Rotherham Titans 12 Esher 3: Bester has to take Law into own hands for victory

Rotherham are setting themselves the highest of standards this season which is why they were collectively disappointed with the performance against the league’s weakest side even though the Titans won and preserved their unbeaten record at Clifton Lane.

As coach Andre Bester prepares his squad for Saturday’s game at London Welsh, arguably the most dangerous attacking team in the Championship, he knows full well that Rotherham must produce consistently a ruthless approach.

This was largely absent during the contest against Esher, who should have been beaten by a far larger margin considering the overwhelming possession and territory the Titans commanded.

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Remarkably, Rotherham failed to score a try, and while handling was difficult because of a wet ball, several scoring opportunities were frustratingly not taken.

Esher, directed by Mike Schmid, the former Rotherham player and coach, are struggling at the bottom of the table following six successive defeats, but they defended stubbornly as their line was put under severe pressure throughout by Rotherham’s forwards, such as Sam Dickinson, Robin Copeland, Sean Dougall and Semisi Taulava.

Nevertheless, it remained intact.

Instead, the four league points were earned by the accurate goal kicking of fly-half Garry Law, who put over penalties on 37, 45 and 58 minutes.

Interestingly to say the least, the Championship’s leading points’ scorer before kick-off, started on the bench as Bester rotated players to give them a chance of playing competitively to maintain their sharpness.

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This policy created an opportunity for Cliffie Hodgson, who began wearing the No 10 shirt. The South African started positively, dropping a goal from 35 metres after only six minutes.Subsequently, Hodgson missed a straightforward penalty and as Rotherham’s superiority failed to be converted into points, Bester intervened from the touchline.

Making the judgement that Hodgson’s decision-making was not right in the circumstances, he brought him off after little more than half-an-hour and replaced him with Law.

What was fascinating was that Hodgson was preparing to take a penalty when the summons came to leave. To his credit, Hodgson did not show his disappointment there and then but he must have been surprised and hurt.

Bester, though, is not paid to be popular, and his decision to replace Hodgson with Law proved to be correct. Not only did the Scotsman kick match-winning penalties, he also managed the game intelligently. His tactical kicking was of the highest quality; Law put his forwards into promising positions and on the rare occasions when Esher invaded Rotherham’s 22, Law cleared the hint of any danger.

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As for Hodgson, he will have a quick opportunity on Wednesday to recover any loss of self-confidence. It is more or less certain that he will start against Nottingham in the British and Irish Cup and, therefore, Hodgson has the opening to demonstrate his all-round skills and persuade Bester to include him in the squad for the visit to London Welsh.

Rotherham’s forwards will be strengthened at Old Deer Park by the expected return of second-row Neale Patrick and prop Rob O’Donnell, both of whom were injured in the previous league game at Nottingham.

The season is still in its infancy, but Rotherham have made a satisfactory start and if current progress is continued, a place in the promotion play-offs is certain.

Bester’s decision to sign Tongan No 8 Semisi Taulava is turning out to be one of the most astute he made as the squad was changed radically in the summer.

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A constant threat against Esher, it was surprising that Taulava’s power and strength did not carry him over the line.

“Look, teams at the bottom are hungry and we knew the game was going to be a tough one,” was the assessment of Rotherham’s new back-row forward, 28, who developed his game at Wanganui in New Zealand after leaving Tonga aged 16.

“We did not expect to score 30 or 40 points against Esher, who kept fighting to the end. They spoiled our opportunities.

“We are disappointed we did not take them and the Rotherham huddle afterwards was like a funeral. We know we have a lot of hard work to do, but this is a good team. The young guys have a lot of enthusiasm and we are pretty optimistic. But we need to learn to be clinical when we have try scoring chances.

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“The London Welsh game is going to be really tough for us. Their defence is very fast, it’s far quicker than anyone else’s in the Championship, and they will rush at us.”

Rotherham’s young squad have been warned and know now what they will experience on Saturday.

Rotherham Titans: Hamilton, Foden, Godfrey, Nonu, Monahan, Hodgson (Law 32), Williams, Harris (Kilbane 27), Stagg (Baines 48), Hooper, Dickinson (Maddison 73), Griffiths, Copeland, Dougall, Taulava.

Esher: Lindsay-Hogg, Ingall, Cheeseman, Wright (Mill 61), Loizides, Kirby, Stuart-Smith (Garner 73), Mines, Mackie (Campbell 51), Nebbett (Gethings 40), Parker, Kench, (Blakeburn 48), Macfalane, Sticher, Goodman.

Referee: I Tempest.

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