Cheshire helps Titans go down with a bang
RELEGATED Rotherham bid goodbye to home matches in the Championship in truly dramatic style with an amazing victory against their West Yorkshire rivals.
Yorkshire Carnegie were well in control and leading 19-6 on the hour following tries by hooker Mike Mayhew and winger Louis Brown after their pack created promising scoring opportunities.
However, the Headingley club then collapsed sensationally and conceded 21 points in 12 minutes as Titans produced a remarkable fight-back that had earlier never seemed likely.
The recovery was led by winger Drew Cheshire who scored two thrilling tries either side of fellow winger Jake Henry’s touch down, and with accurate conversions from fly-half Caolan Ryan Rotherham suddenly shot into a 27-19 lead, an astonishing turnaround.
“This was an outstanding win and we couldn’t get a better result, especially against our local rivals,” said Cheshire, below, who took his chances ruthlessly.
“The boys pulled together and showed what they can do. Every week we have put our bodies on the line in training and today it has clicked and we have delivered a fine performance.
“The crowd was right behind us and towards the end it was rocking.”
Carnegie suffered badly from the yellow card to prop Craig Mitchell on 61 minutes for a foul tackle, conceding 14 points in his absence.
Rotherham, too, were undisciplined in a Yorkshire derby which came alive only in the last 20 minutes or so. Second row Matt Postlethwaite was given a yellow card just before half time, an offence that resulted in Brown’s converted try, and then a few minutes later, centre Lee Millar was sin binned for a late tackle. Carnegie capitalised as Mayhew was driven over for his second try, but within minutes Rotherham, with only one Championship victory to their name, launched a memorable scoring spree and a performance which if produced regularly in the season would likely have prevented relegation after 22 years in the top two leagues of English rugby. Carnegie scored a fourth try late in the second half, but Rotherham held together and their opponents had to be satisfied with two points only. “I’m very disappointed and we gave Rotherham opportunities to score. Our execution and indiscipline were poor,” said Carnegie coach James Lowes.