Rotherham Titans 18 - Exeter Chiefs 24
Jan
Exeter Chiefs beat Rotherham to end their three-game losing run at a cold Clifton Lane today.
After racing into a 24-3 lead in the first half, the visitors had to hold on in the second half to complete the victory.
Head coach Rob Baxter was forced to change his replacements before the match, with Tom Johnson failing a fitness test and Chris Bentley coming in.
They had to defend well early on as the home side came out fired up and took the lead when fly-half Jonny West landed his second penalty attempt.
From there, Exeter got more into the game and started putting a few phases together. The warning signs were there for Rotherham when Bryan Rennie cut through but Phil Dollman couldn’t take his pass.
A couple of minutes later Dollman made amends as he made a break and offloaded for Matt Jess to cross for a try that Gareth Steenson converted.
The fly-half also kicked a penalty before converting a push-over try, scored by full-back Sean Marsden who added his weight to the drive.
As the half wore on it was the Chiefs who were dominating the game and they had a series of scrums on the Rotherham line. Spinning the ball out, Rennie went close and Rotherham’s Kevin Maggs was sin-binned for killing the ball.
Tom Hayes asked for another scrum from the resulting penalty and Clive Stuart-Smith darted towards the blindside to cross the line unopposed; Steenson converting for a 24-3 half-time lead.
West kicked a penalty early in the second half and, after his side were forced to defend for a long spell, got a try back when Maggs made up for his earlier card as he crashed over midway through the second half.
The game went off the boil for a period as Rotherham had possession but were unable to do much with it.
However, with Andy Miller shown yellow, the hosts went looking for a consolation try late in the match only for Exeter to turn over and work the ball clear.
Matt Farmer rescued a losing bonus point for his side in injury-time with a try that West converted.
Scorers:
Rotherham Titans – Tries: Maggs, Farmer; Con: West; Pens: West (2).
Exeter Chiefs – Tries: Jess, Marsden, Stuart-Smith; Cons: Steenson (3); Pen: Steenson.
Teams:
Rotherham Titans – Coulbeck (Farmer 64mins); Henderson, Maggs, Gidlow, Hunt; West, Chivers (Rhodes 70mins); Voisey (Kilbane 41mins), Conroy (Batty 54mins), Prescott (capt), O’Donnell 70mins), Challinor (Hayter 41mins), Barnes (Swindall 60mins), Kleeberger, Du Plessis, Dickinson.
Exeter Chiefs – Marsden; Jess, Dollman, Rennie (Sestaret 62mins), Foster; Steenson, Stuart-Smith (Thomas 50mins); Sturgess, Clark (Blythe 75mins), Budgen (Tui 47mins), Hayes (capt), Hanks (Gannon 62mins), Slade, Miller, Baxter.
Reps not used: Bentley & Gray
Officials:
Ref – Michael Tutty; TJs – TJ Fisher & R Davis
Yellow cards: Maggs, Miller
Attendance:
1,057
