Rotherham Titans 7 Moseley 19: Titans blow their chance and face battle to survive

Rotherham, once again fighting for their professional lives, have landed themselves in deeper trouble, and with only four league games remaining against Doncaster, Nottingham, Coventry and Bedford, it seems increasingly probable that they will be scrapping in the relegation play-offs.

At the end of a contest against opponents who were nothing special, Rotherham's players looked devastated, knowing they had missed a golden opportunity at home to earn points which could eventually have helped them finish in the top eight and thus avoid the relegation battles.

Instead, they were not good enough to achieve a losing bonus point as they allowed Moseley to leave with four precious points that may prove invaluable to their campaign to complete the first part of the season in the top eight. On this evidence, that goal may well be achieved at Rotherham's expense.

As Rotherham, who lost by two tries to one, committed rugby's version of suicide, next Sunday's encounter in the South Yorkshire derby against Doncaster, also struggling in the bottom four, takes on much greater significance.

What was so surprising against Moseley was that Rotherham's forwards, who had performed forcefully in recent matches, were outplayed. While, in the second half, solid efforts were produced by Jon Skurr and Steve Swindall, the impression was that Moseley were confident their line would not be crossed again.

Trailing 10-7 at the interval after careless errors had given away two soft tries scored by wingers Nathan Bressington and Justin Mensah-Coker, Rotherham repeatedly failed to expand on the recovery launched briefly just before half-time by Jon Feeley, who shot through a gap in Moseley's defence to score.

The winger's try appeared initially to revive Rotherham, but as they fought to overcome Moseley's narrow lead, scoring opportunities that could have created a match-winning position were fatally thrown away.

Fly-half Jonny West, whose record as a goal-kicker in league matches has been satisfactory, failed on this occasion to find the required accuracy.

Two important penalties on 42 and 62 minutes, which he normally would have put over, were missed.

Moseley were reprieved, and to rub salt into Rotherham's wounds Tristan Roberts, the Birmingham club's goal-kicker, seized his chances ruthlessly to ensure his team's vital win.

His penalties on 50, 67 and 77 minutes killed the Titans, who were incapable of making productive use of their possession.

Winger Peter Swatkins did threaten periodically and replacement Andrew Henderson briefly tested Moseley's defence, but any pressure from Rotherham was successfully absorbed.

Coach Craig West described his team's performance as "unacceptable" as he begins preparations for what promises to be an electrifying contest at Castle Park. Already without top-class forwards Tinus du Plessis and Sam Dickinson because of injury, West needs prop Ben Prescott to recover from the calf injury suffered against Moseley.

Prescott later acknowledged the crisis Rotherham faced, saying: "Every game now is a massive one for us. But we play best when we are under pressure and we can rise to the occasion.

"There's no reason why we can't stay up. We did it last year and beat good teams.

"We are all massively disappointed that we lost to Moseley. Our scrums and lineouts didn't operate too well and if you don't have the ball you can't play any rugby. Moseley play very frustrating rugby, they slowed us down and their tries were from two silly mistakes. It was just one of those days when it didn't happen for us."

Rotherham now have to make it happen and prove they are a much more competitive side than their bottom-four place indicates.

Doncaster's game at Birmingham Solihull was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

Rotherham Titans: Hunt, Feeley, Maggs, Gidlow, Swatkins (Henderson 63), West (Allen 73), Rhodes (Chivers 35), Conroy (Voisey 48), Batty, Prescott (O'Donnell 40), Barnes, Hayter (Burrows 56), Swindall, Kleeberger, Skurr (Challinor 73).

Moseley: Catling, Bressington, MacBurnie, Reay, Mensah-Coker, Roberts, Gasson (Taylor 59), Sigley, Caves, Harden, Muldowney, Stott,

Mason, Pennycook, Wilson.

Referee: A Small.