Taunton Titans v Loughborough Students

The Former Players attending their annual lunch must surely have been making comparisons relating to their tries whilst playing and in so doing must be admiring the legacy that has passed on to this team.  They were treated to fourteen tries with the Titans scoring nine and Loughborough five.  Possession was key and Loughborough did not have any for the first ten minutes of play. It was therefore no surprise when after two minutes Loughborough conceded the penalty and Tom Putt kicked to the corner.  The Titans secured the ball and mauled to the line, only some good, committed defence by the students was keeping the Titans out but Isacc (sniffer) Dalton picked up from the base of the maul and nothing was stopping him scoring the opening try which Putt converted.  The Titans continued to dominate possession recycling the ball and going through the phases, the handling was outstanding between both the forwards and backs which created the overlap for Jay Toogood to score the second try.  With 10 minutes on the board Loughborough gained their first possession and tested the Titans defence which held firm in so doing they knocked on and so came the first scrum.  The Students scrum went back at a rate of nots and the Titans gained the penalty. The kick to touch and the Titans retained possession causing desperate defence by the Students and gave away yet another penalty on fifteen minutes.  Scott Gibson got his hands on the ball, a quick tap, a dummy and accelerate away his pass then to Ben Heath allowed him to accelerate and completely out pace the defence.  Tom Putt added the extras and after just sixteen minutes the Titans had a nineteen-point lead.  The Titans then seemed to change their gameplan and instead of retaining possession they adopted a kicking game which gave the Students more possession and they looked threatening with the ball in hand.  On twenty minutes the Titans kicked and the Students fullback Connor Cross fielded the ball  and using his size and pace sprinted a goodseventy metres to score a solo try which Ben Webb converted.  With the half hour of the game gone we againsaw the brilliance of scrum half Gibson who sold the dummy and sprinted through the gap, sent the defence one way then the other to score a deserved individualtry which Putt converted to give the Titans a try bonus point in the game.  With just four-minutes of the half left the Titans were awarded a scrum and they pushed the Students back, “Toots” picked up and made the break before passing to Freddie Elliot for the try.  With the final whistle about to go to bring the first half to a close, the Titans were awarded a penalty which Putt opted to kick at goal.  With the kick successful the half closed with the Titans 34 to Loughborough 7.

The second half started with Loughborough having more possession and the Titans conceding the penalty.  Loughborough kick to touch and win the lineout and with the ball coming wide to wing Louis Nancekivell, he races in for the try with just three-minutes of the half gone.  The Titans reverted to their previous tactics with ball in hand and going through the phases and from a maul on the stand side,close to the touch line, Scott Gibson, who became “Man of the Match”, sold an immense dummy and raced through the gap with the last line of defence to beat he passed to Freddie Elliot for the try. Just three-minutes later and Freddie latched on to a Loughborough mistake, picking up the ball and racing in for a try in the corner which gave him three for the game and his second consecutive hat trick in two home games.  Just three minutes after Loughborough showed their handling ability for their centre Henry Hawkins to score the try which Cross converted.  So, the ebb and flow continued when just three minutes after that Dan Martin the Titans centre made a decisive break before passing to Freddie who went right up to the last line of defence before passing back to Dan for the try which Tom Putt converted totake the Titans points to over fifty.  Festival rugby continued and after just another three minutes Loughborough’s number nine went in for the Students bonus point try. In twelve-minutes the crowd and Former Players had been treated to five well taken tries.  These were not the last for on seventy-eight-minutes Nancekivell went in for his second try for Loughborough and their fifth and just a minute later Andrew Humberstone crossed the line for the Titans, scoring their ninth of the afternoon bringing the game to a close.

Whilst we celebrate the fun of the afternoon and where else could you get such excitement for just £15 entry fee, we must also say a big thank you to two of our centres.  Nick Mason is retiring after a very long and valued service to the playing side of the club but will still be in his role of Marketing Manager in the club.  Ben Heath, one of our three players from Ulster is off to Australia where his parents tell me he will be joining up with Harry Wright, so, I hope you will join with me in wishing them well in their journey’s.  More seriously we need to look to next week when the Titans travel to Hinkley who demolished Luctonians last week.  We know the Titans have the ability so we wish them all well.  For those staying it would be nice for you to come to the club and support the Warriors.  They have a very challenging game against Midsomer Norton who are flying high in the league.  Kick off 2.30pm so please come and lift some extremely good talent in the Warriors.

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