Rotherham Titans 19 Moseley 20: British & Irish Cup hopes ended in agonising fashion for Rotherham

It was a particularly difficult defeat to stomach given Mark Jones’s side had started the game much the brighter and raced into a 16-0 lead inside the first 20 minutes.

That was courtesy of a Joe Barker try and 11 points from the boots of James McKinney and Ross Jones.

But incosistsency from the home side allowed their opponents back into the contest, with trouble at the scrum resulting in penalties being awarded against them.

This, subsequently led to two Moseley catch-and-drives close to the Rotherham line in which Ed Siggery and Scott Tolmie went over for the line the visitors.

Titans’ lack of discipline at crucial times also cost them dearly.

Just before half-time, a needless penalty was conceded which allowed Moseley’s Glyn Hughes to slot over and send the teams in at the break with Rotherham holding a slender 16-13 advantage.

After the restart, a more focused Titans put together several passages of promising play, but they found resilient opponents in the form of Moseley who were able to keep them from scoring further.

Just before the hour, the ball was lost and the visitors quickly counter-attacked to produce an excellent try from winger Kyle Evans who powered home from around halfway.

Hughes’s conversion put Moseley ahead for the first time at 20-16.

But the hosts struck back quickly to make it a one-point game through the boot of McKinney, setting up a tense finale, although the visitors hung on.

Rotherham Titans: Jones, Keating, J. Hayes, Barker, Wilson, McKinney, A. Davies, Hislop, C. Maddison, Tampin, Holmes, Salmon, B Maddison, Gilmour, Argyle. Replacements: Crane, Cromie, Thiede, Oram, Calladine, Carter, Rath.

Moseley: Penn, Evans, R. Williams, Pinches, Armstrong, Hughes, Brown, Fidler, Tolmie, S. Gardiner, Charlton, Casson, Flagg, Bercis, Hone. Replacements: Warren, Caves, Keenan, Siggery, Raven, Cheshire, Brazier.

Referee: Ben Blain.