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Leeds Reaction
By Tony
April 23 2007
After the magnificent 32-29 victory over Premiership bound Leeds Tykes, we went backstage as it were to get some reaction. Back there we caught up with Titans Head Coach Andre Bester and Club Captain Joe Bedford. For more reaction get your copy of The Rotherham Advertiser this Friday.
LEEDS REACTION

 

Andre Bester

 
Post match a very pumped up Andre Bester said, "The players arrived here as a bunch of rejects, but no one now in this country can say they are rejects. They have proven it against full time side’s week in and week out and to do that against this full time side at Headingley – it’s very special."

Bester continued with a hint of regret in his voice, "At the end of the day rugby is a game where it’s just 15 guys against 15 guys. It’s the second match in a row where we’ve had the same game plan, the only difference is against Doncaster we did not execute it. That was because the players didn’t have the belief and then they started forcing things. Whereas today I was just a little stricter about how we should play and how things should be done."

Finally the South African paid tribute to his players and reflected philosophically about the Championship, "I have to say that I am very proud of them all and to achieve second place is a miracle. I am not disappointed at all, Leeds deserve to go up. They have more wins than us, they have fewer losses than us and they were more consistent than us. And winning Championships is about consistency."


 

Joe Bedford

 
The victory was even sweeter for Rotherham's Leeds born skipper Joe Bedford, "It’s a special day because I’m playing with special people. I knew the boys would turn up today and do myself and Adam (Hopcroft) a big favour and it means a lot to us both to get support like that. It was an immense performance by everyone and to do the double over Leeds Tykes is very special."

Again like his boss, Joe's words were tinged with regret, "It’s devastating though that we are not going to win the
Championship. We had the same game plan today that we put in place for the Doncaster game, but unfortunately we didn’t execute it against Doncaster. We practised all week our kicking game because we didn’t think they would be able to play from deep and we put the squeeze on them."

Joe wanted to make a special mention for man of the match Gareth Steenson, "He’s a special, special player and I’ve backed him all
season, he’s got a fantastic boot on him and he’s single handily won us so many games this season."

Bedford then concluded by paying tribute to the club and to its supporters, "Although I will be playing my rugby next year for my home town club, I will never forget my time at Rotherham. I am sad to leave, it’s a fantastic club and the supporters have been great to me all along. The ovation they gave me today was great and at the end they grabbed hold of me and gave me a hug.
 
 
 
 

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