National Two South

Clifton 19 Taunton Titans 19

TITANS head coach, Tony Yapp admitted his side had ‘gone off script’ in the second half after watching them squander a 14-0 lead to draw 19-19 at local rivals Clifton on Saturday.

Yapp and his players were left to bemoan some ‘sloppy’ play against a side fighting for to ensure their National Two status for another season – and the Titans boss said his players had got ‘a little bit selfish’ when close to the Clifton line.

He said: “We started as well as we have all season, after 20 minutes we were 14-0 up and playing really well, sticking to our game plan and keeping the tempo in our game high, but after 20 minutes things slowly started to change.

“For some reason we started to go off script and got a little bit selfish and a little bit sloppy when we got close to the Clifton try line and due to this we missed the opportunity to build on our early lead.

“On one hand we are pleased to have come away with a draw, but on the other we were very disappointed we didn't win the game comfortably.

“After that great start, Clifton rallied as you would expect from a team fearful of relegation and with probably their only two visits into our 22 came away with 14 points of their own.

“The second half started well but again too often we coughed the ball up to cheaply and were unable to keep the ball through multiple phases.

“With Clifton committed to throwing themselves into everything a couple of penalties against us led to a score and a 19-14 lead going into the last five minutes.

“With a committed Clifton defence it would have been easy to have chucked the towel in but it was great to see the boys finally show what they can do, with Aaron Struminski being put away to level the scores, but unfortunately two minutes later he put the ball down when he looked for all money he was through to score with probably the final play of the game.”

From the kick off it was the Titans that came out the strongest and camped in the hosts half for the first 10 minutes.

With several penalties conceded by Clifton, the Titans kicked on to the corner and from a driving maul moving towards the try line, Dan Frost dived over to claim the first points of the game. Full-back Gary Kingdom added the conversion.

Then, from a lineout, the ball was moved over to the opposite wing and after Aron Struminksi and Nick Mason had been halted short, former Clifton player Jake Caulfield picked up and drove over the line. Kingdom once again added the conversion to open a 14-point lead.

Clifton hit back with two converted tries of their own to level the scores, before taking a 19-14 lead with a third try, courtesy of a driving maul.

The game ebbed and flowed but it wasn’t until the last five minutes that the Titans claimed a third try when, from a standing start, winger Aron Struminski spotted a gap and raced away.

Kingdom’s conversion was unsuccessful, but Titans had a chance to win the game when Struminski had the ball dislodged in a last ditch tackle when close to the Clifton line.