Red card gets Welsh over line

L Welsh ............ 40 Rotherham .... 24

FIVE second half Welsh tries followed Rotherham wing Ben Foley’s red card.

Rotherham went ahead after two minutes. Fly-half Lloyd Evans broke through before the recycle went wide to Foley who scored. Then Evans kicked three more for Titans.

Cup holders Welsh started to respond. A catch-drive on the Titans’ 22 metre line led to six phases before hooker Koree Britton dotted down.

The Exiles suffered a calamity at the line-out, Britton’s long pass finding Titans’ flanker Dan Thomas, who weaved through to score.

The game was turned on its head after the break with wing Foley’s red for a dump tackle on Welsh centre Joe Lewis.

Two kicks to the corner later, Heath Stevens’ sweet inside offload sent Lewis over. Rotherham responded with points via Evans boot.

Joe Carlisle’s 52nd minute cross-field kick landed in wing Nick Reynolds’ hands. He offloaded for the ever-present Lewis to score.

Welsh then took the lead when sub Chris Elder found Ryan Glynn for his first Welsh try. Replacements Adam Kwasnicki and Seb Jewell rounded off the scoring.

Exiles head coach James Buckland said: “It’s the first time we’ve won and not been happy with our performance.”

TEAMS

WELSH: Thomas 7, Phillips 6 (Glynn 48, 6), Lewis 8, Stevens 7, Reynolds 7 (Jewell 64, 7), Carlisle 9, Vellacott 7 (Elder 48, 7); Trevett 7 (Hallam 40, 6), Britton 6 (Kwasnicki 48, 7), Chawatama 5 (Cooper 40, 6), Beckett 7, Maddison 9, Pienaar, Liston (Hodson 68, 6), Carpenter

ROTHERHAM: Foley C 6, Foley B 6, Hudson 7, Barker 7, Henry 5 (Thomas 43, 8), Evans 8, Dudman 8; Tom Williams 6 (Toby Williams 60, 6), Cole 7, Rees 6 (McNulty 60, 6), Curry 7, Hicks 7, Batley 7, Thomas 6, MacDonald 6 (Tyas 46, 6)

Not used: Maddison, Sanderson, Tresidder REFEREE: Adam Leal ATTENDANCE: 728 Star man Barney Maddison - Welsh