RUGBY: Titans looking for points at Southend (From This is The West Country)

RUGBY: Titans looking for points at Southend

8:40am Friday 5th October 2012 in Sport

THE latest chapter in Taunton Titans’ vibrant season comes with a visit to Southend tomorrow.

The trip follows closely on the heels of Saturday’s 61-11 defeat at the hands of Henley Hawks and gives Titans the chance to prove the scoreline was not a true reflection of their worth.

The Titans’ Colin Bentley said: “Henley Hawks will win National League Division Two. They had, focus, intensity and a real quality about their game.

“Henley are undoubtedly the best team I’ve ever seen at Hyde Park by a country mile.

“Youthful exuberance, naive errors and the odd half-tackle contributed to giving away easy points early on in the game.

“But let there be no mistake, Taunton did not play badly in this game, Henley were quite simply the ‘real deal’ and just too good for our fledgling team.”

Bentley added: “It must be wearing for fans to hear us claim week on week that Titans are a young team in development.

“We’ve lost four of our first five games, which is hard to bear, but we have played four of the league’s top teams in the first month of the season and that’s a tough ask. The truth is that experienced opposition have proved just too ‘streetwise’ for our new Titans just four months in development.

“Despite results going against us we have had our chances and could have edged three of these games.

“With a little more experience and know-how, Titans could have edged results against Redruth and Hartpury and would have won the day at Shelford.

“We just did not have enough in our young armory to eke out the wins against seasoned old heads.

“Fans who stayed away on Saturday missed a cracking encounter with some really great rugby of real pace, power and quality. “Yes, Titans fell short and made mistakes, but they also made a huge contribution to an exciting encounter. This is how the game should be played, and barring Bath Rugby, I would go so far as to say no other rugby in Somerset comes close to what Titans are serving up at Hyde Park.

“I’m, however, a realist and know we must start delivering winning results soon. The long journey to Southend on Saturday is against us, but travel well and I expect the lads to come back with points in the bag.”