Taunton Titans 57 Rosslyn Park 26

The Titans started as they meant to go on with possession and for the first 16 minutes of the game Rosslyn Park were limited to two very minor spells of possession.  From the first they kicked only for Frankie Dart to collect and put in a very accurate kick to the corner.  Under the new Laws Taunton had the lineout which they won and in under three minutes of the start of the game Alex Rodd had gone in for a try Which George Worboys converted to give Taunton a 7-pont lead.  Taunton continued with their possession and Rosslyn Park continued to give away penalties which on the13-minute mark gave George Waorboys an opportunity to extend the lead to10-points.  The continued pressure by Taunton on Rosslyn Park was only relieved when Taunton opted to kick which resulted on 19 minutes in a try by Rosslyn Park left wing Ben Marfo who was able to show just how dangerous Rosslyn Park were with the ball in hand.  The try was converted to give Taunton just a three-point margin.  From the kick-off Henry Robinson the Rosslyn Park full back ran at the Taunton defence which opened up like the Red Sea to allow him through he then passed on to Luc Smith to score under the posts a try which he converted and so within a five-minute period of Taunton’s total dominance their lead was wiped out and they were in a 4-point deficit situation.  This did not last long, and within three-minutes Rosslyn park had given away their 5^th penalty of the half and from the lineout Isaac Dalton went in for the try which was not converted and so Taunton had a one-point lead.  This only lasted four-minutes before Taunton gave away a penalty and from the kick to the corner and the resultant lineout the Rosslyn Park hooker Charles Piper went in for a try which was not converted but restoring Rosslyn Park’s lead, to four-points.  Taunton continued to dominate possession and territory and only some outstanding tackles by the opposition kept Taunton out.  Taunton also had to work, as with the possession Rosslyn Park had they always looked dangerous.  The half finished with Rosslyn Park retaining that 4-point lead.

Taunton kicked off for the second half with Rosslyn Park fielding the ball but a thumping tackle by Taunton resulted in a turnover with “Toots” coming up with the ball and scoring the try.  George Worboys converted and Taunton were back to the lead.  This lead only lasted two-minutes before Luc Smith scored his second of the afternoon which he converted and so Rosslyn Park was back to that four-point lead and starting to gain more possession.  Taunton tackled well and gradually worked to gain back the ascendency allowing Charlie Wright to go in for Taunton’s fourth try of the afternoon which George Worboys converted to not only give Taunton the lead but a try bonus point.  We had seen some promising moves by Taunton in the centre with Frankie Dart in support and he was rewarded on 55-minuteswith a well earned try which George Worboys converted and this meant that Rosslyn Park would have to score twice to regain the lead.  Taunton possession was really very telling so when Alex Rodd went in for his second try of the afternoon which George converted Taunton had a 17-point lead. Rosslyn Park then really took the game to Taunton and their big pacey wings were only stopped by some extremely good tackling by Taunton.  The “icing on the cake” really came when 18 years old, Blundells schoolboy Noah Fenton, took a superb interception and raced away from the chasing Rosslyn Park wing to score a try which George converted.  This was just reward for some of the outstanding tackles he had made as well as some of his scything runs.  Heal so, with just two minutes left, had the last say of the game when he raced away again, for his second try of the afternoon and Taunton’s eighth, which with the conversion took Taunton to 57-points.  It was just reward for this young protégé to receive the “man of the match” award at the end of the game.

We have seen the Titan’s play this well on many occasions and not win the game.  This was just reward for the times when they have just been second.  I would however just ask people to think about the weather we had all week and on Friday evening there was water laying on the pitch.  The fact that the game was played at all is tribute to our ground staff in not only preparing the ground for this particular game, but the foresight of their management to get it to this state over the years.  The Titan’s have a week to recover but on Easter Saturday the young Warriors play Winscombe in the Somerset Cup KO 3pm.  Please come and support them and give them the same experience as you gave the Titans last Saturday.

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