A late try by Exeter-bound Chris Cracknell had given hope to the travelling band of Pirates supporters of a trademark last gasp Pirates win from behind, that until that point had looked increasingly unlikely. Rotherham had other ideas though, and promptly quashed any audacious ideas their guests may have entertained, soon after their own restart with a second forwards-lead try at the death by Corrigan.

In the end it was a case of justice seeing to be done, as anything other than perhaps a losing bonus point for the Cornishman would have been harsh on their hosts. The Titans may not have seriously threatened the Pirates' try line too often, but their industry and tenacity in conditions that demanded such had been impressive, and victory was nothing less than warranted given that they had two serious chances all match, and took them.

The Pirates had arrived on the back of their nine try romp over Doncaster the previous weekend and looked ready for the expected battle. They did though suffer an early setback when one of their numerous talismen in the pack, Senekal; limped off after barely 17 minutes had passed. From hereon, the shape around the breakdown in particular, struggled to find any consistency to provide their flyers anything to play with; a feature that on current form could have turned the whole outcome of this match on it's head.

The half progressed in increasingly deteriorating conditions with the Pirates looking the most incisive going forwards but were unable to capitalise despite the best efforts of Winn and Devlin to find a gap somewhere. Steenson too was handed several opportunities by a sympathetic Mr Wigglesworth to kick for an attacking lineout, only to see the Titans pack plug the gaps and snub out any threats in this department.

The best chance of dotting down came to Devlin who won the foot race with McAtee to Cowley's deft little grubber kick inside the Titans 22 towards the right corner. Sadly he could no more than help the ball over the deadball line, but the moment was encouraging for better things to come.

Rotherham in the meantime had done enough to earn a 6-0 lead via two penalties by full back and skipper, Whitehead; the second of which following a clash between Cumming and Cochrane on the half hour mark. As the latter lay prostrate and awaited the 'magic sponge' to do it's stuff, and with the home crowd baying for blood; it seemed a reduction in numbers for the visitors would ensue. It didn't; much to local infuriation. However, the relief induced surge at the end of the half from the Pirates wasn't enough to produce any points to close the gap before the break.

At the turnaround and with the elements more in their favour, the Pirates restarted and set about trying to replicate the outcome of last seasons corresponding fixture. Then, a quickfire try by Cattle had inspired a 24-18 reverse that took his side to the top of the table. This time around, and with a smaller advantage to defend, the Titans were in need of some major shovelling, which even included some gamesmanship on the sidelines, highlighted by Elloway's plea for someone from his bench on the opposite side of the pitch to bring a towel over to clean the ball prior to any Pirate lineout!

That though was of minor consequence and appeared to be backfiring on the perpetrators as the Pirates gradually began to get some kind of handle on proceedings.

A Steenson penalty ten minutes into the half gave some reward and soon after the signal for intent from the Bench was made with Tuohy's introduction for Bolt. Last weeks hero in many eyes, McAtee, came in from the wing and stepped into the scrum half berth to try and inject a little more urgency.

The effect was immediate as he and Steenson began to combine well and create some options. The downside to McAtee's impact was the increased attention he received on and off the ball which mainly went un-noticed. Elloway's intervention to one such occasion almost cost him his right to remain on the pitch and it should be deemed a wise move from Hewitt to replace him soon after with young hooker, Daviduik, who settled in quickly to the task.

Rotherham though had by this time stretched their lead to ten, owing to a lapse in concentration in the Pirates defence following a missed Whitehead penalty on to which flanker Jacobz pounced to turn a possible three points into five. Whitehead made ammends immediately with a further two to now make it 13-3 in his sides favour.

With less than twenty minutes remaining some more fresh legs were introduced in the shape of Motusaga and Heard for Betty and Seal respectively. More impetus was subsequently found but still without that cutting edge needed to crack Roth's gang-tackling approach that was holding firm. Time and again the Pirates pressed only to be sent packing to try and regroup with the clock relentlessly ticking against them.

When Cracknell finally crashed over with the help of a few friends, and Steenson converted to bring it back to 10-13 barely three minutes remained. We've seen it before.....

....But not on this occasion surely as the Titans snatched back possession soon after their own restart? Pick and go was the order of the day as the line soon beckoned and brought about an attacking 5m scrum. As if to gain revenge for a similar steal by Roth in the first half, it went against the head only to be reset. Moments later and the writing on the wall became fact, as replacement hooker Corrigan sealed the Pirates' fate.

Whitehead's kick was the final action of the day and the Titans rightful celebration could begin. A miserable day was completed with news of Doncaster getting back to winning ways and Nottingham gaining a losing bonus point at Saints. But try telling that to the fans who were enjoying the local hospitality in the clubhouse after...Business as Usual it would seem after all!

Cornish Pirates 10
15 Adryan Winnan 14 Rhodri McAtee, 11 Jimmy Moore
13 Paul Devlin 12 Steve Winn
10 Gareth Steenson 9 Richard Bolt
8 Tim Cowley (Capt) 7 Sam Betty 6 Chris Cracknell
5 Bruce Cumming 4 H. Senekal
3 Dan Seal 2 Rob Elloway 1 A. Paver

Replacements From:
D. Dawidiuk, P. Cook, S. Heard, M. Evans, I. Motusaga, O. Thomas, B. Tuohy, S. Parsons.
Try: Cracknell
Con: Steenson
Pen: Steenson

Rotherham 20
15 Mike Whitehead , 14 Jon Feeley, 11 Errie Claassens
13 Jamie Blackwood, 12 Mark Lawson
10 Tom Allen, 9 Chris Hallam
1 Stuart Corsar, 2 Nigel Conroy, 3 Ben Prescott
4 Louis McGowan, 5 Dan Smith
6 Barry Jacobsz, 7 Neil Cochrane, 8 Alex Dunlop

Replacements from:
Jamie Kilbane, Kevin Corrigan, Jonathan McMillan, Simon Bunting, Frazer Wilford, Ryan Burrows, Jamie Sutton, Neil Chivers, Jamie Lennard, Vereniki Goneva, Stephen Grissing

Tries: Jacobz, Corrigan
Cons: Whitehead 2
Pens: Whitehead 2

Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Touch Judges: Dave Edmunds, Barry Dalby