Bring out the Bunting! Titans nick it at death

■By GUY WILLIAMS

Rotherham……20

Canterbury……19

THE closest of contests in the relegation battle at Clifton Lane between two of the three bottom clubs was settled in Rotherham's favour in dramatic style in the sixth minute of added time.

A penalty in front of Canterbury's posts was struck successfully by Titans' fly half Morgan Bunting, vital points which not only confirmed Rotherham's first win after seven matches without a victory, but also boosted their confidence in the struggle to avoid dropping into National Two North with 15 games remaining.

Canterbury, dominating possession and territory for almost the entire second half, will be wondering how they lost a game they were so close to winning.

Second-half tries by scrum half Dan Smart and lock Alex Thompson, who'd earlier scored on 19 minutes, appeared to have set up Canterbury's second win.

In addition, they seemed highly capable of defending the 19-17 lead.

However, against the run of play, Rotherham turned over possession deep into injury time, eventually creating raids on Canterbury's line.

The Kent side were penalised, giving Bunting the simplest of kicks which remarkably resulted in a totally unexpected win.

Rotherham, mediocre after the interval overall, did add to their first half tries by No.8 Anthony Maka and full back Sam Allan when Maka charged over for his second on 45 minutes.

But they then collapsed, allowing Canterbury to recover strongly which almost resulted in yet another defeat before Bunting's late intervention.