Rotherham Titans 24 Munster A 35: Argentinian duo can not stop Titans losing

With the other Pool 2 fixture between London Welsh and Doncaster Knights postponed until February due to Welsh’s financial struggles, this will feel like an opportunity missed by the Titans, who despite scoring 24 points, were unable to put any bonus points on the board.

Titans trailed 21-10 at the break with a scoreline reflective more of Munster’s ruthlessness as opposed to the possession count.

The Irish side scored tries through James Cronin twice and Te Aihe Toma, with Rotherham’s response coming from Argentinian Juan Pable Estelles who showed great pace, and a conversion and a penalty from Caolan Ryan.

There was a shock on the cards whn another Argentinian, hooker Santi Socino, barrelled over for Rotherham, but his opposite number Vincent O’Brien scored two tries from the back of mauls to seal the win.

A penalty try for Rotherham, converted by Ryan, gave the hosts hope but they were unable to score the fourth try that would have secured two bonus points.

Titans head coach Justin Burnell said: “We had a mixed performance but we are still very disappointed with the result. Last week our line-out against London Irish was good and today it was very poor, as was our defending of the driving maul and that hurts.

“I know they had four full international out there, but we like to be honest in our assessment and today we just weren’t good enough. We do however have to make special mention of Santi Socino and Wilhelm van der Sluys as well, the Northampton lads that have come in and not forgetting Oli Bryant; I thought all these lads performed exceptionally well and deserve a lot of credit.”