London Scottish 26 Rotherham Titans 20: No Love lost as Scottish continue to thwart Bester’s indisciplined Titans

Rotherham spoiled their chances of a win against London Scottish, who have now beaten the Titans in three consecutive Championship games, by making expensive careless errors which were punished by superb goal kicking by James Love who put over seven penalties in an outstanding individual performance which he completed by scoring a thrilling try.

Love scored all Scottish points as Rotherham, the better side in the first half, fell away in the second – apart from late counter attacks which deservedly achieved a point in a performance that shows potential. Rotherham, behind only 12-10 at the interval, played impressively and scored an excellent try by winger Peter Homan who burst through the Scottish defence from 30 metres.

Rotherham – giving six new signings a start – undid the solid efforts of the pack by conceding too many kickable penalties against opponents who offered nothing in attack until the second half. Love’s first-half penalties on one, 20, 33 and 40 minutes were quickly followed by three more as Rotherham continued to transgress. His successful kicks in the 49th, 55th and 57th minutes extended the Scottish lead to 
21-10 and when Love rounded off a rare counter attack on 67 minutes Rotherham were in deep trouble and losing 26-13.

Rotherham failed to meet the standards they set in the first half as they failed to create pressure. Andre Bester pointed out there were several promising aspects of his team’s performance.