Bedford Blues 37 Rotherham Titans 10: Terrible Rotherham struggling to match their target

Thrashed by six tries to one at Goldington Road, this was by a substantial margin Rotherham's worst performance of the season, and on this evidence alone, if the weaknesses are not corrected, the Titans' ambition of finishing in the promotion play-offs may not be realised.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Nov 2010, 11:10 BST
Updated 15th Nov 2010, 11:10 BST

The faults were numerous: aimless kicking gave the ball back to a team which ran the ball from deep, at least five lineouts were lost on Rotherham's own throw, the side lacked and lacks a killer instinct because it scores far too few tries and its defence is easily stretched and broken by teams, such as Bedford, who attack at speed.

With six wins during the first half of the league campaign, Rotherham's new side, containing several players who had previously never played at this level, can be satisfied with their start, but in such a tough competition, particularly involving similar mid-table clubs, Rotherham cannot be complacent and need to improve quickly. The unkind fixture list shows that Worcester, the league leaders, are the Titans' next opponents at Clifton Lane this Saturday: with home advantage, Rotherham should be much more competitive, and it will help their cause if the match-winning mentality and example of back-row forward Adam Kettle were replicated by others in the pack.

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On the plus side, Rotherham scored a superb try, the first for his new club by centre Jonny Hepworth. It was created by an excellent break out of defence by full-back Peter Swatkins who then passed to Hepworth, running 30 metres to score. Such entrerprise, rarely seen this season, showed the potential of the side which has pace in the backs as well as a competitive pack if only it were more ruthless in converting possession into points.

A shambolic opening by Rotherham handicapped them for the remainder of the contest.

After little more than 15 minutes, three tries had been conceded, all from their own errors. Take Bedford's third try, the first of three by full-back Ed Thrower, Rotherham centre Juan Pable Socino tried to drop a goal from 60 metres. Not clever, and unsurprisingly it fell short. Instantly, Bedford countered and within seconds Thrower had touched down.

Thankfully, they were spared the anger of coach Andre Bester, who was absent in Ireland.

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