Rotherham Titans re-group after losing proud home record

Opponents Bishop’s Stortford ran in five first-half tries and six in total on the way to a shock 45-34 victory at Clifton Lane on Saturday.

The visitors defended stoically in the face of a Rotherham rampage in the second half and became the first visiting team to win here since Sedgley Park in February last year.

"We were our own worst enemies in the first half,” said Titans try scorer Jamie Cooke. “We gifted them probably two or three of those tries and that was the difference if you look at the final score.

“Bishop’s Stortford have always been a dangerous team over the years. You can’t give them tries. They have some rapid backs and will finish opportunities when you give them to them.

"To go in at half time well behind, the pressure was on.

"Fair play to us coming back in the second half. There were moments I thought we could have overtaken them but by the end we were forcing it and they got another try that put us out of reach of that second losing bonus point.

"They deserved the win and we just weren’t quite there."

After finally finding the drive that had been missing in the first half, Rotherham’s incessant second-half pressure brought two tries for JB Bruzulier and one each for Tomasi Tanumi and Harry Newborn, earning a try bonus point, but the damage had been done.

Titans stay third in National One but lost ground on Rams and Richmond, both of whom won.

Next up is a trip to fourth-placed Birmingham Moseley on Saturday where director of rugby Harvey Biljon will be looking for a marked improvement.

He said: “Our kick execution wasn’t on point, our kick chase wasn’t where it normally is and we’ve thrown the ball to them on a few occasions. When you give up two cheap scores in the first half and one in the second half then you’re always going to be involved in a losing battle.

"It’s a game of rugby. We’ve lost one and let’s not underestimate we got a point from it.

"Let’s get ourselves back into training on Tuesday and Thursday and start from there.”