Rotherham Phoenix overpowered Old Grovians with a strong display by the forwards. Rotherham played a mature game against the second in the league and controlled the game throughout, Grovians threw everything they had at Phoenix but some stout defence by both forwards and backs stopped Grovians crossing the line. During the first half the game had an end to end feel with both teams attacking, but some clever kicks into space and outstanding work by the Phoenix forwards saw Grovians being penalised on numerous occasions for infringments in the rucks. One of these saw Rotherham kicking to touch for a line out 10 metres from the Grovians try line, an excellent throw by Scott Crookes and catch by Ben Hastie saw the ball passed to the blindside and Charlie Brookes barrelled through 4 defenders to score in the corner. Tom Jenkinson missed the difficult touchline conversion, however a clean take at the restart and clever kicks into space put Phoenix back into Grovians 22. Another infringment from Grovians saw Rotherham being awarded a penalty infront of the posts, Jenkinson slotted the kick and Phoenix went into half time 8 - 0 up. During the second half Rotherham were twice reduced to fourteen men, however their strong defence was unable to be breached by Grovians. The Rotherham forwards again showed their power and destroyed the Grovians scrums. The Rotherham backs kept the game tight constantly turning the Grovian backs with kicks to the corner. Outstanding play again by the forwards provided good ball for the Phoenix backs and a clever break by Simon Duke down the blind side saw the ball being popped to Andy Stewart and culminated with Pete Robinson crashing over for his 3rd try of the season. Grovians could not get back into the game and Rotherham kept them camped in their own half for the remainder of the match.
Rotherham entertain Marist next week on Clifton Lane in the league kick off at 3pm