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Picture the situation. You are sitting at the bottom of the table without
a win to your name, and you are due to play one of the team’s locked in a
tight promotion battle at the top of the table. The last thing you want
the opposition to do is to lose for the first time this season the week
before you play them. Unfortunately, that is the situation that Lions
found themselves in today. It just about sums up a “seasonus ‘orribilis”
for the Lions who found themselves suffering the inevitable backlash from
a rampant Rotherham outfit determined to get their promotion bid back on
track.
With Phil Reid and Ben Wheeler trying to avoid catching flu in Hong Kong,
James Baker moved to full back with Paul Bale filling the wing slot.
Jimmi Fornoni continued to cover for Ben Wheeler. Stuart Potter came into
the centre to partner Alex Taylor, with young Gareth Collins continued on
the other wing.
The
faithful few who travelled to Millmoor expected Rotherham to come at Lions
hard from the off, but we weren’t expecting to have 2 tries scored against
us in the first five minutes!! It all went wrong from Rotherham’s kick
off, from which they managed to regain possession. A series of pick up
and drives by their huge (and I mean HUGE!!!) forwards ended with Lions
getting the put in at the first scrum 10 metres from our own line.
With the scrum going backwards and rotating at a great rate of knots, it
was no surprise that Rotherham secured possession and moved the ball wide
for debut winger Dave Strettle to cross in the corner. Jon Benson pulled
the conversion wide. ( 5 – 0 ).
There was worse to come!! Straight from the kick off Rotherham drove hard
into Lions, and excellent lines of running at breathtaking pace sliced the
Lions’ defence wide open for Dave Strettle to cruise over from 22 metres.
Again Jon Benson’s conversion was wide. ( 10 – 0 ).
“Oh
dear”, we all thought…….or words to that effect. Dave Strettle had
touched the ball twice on his debut and scored both times!! The only
Lions players to touch the ball were Peter Jenkins at the scrum put in and
Jon Boden at the kick off. 5 minutes gone and 10 points down. That means
an awful lot of points in 80 minutes!! Luckily the scoreboard is used to
coping with football, so it only had room for 2 digits!!
At
last Lions secured possession…..but were immediately penalised. The first
line and a strange ploy by the Rotherham forwards. The line is set but
the jumper takes up the scrum half position, then races into the line just
as the ball is thrown. The opposition have no chance of positioning
jumpers against him. It could be seen as joining the line after it is
formed…….but the referee didn’t seem to be bothered by it.
Rotherham attacked again, but a knock on halted their progress. A Lions’
scrum…..not what you’d call an advantage!! Again Lions were shunted
unceremoniously off their own ball for Jon Benson to slice through by the
posts and then add the conversion. ( 17 – 0 ).
13
minutes gone……at least the scoring rate was slowing and Lions were
starting to get some scraps of possession. Luckily for Lions Rotherham
were having a “knock on” day that tended to slow their progress, but
unluckily Lions again lost a scrum against the head for number 8 Mike
Schmid to pick up and stride over by the posts. Again Jon Benson added
the conversion. ( 24 – 0 ).
However, Lions heads were not going down and they continued to tackle
manfully. When Rotherham were penalised for closing the line, Jon Boden’s
kick gave Lions an attacking line out. However, securing possession from
the line out was almost as bad as winning a scrum, and Rotherham took the
catch. Lions were through quickly to almost charge down the clearance
kick, and Rotherham were penalised as they tried to resecure possession.
Jon Boden made no mistake from 22 metres. At least we were not going home
with no points on the board. ( 24 – 3 ).
Lions' hopes of a revival were dashed when a long kick by James Baker was
returned by Rotherham. Unfortunately a Lions hand touched the kick, and
all of the retreating Rotherham forwards suddenly found themselves
onside!! Needless to say they took full advantage, secured possession,
whipped the ball wide, and there was that man Dave Strettle again to crash
over in the corner for his hat trick. There looked to be a hint of a
double movement, but the touch judge was on hand to award the score. Jon
Benson added a superb touchline conversion. ( 31 – 3 ).
Rotherham were now in full flow, and with an abundance of possession they
were unstoppable. Mike Umaga in the centre was in inspired form, and a
lovely break and perfectly timed pass had centre partner Matt Oliver
stretching in the tackle to claim the try. Jon Benson again converted. (
38 – 3 ).
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With half time approaching, the faithful few were
expecting the inevitable score by the opposition just before the
break. However, it was Lions who finished strongly as they managed to
secure and retain possession for a good spell of pressure culminating
in a beautiful weaving run from James Baker. As the full back was
held 15 metres out, up steamed Tristan Prosser-Shaw to take the
scoring pass and go over by the posts. Wot no music?!?!?!?! Jon
Boden added the simple conversion. ( 38 – 10 ).
Lions were not done yet!! More enterprising play saw
Rotherham penalised in injury time, and Jon Boden struck his 40 metres
kick perfectly as the referee blew for half time.
Half time
Rotherham 38 Lions 13
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Baker on half way |
On to TPS |
TPS try |
What Lions needed now was another 40 minutes like the one at Webb Ellis
Road where they managed to prevent Rotherham scoring. Dream on!!
Rotherham continued to dominate, as they had done for most of the first
half, and the tries just kept coming.
Good defensive work by Lions held a huge forward drive, and solid midfield
tackling forced a scrum, but again Rotherham secured possession from the
Lions’ put in for wing forward Neil Spence to power over with Jon Benson
adding the conversion. ( 45 – 13 ).
A
good chip and chase by action man Tristan Prosser-Shaw almost paid
dividends, but Rotherham’s were in no mood to concede more points. With
Richard Tarrant on for Phil Greenbury, Lions enjoyed a spell of
possession, but their attack lacked that cutting edge.
It
was the superb Mike Umaga who got the next score with a sleight of hand
that Paul Daniels would have been proud of. The Lions defence was totally
bamboozled as Umaga created and then exploited the gap to cross by the
posts to bring up the fifty points. Jon Benson converted. ( 52 – 13 ).
Lions were tackling strongly, but the constant onslaught was bound to take
its toll, and Rotherham went on to score 4 more tries. 2 through
replacement full back Tim Foster, another by second row favourite Dan Cook
following a lovely curving run to the posts, and finally a try for
replacement Glen Remnant. Jon Benson added one conversion, and Tim Foster
another to leave the Lions a well beaten side.
Final result:
Rotherham 76 Lions 13
Don musings
The
defeat was inevitable…….Rotherham are a very good side and they exploited
their pace and power to devastating effect. However, Lions never shirked
from their almost constant defensive duties, and battled manfully
throughout the eighty minutes.
Work must now continue to persuade a nucleus of the squad to sign-up for
next season…..never an easy task at this stage of the campaign as players
consider their options. The talent is undoubtedly there for Lions to more
than hold their own in Division 2 whilst a consolidation takes place
before a push for promotion back into Division 1.
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