaw (Grainger 73), Forster, Talei.
Referee: R Maybank (RFU) |
