In a confrontation that defines the cliché “a game of two halves”, a spirited first half display by the home side secured their victory and a place in the 2007 RLC play offs.
By far the greater sporting spectacle, the second half remained scoreless for the first 30 minutes with great forward clashes aggravated further by late shots and interference from the Titans number 7, Tom Perrin, during his frequent forays from his residence on the flanks. On several occasions the tie was in danger of erupting into mayhem, were it not for the discipline of both sets of forwards during some fantastic Rugby League big hits.
The second half deadlock was however eventually broken with a dive over from a yard out by the evergreen Dan McCormack after some great link up play and a break from Jack Blackley who was just held up a yard out. The Titans hit back straight away with a try of their own from Ian Reynolds, before the Roosters ran in two closing tries, one from Jamie Noble following an Andrew Dean break from dummy half and the second from John Paxton after he broke the line and went 50 yards to score under the posts, embarrassing the Titans full back en route.
The first half was much less of a contest once it became clear that the Roosters had turned out fired up and in a mood to boss the visitors in the middle of the park. It was refreshing to see the Roosters start on top, with some great tackling and some great use of their six tackles. The visitors did not leave their own half for the fist 20 minutes and during that time the home side ran in 2 tries from John Paxton and Charles Paxton.
The third try of the half came straight from the restart after the Titans kick off resulted in a penalty on the half way line. A strong drive from Marco Rossi broke the line and the resulting 40m break and great support play saw James Yeomans touch down under the posts. Further first half tries from Oli Moorhouse, Jamie Noble and the usual Andrew Dean dive over from a yard out gave the home side the 34 – 4 lead from which the visitors would never recover.
Next weeks tie against divisional leaders, Bedford, should be a more stern test of the Roosters resolve, but the confidence they take away from this great display is hopefully a sign of things coming together to set the scene for the upset next weekend away in Bedford.