Bristol 36 Rotherham Titans 26: Blackett’s boys come up short as Bristol stand firm

Argentinian centre Juan Pablo Socino scored 21 points, but ended up on the losing side, and one that failed to claim at least a losing bonus point as ex-Leeds Carnegie fly-half Adrian Jarvis kicked a late penalty to edge Bristol 10 points clear.

Andy Robinson’s side were able to protect their 100 per cent home record thanks to a clinical first-half performance.

Socino had kicked Rotherham into an early lead but they lost Mark Tampin to the sin-bin for a foul on Ruki Tipuna that eventually led to Redford Pennycook muscling over.

It got worse for Lee Blackett’s visitors when Barney Maddison was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, and with only 13 men on the field they were powerless to stop Adam D’Arcy getting on the end of a huge overlap on the wing.

Tipuna then burrowed over from close range for the third try, with former Doncaster fly-half Tristan Roberts landing the conversion to put the hosts into a commaing 17-3 lead.

Socino and Roberts traded a brace of penalties apiece as the teams went down the tunnel with Bristol’s 14-point advantage intact.

Any hope of an immediate comeback were crushed when the hosts’ bonus-point try was scored at the start of the second half by Charlie Amesbury.

That finally sparked the comeback as Rotherham dominated the second half.

Hooker Tom Cruse added to his burgeoning try tally with a score from 10 metres which Socino converted and although Jarvis kicked a further penalty to keep the home side breathing easy, it was pretty much one-way traffic.

A delightful offload from scrum-half Charlie Mulchrone freed Socino to cross for a score he converted himself as Rotherham pulled to within 10 point.

He then reduced the deficit further with a penalty after Gaston Cortes was sin-binned for not rolling away.

Blackett’s men poured everything into attack but after a strong Bristol stand, they conceded a penalty which Jarvis hammered home to deny the Clifton Lane men a losing bonus.

Bristol: D’Arcy, Watkins (Short 40), Rennie (Braley 78), Mosses, Amesbury, Roberts (Jarvis 70), Tipuna; Lilley, Johnston (Hayes 70), Cortes, Sorenson (Glynn 59), Townson, Mama, Pennycook (Koster 59), Eadie (Hobson 68).

Rotherham Titans: Scanlon, Broadley (Gill 56), Roberts, Socino, Keating; Hodgson, Mulchrone (White 73); Gadd (Hislop 40), Cruse (Freeman 73), Tampin (Quigley 40), Maddison, Sanderson, Williamson (Preece 40), Birch, To’oala (Pearce 40).

Referee: T Foley (RFU).