Plymouth Albion 3 Rotherham Titans 21: Titans give themselves hope

Rotherham delivered their best away performance seen in recent seasons to give themselves an outside chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

The Titans’ forwards mastered the swirling wind and rain to set up three tries by hooker Dan Baines, fly-half Garry Law and replacement hooker Ted Stagg.

And with Law converting all three tries, the Scotsman completed a fine, all-round individual effort during an accomplished team display to delight coach Alex Codling.

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“We produced an outstanding exhibition of how to play wet weather rugby,” said Codling.

“We showed discipline, how to control the ball and we kept Plymouth out of our 22.

“I am immensely proud of the boys and this result means we are still in the Cup. If we get a good win at home to Aberavon we may just go through.”

This unexpected win, Rotherham’s third in five games in the competition, was spoiled by a serious knee injury to Baines who was stretchered off after 30 minutes. There are fears that Baines may have played his last game of the season with the Titans’ forward set to be examined by a doctor today.

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Rotherham led 7-3 at the interval and with their pack continuing to dominate possession, two more tries were created and taken.

Codling was particularly pleased that Rotherham’s scrums and lineouts showed a big improvement.

In a powerful collective effort from the Rotherham pack, lock Dan Sanderson, returning from injury, stood out and Codling was also highly-satisfied with the contribution of Welsh forward Rory Pitman, also back from injury.

Plymouth Albion: Bailey, McAtee, Howley-Berridge, Armitage, Arnott, Roberts, Rowley, Andrew, Cowan-Dickie, Fairbrother, Beukeboom, Carrick-Smith, Tovey, Sprangle, Michael-Stephen.

Rotherham Titans: F Mulchrone, Doneghan, Gill, Nonu, Law, C Mulchrone, Kilbane, Baines (Stagg 30), Denman, Thomas, Sanderson, Rieder, Ellyatt, Pitman.

Referee: T Foley.