Rotherham Titans 14 Cornish Pirates 19: Rotherham beat big freeze but not Cornish opposition

The Titans, who will need to be much sharper and less careless in the Yorkshire derby against Doncaster at Castle Park on Saturday, had to be content with a losing bonus point.

Not surprisingly, Rotherham were ring-rusty, having not trained thoroughly because of the recent Arctic conditions, but even so, too many mistakes were made during the contest that they seldom looked like winning.

Pirates’ margin of victory would have been larger if fly-half Ceiron Thomas, ex-Leeds, had not missed four kicks at goal.

Rotherham though can be satisfied that they scored and created two fine tries by forwards Barney Maddison and Robin Copeland whose score on 50 minutes was his 11th try in the Championship.

With Garry Law converting, Rotherham cut the Pirates’ lead to 19-14, but their hopes of adding to their recovery were spoiled as they turned the ball over.

Rotherham, struggling to put together penetrative moves other than the Maddison and Copeland tries, and flashes from full-back Tom Foden, defended stubbornly in the second half.

Pirates were prevented from adding to their first-half tries by Dave Ward and Tom Kessell as Rotherham tackled effectively. Pirates were restricted to Thomas’s penalty on 47 minutes.

Rotherham Titans: Foden, Kirwan (McCall 48), Monaghan, Nonu, Hamilton, Law, Williams, Kilbane (Harris 47), Baines (Stagg 61), O’Donnell, Patrick (Copeland 47), Maddison (Vaioleti 61), Dickinson, Dougall, Taulava.

Cornish Pirates: Evans, Daniel, Short, Cooper, Pointer, Thomas, Kessell, Storer (Andrew 68), Ward, Paver, Smith (Maidment 78), Nimmo, Morgan, Burgess, Marriott.

Referee: M Tutty (RFU).