Doncaster blow it!
Doncaster contrived to throw away an impressive 19-6 half time lead by conceding 19 unanswered points in the second half at Clifton Lane in the first ever meeting of the two clubs in league rugby. Starting with seven former Rotherham players, the visitors took the game to their hosts and the early pressure brought two penalty opportunities which Jon Benson converted with ease for an early lead. The Doncaster pressure was unrelenting, with just occasional, but dangerous, Titan counters but the pressure was not converted into tries as the home defence held out. An exchange of penalties around the 20 minute mark between Benson and Mike Whitehead kept the six point advantage but with the half running out, too much predictability in the home centres gave Michael Wood the chance to intercept and run in from 50 metres to score. Benson added the extras to extend the lead. This was shortly after Dan Montagu had been sent to the sin bin – he interfered with a Titan off the ball as a score looked likely in one of their occasional visits to the Doncaster ’22 and Whitehead took three points for it – but his absence seemed to spur on Doncaster to even greater efforts. The closing minutes of the half were all Doncaster attacks but the best opening was lost to a knock on; and when Benson was offered a kick at goal he managed to miss three relatively simple points. Rotherham supporters felt they had got off lightly with just a 6-19 half time deficit and most would have put their houses on a Doncaster win.
Whether Doncaster felt it was a case of job done, or Titans had something added to the tea, it was a totally different story after the break. The home side came out with a ferocious start and a series of telling pick and drives saw them deep into Doncaster territory before the ball was moved left and former Leicester winger John Holtby had an embarrassingly easy waltz between two Doncaster backs to score the try that gave the team hope. Whitehead converted and it was game on. For a full 20 minutes play was deep in Doncaster territory as the Titans controlled the game and only desperate defence kept the Titans out. On 55 minutes, Doncaster changed both props – Simon Bunting and Steve Barretto replaced Ngalu Tau and Richard List – and from then on the Doncaster scrum went downhill. Backwards would be a better description and just before the hour, close to their own line and after conceding two quick front row offences, the referee lost patience and went to the posts to award the penalty try. The conversion put Titans ahead by a point. Rob Liley had replaced Benson by now and in the space of a few minutes was at the heart of two incidents that cost Doncaster the game. Doncaster had mounted their first real attack of the half just after the hour and Titans’ hands were spotted in a ruck on their ’22. Liley used to slot such kicks in his sleep but this one went wide when a success would have put his side back in front. Then, after the pack had mauled the ball powerfully out over their own ’22, Liley chose not to clear to touch himself but to pass to John Boden to do so. Boden took so long to do so that his clearance kick was charged down by Greg Mitchell who followed up to touch down wide on the left. The kick wasn’t converted, leaving Doncaster only six points behind, and to their credit they lifted their game and had three good surges deep into Titan territory, but all went amiss. Boden went into the Titan ’22 but was caught and held up for a failed maul to concede turnover scrum ball: a backs snipe up the left ended with a knock on; and next one player ran into another to be accidentally offside and the pressure was relieved. Late on Russell Earnshaw was wrongly penalised for not releasing at a tackle with good support to hand and the game ended with Rotherham back on the attack but missing a drop goal attempt that would have meant the loss of the losing bonus point. After the excellent first half in which they didn’t allow Titans into the game, the wheels came off big style and Titans took full advantage. No game next weekend but plenty to work on in training!
Rotherham: Whitehead, Holtby, Mitchell, Blackett, Classens, Strauss, Kirkwood, Carey, Hanna, Pienaar, Borman, McGowan, Fourie, Cochrane, Donald.
Doncaster: Boden J, Van Vuuren, Cannon, Hunt, Wood (vd Berg 47), Benson (Liley 51), Harrison, List (Bunting 55), Boden S (Plevey 67), Tau (Barretto 55), Kenworthy, Cook, Grainger (Peacey 67), Earnshaw, Montagu.
Referee: L ApGeraint-Roberts (RFU)
|
