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Titans snatch late win in chaos
BRISTOL 24 ROTHERHAM TITANS 26
ANDRE Bester's revamped Rotherham Titans snatched a late try by replacement lock Sam Dickinson in their opening Championship against last season's losing final contenders Bristol at the Memorial Stadium.
Confusion ran wild on the pitch as the game went in to 16 minutes of added time as Bristol had a player yellow carded and then two players went off injured and the game went in to uncontested scrums.
Man of the match Nicky Little, a closed season signing from Premiership neighbours Bath, looked to cause damage for Bristol as the Fijian kicked 14 points as well as crossing for the opening try.
The young home side, who topped the Championship table at the end of the regular season before being denied promotion to the top flight by Exeter Chiefs, looked far from the finished article.
The visitors were quickly on the back foot conceding a couple of penalties in their own 22 with Bristol opting to kick to touch with the first and then fly-half Little kick edfor goal with the second from in front of the posts.
Titans fell further behind a couple of minutes later when Little took a tap penalty from the same spot and saw a gap open in front of him to score under the post and add the extras.
But Rotherham hit back through a penalty from Juan Pablo Socino with the inside centre adding the conversion of a try from lock James Sandford from a move started deep inside their own half.
Poor discipline at the breakdown cost Rotherham as midway through the half Little kicked a second penalty followed on the half hour with a try in the left corner from flanker James Merriman.
Former Argentinean U20 utility back Socino attempted to reduce the arrears from out wide on the left, into the wind, but his 40 metre kick hit the crossbar and bounced back.
Bristol went into the break 18-10 ahead before Socino and Little kicked two penalties each in the third quarter before Rotherham full back Richard Welding was sent to the sin-bin for ten minutes for dissent.
In the final five minutes Socino first missed an angled penalty attempt before slotting a 40m kick between the posts to earn a losing bonus point for the visitors.
Bristol were down to 14 men in the closing minutes when replacement lock Mariano Sambucetti was yellow carded with the Titans on the Bristol line and no replacement available for prop Mark Irish.
After several minutes of confusion Bristol restarted with 12 players after wing Dan Norton went off. The game went to uncontested scrums and replacement Sam Dickinson went over for a try, converted by Socino.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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