Rotherham T . 34 Bishop’s S ……. 45
BISHOP’S Stortford sprung one of the surprises of the National One season to become the first team to win at Rotherham in 18 months.
Titans’ quest for a 20th straight home win was undermined by a flat-footed first-half showing.
They ended it 35-8 down, and despite battering away at the visitors’ line after that, they left themselves too much to do in an 11-try contest.
Chris Bolton ran in behind the posts for Stortford’s opener, and although Jamie Cooke crossed in the corner for Titans, the pattern of the half didn’t change
The visitors had the four-try bonus point banked inside 24 minutes thanks to scores from Chris Blard, Will Rogers and a penalty try. Skipper Rogers, leading by example, also added a fifth to leave the home team stunned. Mike Cooke contributed their goal points.
Stortford were hit by a Rotherham rampage in the second half and valiantly repelled attack after attack at the cost of three yellow cards.
Two tries for scrum-half JB Bruzulier and one for centre Tomasi Tanumi chipped at the deficit but time ran out on the home side.
Tom Mills seized on a loose pass to score and convert for Stortford before an Harry Newborn consolation score.
TEAMS
ROTHERHAM: Du Randt; Hedley, Hayes, Cooke, Tanumi; Povey, Bruzulier; Capps, Berg-manas, Foster; Poole, Maguire; Okafor, Newborn, Bustin
Replacements: Cole, Kivalu, Donkor, Copley, Naylor
BISHOP’S S: Hayes; Mills, Biard, Pope, Gilham; Cooke, Bolton; Smith, Rayment, Hill; Ferguson, Kiff; Langworthy, Jones, Rogers
Replacements: Moffitt, Cilia, Charter, Johnson, Briers
REFEREE: Owen Taylor
ATTENDANCE: 610
Star player Will Rogers -Bishop’s Stortford
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