Rotherham Titans 41 Caldy 26
A difficult first half left the Ravers with too much to do at Clifton Lane on Friday night. Caldy produced a spirited response after the break, scoring four tries and putting Rotherham under real pressure, but the Titans’ 26-0 half-time lead proved decisive.
Rotherham started with confidence after home wins over Coventry and Bedford, and winger Jackson Barling soon showed why. He scored twice in a first half dominated by the home side, with prop Zac Nearchou and Welsh winger Ben Cambriani also crossing. Centre Lloyd Hayes added three conversions to give the Titans a commanding advantage.
The Ravers needed to find another gear after the break, and they did. Caldy’s forwards began making regular progress into the Rotherham 22, while the attack found the pace and force that had been missing earlier in the game.
No. 8 Callum Ridgway got the comeback moving, and centre Charlie Hyde crossed twice. Replacement hooker Matt Gallagher added another try after Cambriani was sent to the sin-bin following a series of team offences. With 15 minutes remaining, Caldy had scored four second-half tries and cut the gap to 29-19.
The Ravers were back in the contest, but Rotherham defended well and their pack responded late on, creating pressure close to the Caldy line. A penalty try, awarded after lock Martin Gerrard was sin-binned for collapsing, stretched the lead to 36-19. Barling then broke through in the final minute to complete his hat-trick and make the final score 41-26.
Rotherham director of rugby Harvey Biljon praised Barling’s finishing and his side’s ability to keep going despite injuries. For Caldy, the second-half performance showed what the team could do when it played with pace and force, but the slow start left a mountain to climb.
Head coach Matt Cairns said the Ravers could not afford to give a team a 26-point lead at this level. “We’ve not started a game well so far this year and have got to understand why this happens. We had a chance with 20 minutes to go, but Rotherham were the better team over the 80 minutes.”
The Ravers are back in action at home this Saturday as they take on Ampthill. Buy your tickets at the link below!
Dominant Performance from the 2’s
Caldy 2’s 71-7 Lymm RFC
Caldy’s second team continued their league campaign in emphatic fashion at home to Lymm, running in ten tries for a 71-7 win.
The Ravers made a fast start, with Finnley Davies opening the scoring after three minutes. Finn McGrath crossed twice, while Jack Wilson and Harry Lightfoot also added first-half tries. Max Wilson rounded off the scoring before the break to give Caldy a commanding lead.
Caldy kept up the pressure in the second half. Luke Denn crossed five minutes after the restart, followed by a penalty try and further scores from Charlie Attis, Efan Edwards and Jack Done.
Charlie Attis and Matty Rabbette were among Caldy’s stand-out performers in a strong team display.
Junior Colts through the first round
Sale FC 31-47 Caldy Junior Colts
A solid away performance against a physical and mobile fellow Colts A league team, Sale FC. Leading 19 – 7 at the break Caldy were in control, but credit to Sale they never gave up and came out firing in the second half. Complacency crept in and Caldy leaked a few more tries than we would like. That said we always had that extra bit of quality to ensure the winning margin was maintained. 7 tries scored from Harry Woodley, who also kicked exceptionally well off the Tee, Jasper Smith, Guy Arnott, Kyffin Jones, Haydn Callaghan, Ollie Smith and a try of the season contender from second row Jonathan Shaw, with a chip over, chase and diving touch down.
