With the weather more suited to April with persistant torrential rain throughout the day and into the evening everyone who braved the lashing rain deserved a medal for their dedication to rugby league and the support of their teams. The kick off at the Imperial Ground was delayed for some 30 minutes due to an accident on the M5 which meant Titans arrived late but when the teams took to the field the crowd knew they were in for an exciting evening of rugby.
For the first 10 minutes, there were some good end to end attacking plays by both sides but then the deadlock was broken when Titans were penalised for a high tackle on Eagles Tony Emmins. Three tackles later, Jonny Boltrukiewicz crashed over under the posts, Rich Cadywould converting giving the Eagles a 6 point lead. Titans replied with a try by Matt Anstis, kicking his own conversion to level the score.
On the half hour, Titans took the lead with Anstis kicking a penalty followed by a try for Matt Tichias converted by Anstis.
5 minutes on the Eagles replied when Cadywould offloaded the ball to Emmins, who broke through the defence to pass on to Sean Lovett who ran in under the posts, Cadywould converting.
The game was fast and furious with hard running from both Titans and Eagles Tony Emmins, Andy Melbourne and Dave McCarthy.
The last 2 minutes of the half saw Titans Tichias score his second try, converted by Anstis, the Eagles replying following a well worked move from the scrum. Emmins peeled the ball, fed to Lovett and with Jack Downie on hand to receive the pass on the halfway line,he raced down the touchline spurred on by a cheering crowd to dive over in the corner, but the difficult conversion fell short.
This gave the Titans a slender 4 point lead at the break.
The introduction of Titans Gav Boak at the start of the second half saw him crash over in the corner in the first 3 minutes of the game and minutes later Eagles Cadywould’s long chip ahead was chased up by Lovett but the kick was just too long for Lovett to be able to ground the ball.
10 minutes in and Boak broke through the Eagles defensive line for his second try, Anstis adding the extras. The Titans strong defence was now starting to dominate the Eagles forcing errors and providing opportunities for attack and on 20 minutes, Titans increased their lead to 31 – 16 with an Anstis drop goal.
Eagles Rich King was unlucky not to score in the far corner when the referee deemed a double movement but on the half hour, Eagles Garry Hooper took a quick penalty and made a solo run to touch down under the posts but Cadywould’s conversion kick, taken as a drop goal, was disallowed by the referee. Just before referee Steve Davis blew for time, a last ditch run by Jascha Saeck who grounded the ball in the corner was not given when the touch judge said the ball was knocked on and the final score Titans 31 Eagles 20 left a disappointed Eagles side but they must now keep focused on winning the league title.
The Man of Steel trophy was awarded by the RFL officials to full-back Garry Hooper
Eagles Squad: Garry Hooper, James Holman, Jack Downie, Jascha Saeck, Rich King, Sean Lovett, Rich Cadywould, Andy Melbourne, Dave Mccarthy, Rich Sharp, Mike Wilson, Jonny Boltrukiewicz, Tony Emmins, Paul Flower, Marc Briggs, Jack Westlake, Olly Turton
Tries: Boltrukiewicz, Lovett, Downie, Hooper
Goals: Cadywould 2