Rotherham 24 Plymouth 18

Pez
By Roth Admin
October 3 2004

Rotherham beat a very resilient Plymouth side 24-18 in a very tense and compelling match yesterday at Clifton Lane. It’s a cliché, but the game really was one of two half’s. Rotherham dominated the first and then had to hold on as a revitalised Plymouth pushed them all the way to the death.

Rotherham played their most enterprising 40 minutes of the season in the first half against a strong Plymouth outfit. After just two minutes Pez got the scoreboard moving with a clever drop goal from 25 metres. Roth were expecting a very close encounter and were intent on getting points when the occasion presented itself.

Pez extended Roth’s advantage on 12 minutes with a nicely taken penalty after young Strettle was illegally pole-axed. It got better for the hosts after Blackett made a crunch of a tackle when Plymouth broke down the right wing. From the turnover ball good work from Briggs put Blackett back in on the left wing to gallop from 35 metres to touch down in the corner and increase Rotherham Lead to 11-0. Pez missed the difficult conversion.

Plymouth got their first points from a James Pritchard penalty on 27 minutes after Roth were penalised for not rolling away in the tackle. But Roth came back as dominant as ever. On 32 minutes some wonderful rugby by the forwards created phase after phase and when the ball came out some slick handling by the backs enabled Lee Blackett to go over in the corner for his 2nd try. Pez missed the conversion to leave Rotherham 16-3 ahead.

On 36 minutes Rotherham were in dreamland. Again after good work from Briggs, Pez took it on and found space, and after an interchange of passes with Craig Short – Pez went over for Rotherham’s third try. However Pez was unable to convert his try and Rotherham went in at the break 21-3 ahead.

Although Rotherham started the 2nd period brightly it was Plymouth that scored first. From a ruck 30 metres from the hosts line, Plymouth’s number 8 Daniel Ward-Smith slipped off the side and ran virtually unopposed to go over for Albion’s first try. Pritchard missed the conversion.

The match erupted on 55 minutes when Albion’s centre Nacaniela Saumi was shown the red card for violent conduct. The touch judge witnessed the centre kick Des Tuiavii in his head and a scuffle ensued with a number of players. Craig Short received a yellow card for his contribution.

Although Plymouth were reduced to 14 men – it did not show. On 57 minutes Pritchard reduced the deficit to 10 points after his penalty went over off the left upright.

Just six minutes later and Albion were right back in the game. Livewire wing James Pritchard went over after a period of dominant forward pressure from their heavy pack. Pritchard dusted himself down to convert his own try and reduce their arrears to just 3 points.

With 17 minutes to go plus injury time and the momentum with Plymouth it appeared that Rotherham were on the verge of their first defeat of the season. However with what this bunch of players have gone through – there is a desire to play for one another that probably doesn’t exist at any other club.

Some determined and resolute defending from the monster Plymouth pack demonstrated that. Then on 80 minutes Rotherham showed more character when mounting their own attack only for Plymouth to infringe and give away a penalty. Up stepped Pez to convert and make the score 24-18.

In the 3rd minute of injury time Rotherham nearly earned the bonus point for scoring four tries. Again good work from Rotherham’s pack enabled the ball to be spun wide to Strettle and of he raced. Unfortunately for Roth, young strettle was bundled into touch just 5 metres short of the line.

With that Rotherham held on comfortably to secure their 4th consecutive victory of the season.


Final Score: Rotherham 24 Plymouth Albion 18



Rotherham will be very pleased with this latest performance against one of the best teams in the division. Elliott fitted in nicely at full back. Blackett looks even more dangerous on the wing and as usual in the big games Pez shows the form that tempted Leicester to come in for him.

The pack to a man was immense and young Tim Maslanyk had his best game so far, wining vital line out ball and putting in some big hits.


Rotherham:
15 Anthony Elliott, 14 Lee Blackett, 13 Peter Jorgensen, 12 Jason Keyter, 11 David Strettle, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 1 Riaan Olckers, 2 Neil Briggs, 3 Colin Noon, 4 Tim Maslanyk, 5 Glen Kenworthy, 6 Des Tuiavii, 7 Craig Short ©, 8 Mike Schmid

Replacements
16 Jonathan Golding, 17 Rod Latham, 18 John Rawson, 19 Adam Harrington, 20 Tom Rice, 21 Tom Eaton, 22 Mark Sweeney.



Plymouth Albion:
15 Carrington, 14 Robinson, 13 Fisilau, 12 Saumi, 11 Pritchard, 10 Barnes, 9 Cane, 1 Ozdemir, 2 Dawe, 3 Parkes, 4 Perry, 5 Luxton, 6 Schusterman, 7 Thomas ©, 8 Ward-Smith.

Replacements
16 Lowrie, 17 Martens, 18 Stroud, 19 Fabian, 20 Pearl, 21 Rouse, 22 Paoletti.



Roth Admin Man of the Match: Lee Blackett

Referee: Robin Goodliffe 8