IN appalling conditions, it was the Titans who came off second best and only had themselves to blame as they threw away a 12 point half-time lead, writes Keith Brooking.  

The Titans were guilty of losing too much ball in contact and not sticking to a game plan that seemed to work for the first 15 minutes.

The Titans started the game with great pace and purpose and after some good clean breaks it was back row Brett Harvey who burst through and powered over to score the try.

The conversion was missed by fly half Toby East, but he made amends five minutes later. 

After a great break by full back Alex Brown, who had a great game on his starting debut in difficult conditions and didn't put a foot wrong all game, he passed inside to Aron Struminski, only for the defender to slap the ball down.

After a consultation with the touch judge the referee produced a yellow card for the full back and also went under the posts for a penalty try - East's conversion it made the score 0-12.

The Titans continued to put the home side under pressure, but it was Barnes who scored next with a penalty before East replied with in kind for the Titans.

The first 15 minutes was all Titans, however they then seemed to switch off and move away from what had proved successful previously. 

This second half was all Barnes with the Titans not scoring again as they made mistake after mistake and handed the game to the hosts. 

Barnes first try came after a poor pass which hit the floor and was then hacked on by the hosts, who won the footrace to score under the posts.

They then kicked a penalty after a botched quick 22 metre drop out, when the taker was tackled man and ball as well as being stripped at the same time.

The penalty was conceded shortly after.

The winning try for Barnes was scored, once again, courtesy of a Titans mistake.

Lewis Webb - who came on at fly half tried to inject some pace into the game - spilt the ball in contact and the ball fell straight into the arms of the Barnes scrum half who had the pace to race 60 meters and score under the posts for a converted try.

Barnes deserved the victory, thanks mainly to superior ball retention.

They managed to hold on to the ball whenever they had it, where as the Titans let it slip out of their grasp, much like any chance they now have of challenging for the top two at the end of the season.