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Search forSpirited Albion have to make do with draw
Monday, October 27, 2008, 07:00
With 80 minutes up on the clock Graham Dawe's side were 10-7 up and it was looking like they might return to Brickfields with an extremely hard-earned four points from a wet and very windy Clifton Lane.
But two minutes into injury-time they gave away a rare penalty, which former Albion favourite Tom Barlow put over for Rotherham to level the scores.
However, Albion still had the chance to bag their second consecutive away victory when they were awarded a penalty on the right, 28 metres out.
Kieran Hallett went for goal and most people in the ground thought his kick was going over, only for the wind to take the pace off it at the last minute and for it to drop just in front of crossbar.
Although Albion did not win, despite going into the final five minutes in front, earning a draw at Clifton Lane against in-form Rotherham must surely be seen as a positive.
The Titans had won their last four games, beating Manchester, Cornish Pirates and Esher away and Moseley at home, running in an incredible 192 points in the process.
And the only two teams to have won at Clifton Lane so far this term are title-chasing Leeds and Bedford.
Albion, who up until three weeks ago had not won an away league game for 11 months, probably produced their most spirited, determined and disciplined display of the season.
They looked like a well-organised and street-wise unit used to grinding out away points.
Albion had to defend for long spells of the game, but they did it brilliantly and Rotherham, who went into the match as the league's fourth-best attacking force, just could not break them down.
The visitors' discipline was also top-notch. They hardly gave any penalties away, despite all the pressure Rotherham put them under.
It would be hard to find a better defensive display at any level of rugby than Albion showed on Saturday.
However, the visitors did make too many mistakes in possession, especially first half playing with the strong wind, which was part of the reason why they spent long spells defending.
But the spirit, desire and team ethic among Albion's players was impossible to miss and if they can keep reproducing that then the club will continue to pick up vital points.
The visitors, who were forced to change their team after Mike Lewis failed a fitness test, knew in-form Rotherham would come at them straight from kick.
And the home side did just that, even though they were playing into the strong wind. The first 15 minutes of the match was like a training session of attack versus defence.
Rotherham could have had two or three tries in the opening quarter-of-an-hour.
They did get over Albion's line after just two minutes, but the visitors did brilliantly to hold them up and prevent them from grounding the ball.
Rotherham had two five-metre scrums in the first three minutes and then only a brilliant tackle by Keni Fisilau on the right denied them.
How Albion kept the Titans out in the first 10 minutes was a mystery to most people inside Clifton Lane.
But after weathering Rotherham's early onslaught, Albion slowly grew in confidence, as the Titans' faded.
Keeping the home side out after everything Craig West's side threw at them was a real moral boost to Albion.
On 15 minutes Albion, who struggled to get to grips with the conditions in the opening period, finally got out of their own half and three minutes later Hallett had a drop-goal effort just go wide.
Despite not having anywhere near as much possession as Rotherham, Albion took the lead in the 26th minute when Hallett put over a penalty almost in front of the posts.
It came after the home side had given away another penalty on the halfway line and Albion had gone for the line-out and attacked.
Rotherham did come back at Albion and they had a great chance to score on the left in the 29th minute, but again the visitors' defence kept them out.
In the 33rd minute the home side had the chance to pull level when Albion were penalised for a dangerous tackle by Gareth Evans 22 metres out.
The tackle led to a scuffle and when it had all calmed down the referee sin-binned Evans and Rotherham's Greg Hayter.
Barlow, though, missed the penalty attempt and Rotherham's afternoon got worse when they lost their star player, Errie Claassens, with a serious-looking leg injury on 37 minutes.
Somehow, Albion managed to keep their lead to half-time, much to the unhappiness of the Clifton Lane crowd, who grew more and more restless as the match went on.
However, just minutes into the second half Rotherham did take the lead when Albion gifted them a try.
The visitors had done brilliantly to win a ball against the head at a scrum deep in their own 22, but they then dropped the ball – a regular occurrence in the conditions from both sides on Saturday – just metres from their line and Neil Chivers pounced and scored. Barlow added the conversion to make it 7-3.
But from that point, Albion, with their back-row and Martin Rice particularly impressing, started to get some control of the game.
They took advantage of penalties giving away by the home side to make ground and kept the ball much better than they had in the first half.
And in the 70 minute they went back in front. With Arran Cruickshanks, Wayne Sprangle, Graham Dawe, Ryan Hopkins and Ross Laidlaw on the field, Albion had a five-metre line-out.
The won the ball and were about to drive when the referee blew up for another penalty following an infringement by Rotherham's Matt Challinor, who was duly sin-binned.
With the extra man, Albion went for another line-out and after good work by the forwards, the ball came to Cruickshanks, who dived over for the try. Hallett converted to put Albion 10-7.
As the clock ran down it looked like Albion might just edge the win, but two minutes into injury-time they gave away a rare penalty and Barlow put over the kick. But the drama was not over yet, as from the restart Albion attacked and got deep into Rotherham's half before the home side gave away the penalty.
Hallett tried to wait for the wind and the boos to die down, but, despite his best efforts, the wind took the pace of his well-struck kick and dropped it agonisingly the wrong side of the bar.
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