Bishop’s Stortford head coach Tom Coleman on 17-11 National 1 defeat to Rotherham Titans

Tom Coleman felt Bishop’s Stortford were punished for not making more of their first-half opportunities as they lost 17-11 at home to Rotherham Titans on Saturday (February 15).

The head coach saw his side take a slender 8-7 lead into the break before the second-placed visitors came back to win the National 1 contest at Silver Leys.

Stortford did secure a losing bonus point for being with seven of their opponents thanks to Mike Cooke’s late penalty.

“It was a strong first half and I thought we played really well. We had control at points and lost it at others so it was a real back-and-forth sort of tussle,” said Coleman, whose side have dropped one place to ninth.

“To go in leading at the break was good, but I felt we missed a couple of really good opportunities on their line that we had to take advantage of. We ended up paying the price for it.

“Every team has their own unique style and way of playing and we knew exactly what Rotherham were going to do. They’re a very strong side and very good at what they do.

“We knew we had to try to front up in the forwards first and foremost with set-piece and we probably didn’t do that enough.

“[Rotherham] took a stranglehold of the game in the second half right from the off, really, and we couldn’t wrestle it back.”

Stortford, who beat the then leaders Rams the previous week, have this weekend off before another tough-looking double header - away to table-topping Richmond on March 1 and home to fourth-placed Rosslyn Park on March 8.

“The games come thick and fast. We’ve got a week off, which is nice, and then we’ve got two of the top three or four teams again,” said Coleman.

“There’s no respite, but we’re still confident in the group and know we can beat those sides if we turn up and put our game plan in place. We’ll be looking to do that.”