Exiles up to second place

Rotherham Titans 10 London Irish 15

London Irish powered into second place in the Zurich Premiership as they sent Rotherham crashing to a 12th successive defeat at a rain-lashed Millmoor today.

Rotherham, though, did at least have the consolation of finally scoring their first bonus point of the campaign following a try by wing Michael Wood with just minutes left.

Tries at either end of the first half from Michael Horak and Paul Gustard were enough to take the Irish ahead of the closely-knit pack chasing leaders Bath.

The Titans latest recruits to their multi-national side, Giscard Pieters, Reinier Volschenk, Ryno van der Merwe and Brad McLeod-Henderson, were given a squelching welcome to England having swapped South Africa for the delights of South Yorkshire.

And it took only a few minutes for Volschenk to concede his first penalty although outside-half Mark Mapletoft sent his kick wide of the posts.

Minutes later, however, the diminutive Mapletoft made amends as he shimmied his way through the Rotherham defence before sending a perfectly timed pass for full-back Horak to register the visitors opening try.

It seemed as though Horak’s score would be the only one of a first half that was predictably punctuated with handling errors as both sides struggled to counter conditions that had put the game in doubt.

Though wing Paul Sackey thought his momentum had taken his over after he chased a deft chip ahead by Horak and number eight Phil Murphy was only denied a try by a bone-jarring tackle by flanker van der Merwe.

But a couple of minutes into injury time, replacement flanker Gustard skipped through a weak challenge on the Rotherham 22-metre line before running unimpeded under the posts. Mapletoft added the conversion.

There was still time for McLeod-Henderson to be sin-binned by referee Tony Spreadbury for infringing once too often. Mapletoft added the conversion to seemingly end the afternoon as a contest as the Irish went into the interval with a commanding 15-0 advantage.

Scrum-half Guy Easterby, back from Rugby World Cup duty with Ireland, and centre Peter Jorgenson produced flashes of inspiration for a Rotherham side struggling in the highest echelon of English club rugby.

Outside-half Jon Benson finally gave the home supporters something to cheer with a penalty early in the second-half. It sparked a mini-revival and a mini-fracas among the forwards which forced Spreadbury to call the captains together.

But despite the constant probing of Easterby, Rotherham looked set to miss out on the coveted bonus point until an Irish move was intercepted on the half-way line and replacement outside-half Phil Jones put Wood through 40 metres out.

The wing slithered over the line as Sackey attempted to force him into touch. And it still needed a perfectly-judged kick from Jones for Rotherham to finally break their Premiership points duck.