Rotherham Titans went toe to toe with leaders Richmond in a pulsating battle, before a last gasp try from winger Chidera Obonna saw them go down 31-29 on a cool afternoon at The Athletic Ground.
In this nine try thriller Rotherham crossed the whitewash 4 times with Jamie Cooke grabbing a brace and Aidan Shortall and Charlie Capps grabbing one each: Lloyd Hayes added 9 points from the tee.
Match report to follow.
Rotherham Titans continued their fine run of form with a narrow but fully deserved 15-12 win over a resolute Blackheath side on a wet and windy afternoon at Clifton Lane.
With the game going into the final play Rotherham worked the ball infield, allowing fly half Corben Ollivent to seal the match in dramatic fashion with a drop goal.
The thrilling finale sent the faithful in the Shed into raptures because they knew a very good side had just been beaten.
The game was always going to be an attritional affair due to the weather, particularly with gusts of wind reaching 50 mph at times. Nevertheless, both sides gave their all right up to the end in a brutally physical battle.
It was the visitors who took the lead inside the opening 15 minutes when a high clearance kick from Blackheath was gathered and quickly recycled along the backline for Jake Lloyd to finish off in the corner for an unconverted try.
Despite this setback Rotherham remained calm and started to build some pressure as they enjoyed the lion’s share of territory and possession.
The pressure eventually told and lead to a fine try when following some heavy work from the pack the ball was flung out to the backs, with the final pass from Ronnie Du Randt finding winger Aidan Shortall who dived over in the corner to level the score.
The momentum Rotherham enjoyed towards the end of the first half carried into the second half and this resulted in another try when on 47 minutes JB Bruzulier showed great awareness to dive over from the base of a ruck. Lloyd Hayes converted from in front to make it 12-5.
Blackheath are a quality side and a response was inevitable. Twelve minutes from time following some good work by their pack, the ball was quickly spun out wide for Jake Lloyd to dot down for his second try. Incredibly Tom Ffitch nailed the conversion with an outstanding kick to level the game once again.
As the match went deep into injury time it looked as if the teams would share the spoils.
However, with one final huge effort Rotherham manoeuvred the ball downfield and ultimately into a position where Corben Ollivent was able to calmly slot over the dramatic drop goal winner.
The hard-earned victory keeps Rotherham in third spot, six-points behind league leaders and next opponents Richmond. So, the focus will immediately shift towards what will be Titans toughest test to date.
Commenting after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“I think you had two very committed teams out there today, both teams will feel that and they’ll be some sore bodies tomorrow and on Monday, because it was pretty physical.
“I was pleased with the way we went about our business, although Blackheath deserved their first score, but the score we took in that top left-hand corner, to push the pass in these conditions was brave and we executed the skill, so I was really proud that we took that score.
“We knew it was going to be tough; we built into the game which was good and it was good to get ahead and we built some momentum. But we had one or two things just not go our way and I think the momentum swung back to Blackheath and they took a score and took a kick in crazy conditions and then it came down to those last few minutes.
“The territory told and we had two chances to win the game; we had a shot to take at goal from a previous penalty, but we took it with a drop goal.
“What pleased me was we found a way to go and get a result.”
Titans: Shortall (T), Bruzulier (T), Hayes (1C), Ollivent (1DG)
Blackheath: (Lloyd (2T), Ffitch (1C)
Yellow Card: None
Attendance: 250
Referee: Ben Wood
Assistant Referees: Llyr Apgeraint-Roberts & Matt Daubney
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Tomasi Tanumi (Naylor 37) (Tanumi 43), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Aidan Shortall, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps © (Kivalu 70), 2 Luke Cole, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Frankie Gascoigne (Bergmanas 70), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor, 7 Zak Poole © (Thomas 40), 27 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Alastair Donkor, 28 Ellis Thomas, 21 James Naylor.
Blackheath: 15 Jake Hennessey, 14 Jake Lloyd, 13 Leo Fielding, 12 Markus Burcham, 11 Matt Armstrong (Hirskyj-Douglas 56), 10 Oli Burgess (Ffitch 49), 9 Jordan Burns, 1 Archie Holland, 2 Billy Harding (Witchell 74), 3 Andrew Boye (Marsh 56), 4 Finlay O’Sullivan (Cavubati 53), 5 Mike Etete, 6 Josh Smart, 7 Noah Sloot 8 Tom Baldwin ©.
Replacements: 16 Alex Witchell, 17 Rory Marsh, 22 Tex Cavubati, 19 Tom Ffitch, 20 Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas.
Rotherham Titans put in a brilliant display to overcome a determined Rams outfit 21-14 on a sodden afternoon at Clifton Lane.
With running rugby almost impossible both teams defence came to the fore as the sides shared 4 tries with Titans dot downs coming from Rob Povey and Aidan Shortall whilst Lloyd Hayes added 11 points from the tee.
At times Rotherham’s defence was forced to graft hard to keep the league leaders out and it was a task they almost always succeeded in.
Rams had the better of the early exchanges, but the saturated conditions made handling difficult, and errors were almost inevitable from both sides.
In a fiercely competitive first half it wasn’t until the 21st minute that the deadlock was broken when following a period of forward pressure, Rams centre Solodrau Radianirova broke through to score under the posts for Fraser Honey to convert.
Titans Curran Maguire was sent to the bin for 10 minutes at this point for his sides repeat offending in trying to keep Rams out.
Credit to Rotherham though, whilst a man down they actually won the next 10 minutes with a Lloyd Hayes penalty!
Indeed, as the half wore on Rotherham became more threatening and began to impose themselves on the game.
Their endeavours were rewarded late in the half when Hayes knocked over another penalty to send his side in at the break trailing 7-6.
With the elements now in Titans favour they wasted little time in making them count as fly half Rob Povey skated through the Rams defence to dot down for a converted try.
Rotherham had the better of things for much of the second half, but Rams aren’t top of the league for no reason.
Just after the hour mark and following more pressure from the Rams pack, blindside flanker James McRae, with a little help from his friends, dotted down for a converted try to put his side back ahead at 14-13.
Undeterred, Titans work rate remained high as they kept Rams under pressure which in turn forced the visitors into errors.
Ten minutes from time one such error saw Lloyd Hayes knock over his third penalty to put Roth back ahead 16-14.
Just two minutes later Rotherham pushed further ahead when winger Aidan Shortall finished off in the corner after receiving a pass from Hayes; the latter narrowly missed the extras from the touchline.
Rams went in search of a score that would potentially give them a share of the spoils with a converted try.
However, the Titans defence was majestic as they repeatedly repelled the marauding Rams and when referee Owen Taylor blew for time, Rotherham rightly celebrated their deserved victory.
Commenting after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“Firstly, I’d like to say a big thanks to the ground staff for getting the game on. In terms of the match you can see why Rams are the league leaders, they really took it to us, particularly in the first half, but actually throughout the entire game.
“The squad had quite a bit of adversity this week in terms of being able to train; we couldn’t train because of the snow and ice and we couldn’t do live mauls or any live scrummaging and we had very little opportunity to do much.
“So, we really do have to give credit to the boys for the character, the resilience and determination that they put in. They came together as a squad and they really did deserve their victory today.”
Titans: Povey (T), Shortall (T), Hayes (1C, 3P)
Rams: Radianirova (T), McRae (T), Honey (2C)
Yellow Card: Maguire (Titans)
Attendance: 250
Referee: Owen Taylor
Assistant Referees: Ben Rayner & Jason Garrick
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Aidan Shortall, 10 Rob Povey (Ollivent 73), 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps © (Kivalu 61), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 63), 3 Andrew Foster (Donkor 61), 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Zak Poole ©, 7 Ellis Thomas, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Alastair Donkor, 26 John Okafor, 20 Corben Ollivent.
Rams: 15 Zach Clow (Lamb 54), 14 Axel Kalling-Smith, 13 Solodrau Radianirova, 12 Rowan Grundy, 11 Tomasz Pozniak, 10 Fraser Honey, 9 Ollie Cole (Murray 54), 1 Antony Marris (Harris 40), 2 Max Hayman ©, 3 Ryan Lomas (Baker 40), 4 Nile Dacres, 5 Dan Swain, 6 James McRae, 7 Tom Vooght, 8 Robbie Stapley (MacRae 46).
Replacements: 17 Patrick Harris, 18 James Baker, 19 Morgan MacRae, 20 Jake Murray, 21 Andrew Lamb.
Rotherham Titans secured a well-deserved 35-30 victory over a dangerous Sedgley Park side on a grey afternoon at Park Lane.
The bonus point win saw each team score 4 tries with Titans dot downs coming from Rob Povey, Jack Bergmanas, Zak Poole and Luke Cole, with Lloyd Hayes adding 15 points from the tee.
The win was a hard fought one and keeps Rotherham third ahead of the league leaders Rams visit to Clifton Lane next Saturday.
The game was anticipated to be a closely fought affair and that’s how it transpired as both teams gave their all.
Rotherham took the lead as early as the fourth minute when a nice short pass from Lloyd Hayes found Rob Povey who eyed a gap in the defence to race through and score under the posts. Hayes added the extras.
Back came Park however with winger Rhys Henderson taking advantage down the right hand side to score. Warren Seals missed the conversion to leave his side trailing.
Roth extended their lead shortly after when a powerful drive from over ten metres out saw Jack Bergmanas dot down from the tail for a converted try.
In this seesaw battle Sedgley narrowed their deficit to just two points with a lovely try from Andy Riley after good work in the build up from number 8 Tom Ailes.
The match momentum at this point tilted in favour of the home side. Seals gave Park the lead for the first time with a penalty, before late in the half hooker Adam Mallinson crashed over to score an unconverted try.
Crucially however, with the final kick of the half Titans Lloyd Hayes knocked over a 3-pointer to send his side in narrowly trailing 20-17.
Rotherham would have been concerned 8 minutes into the second period when Henderson grabbed his second try from a Warren Seals cross-field kick to dot down. Seals’ conversion stretched the home sides advantage to 10 points.
Titans would have to dig deep and find an answer if they were to secure just their second ever win at Park Lane.
And indeed they did!
Before the hour mark two converted tries put Rotherham back ahead.
Firstly, captain Zak Poole stretched over to score following some good work by the pack. That was his 49th league try which puts him level with all-time club try scorer John Dudley.
Then Harry Newborn broke away on halfway before finding Luke Cole in support, he collected and showed good pace to charge in from 30 metres.
Two late penalties from Lloyd Hayes extended Roth’s lead to 35-27 and crucially beyond a converted try.
However, with the last kick of the game Warren Seals bagged a penalty to give Sedgley Park a deserved 2nd bonus point for their efforts.
Titans would have been relieved but delighted with their victory. The only blight on the afternoon was Harry Newborn being stretched off with a nasty looking injury.
Speaking after the game Harvey Biljon reflected:
“What a performance away from home to get 5 points against a team that really fronted up and you’ve got to give Sedgley Park their credit.
“For me the impressive part was how we showed composure throughout the game. We never looked flustered, we remained calm and we just worked our way up the pitch and then went and got our scores.
“When you come up against a team that has the ability to score from anywhere, they are going to get scores against the run of play and that’s what they did.
“On the whole our control and composure was key, as was taking our opportunities when they came; whether that be three or five points.
“However, we’ll go away and address a couple of things, because there is always one or two elements where you can go away and train on them during the week to make sure we are better.
“But overall I was pleased with what we did today and Sedgley deserved their 2 points.”
Titans: Povey (T), Bergmanas (T), Poole (T), Cole (T), Hayes (3C, 3P)
Sedgley Park: Henderson (2T), A. Riley (T), Mallinson (T), Seals (2C, 2P)
Yellow Card: Bustin & Capps (Titans)
Attendance: 400
Referee: Henry Pearson
Assistant Referees: Kieron Henry & Paul Fincken
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Aidan Shortall, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey, 9 James Naylor (Bruzulier 46), 1 Loma Kivalu (Capps 40), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 42), 3 Alastair Donkor (Foster 40), 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Zak Poole ©, 7 Harry Newborn (Gascoigne 61), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 30 Charlie Capps ©, 18 Andrew Foster, 27 Frankie Gascoigne, 20 JB Bruzulier.
Sedgley Park: 15 Andy Riley, 14 Rhys Henderson, 13 Matt Law, 12 Matt Riley © (Glasse 70), 11 Albert Bradshaw, 10 Warren Seals, 9 Matt Sturgess, 1 John Blanchard (Downham 32) (Blanchard 60), 2 Adam Mallinson, 3 Tye Raymont (Rylance 32) (Raymont 60), 4 Bob Birtwell, 5 Connor James, 6 Braemar Murray (Deans 24), 7 Lewis Bradley, 8 Tom Ailes.
Replacements: 16 Austin Downham, 17 James O’Connell, 18 Danny Rylance, 19 Oliver Glasse, 20 Isaac Deans.
Rotherham Titans were forced to graft hard in defence before grabbing a 18-17 victory with a last-kick-of-the-match penalty from Lloyd Hayes on a grey afternoon at Clifton Lane.
The teams shared 4 tries with Rotherham’s scores coming from Luke Cole and Rob Povey, whilst Lloyd Hayes added 8 points from the tee.
The foundation for this hard-fought victory was built on an epic defensive display by Rotherham.
However, full credit must be extended to Plymouth; they came to Clifton Lane and almost conquered on the back of a valiant effort which saw them spend long periods in the Rotherham half of the pitch.
Indeed, they deservedly took the lead inside the opening 5 minutes when hooker Rhys Williams dotted down from the tail of a catch and drive close to the line.
Titans soon responded though when following a period of forward pressure the ball arrived with hooker Luke Cole who dived over to level the scores.
Against the run of play Rotherham went ahead on 20 minutes when fly half Rob Povey intercepted a pass 5 metres from his line and raced the length of the field to score.
Rotherham spent the remainder of the half on the back foot as Albion powered forward with their big pack. Incredibly however they managed to keep them out under the severest of pressure and often on their own line.
If Roth were hoping to turn the tide in the second half they would have been disappointed. Albion continued where they’d left off in the first half as they dominated most of what went on.
Eventually the pressure told just after the hour mark when the dam broke and Plymouth were awarded a penalty try to take the lead.
Not long after Titans Lloyd Hayes and Albion’s Tom Putt traded penalties to leave the score at 17-15 to the visitors.
In a final twist however, in the very last play of the game Rotherham were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Up stepped Hayes to nail the kick and secure an unexpected win.
Whilst Albion will no doubt feel they let this one get away, the Rotherham players can be proud of their commitment to stay in the game and their desire to put their bodies on the line to grab the win.
Commenting after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“I think for the supporter watching a team win with the last play of the game is always exciting and feels rewarding, but I think this is one of those occasions where Plymouth came here and obviously really fronted up. You could see the emphasis they put in around the set piece, the scrum and the maul in particular.
“But then I’ve got to look at the reaction of our players; I thought our defensive sets and the length of time we were in those defensive sets was exceptional.
“I think the way we problem solved through the adversity of the yellow cards was really great as was the fact that in the 81st minute we could still go and find field position to earn a penalty to win the game.
“That’s what it means stepping up; the game is about small margins and today not a lot went our way, we didn’t have a lot of possession, we didn’t have a lot of territory and you’ve got to give Plymouth credit for the way they brought the game to us, but we’ll go away with a well earned and well-fought four points.”
Titans: Cole (T), Povey (T), Hayes (1C, 2P)
Plymouth Albion: Williams (T), Penalty try, Putt (1C, 1P)
Yellow Card: Capps, Thomas, Bergmanas (Titans)
Attendance: 250
Referee: Ben Rayner
Assistant Referees: Adam Carpenter & Jason Garrick
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Aidan Shortall, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps ©, 2 Luke Cole, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Zak Poole ©, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Ellis Thomas, 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Andrew Foster, 19 Harry Gilson-Fox, 20 James Naylor.
Plymouth Albion: 15 Tom Putt, 14 Shae Cornish, 13 Archie Hill, 12 Israel Akinrowo, 11 Craig Duncan, 10 Harry Legg, 9 Jack Oulton (Capt.), 1 Jenson Boughton, 2 Rhys Williams, 3 Dan Pullinger, 4 Jake Clemson, 5 Joel Broadhurst, 6 Angus Hodges 7 Jake Bond, 8 Herbie Stupple.
Replacements: 16 Ben Moa, 17 Harry Wilkinson, 18 Ethan Burger, 19 Morgan Stone, 20 Frankie Dart.
Rotherham Titans bounced back to winning ways with a powerful performance to beat Birmingham Moseley 30-19 on a warm afternoon at Billesley Common.
Both teams gave their all in this tightly fought attritional encounter as they shared 6 tries, with Rotherham’s scores coming from Jamie Cooke, Ronnie Du Randt and Callum Bustin with Lloyd Hayes adding 15 points from the tee.
The win keeps Titans third in the table behind leaders Rams and second placed Richmond as they go into a week off before returning to Clifton Lane to take on Plymouth Albion in a fortnight’s time.
Billesley Common is traditionally a difficult place to go and get a result and it was no different this time around, as Rotherham had to work their socks off to grab the win.
Going down the slope in the first half Titans had to make sure they secured an advantage. However, it was them who had to withstand a barrage of home pressure early on.
Indeed, it wasn’t until just before the 20-minute mark that Lloyd Hayes slotted the opening score with a nicely taken penalty.
Rotherham by now had started to make their mark on the game and they deservedly increased their lead when centre Jamie Cooke demonstrated great desire to barge his way through to score from 25 metres out.
Almost immediately after this a stray pass from Moseley on their own 10-metre line appeared to be going into touch and everyone seemed to stop. However, Titans Ronnie Du Randt was alert enough to hack on downfield and eventually drop on the ball for an enterprising try.
On the stroke of half time Hayes added his second penalty and Rotherham went in for their refreshments with a 20-0 lead.
Moseley going down the slope in the second half virtually guarantees them winning that 40-minutes of rugby and indeed after just 3 minutes they got on the board when flanker Santiago Edwards dotted down from a catch and drive.
The try lifted the spirits and belief of the Midlanders and they tore into the Titans at every opportunity, as they looked to narrow the gap further.
However, Rotherham stood firm and drove the home side backwards on several occasion and when Lloyd Hayes slotted over his third penalty it helped to calm the nerves of the Yorkshire side.
Those nerves were steadied further after the hour mark when JB Bruzulier found debutant Aidan Shortfall on the wing, he made good ground before the ball was popped to number 8 Callum Bustin, who in turn showed tremendous strength to power over from 10 metres. Hayes’ conversion made it 30-7.
Rotherham had opportunities to grab a fourth try which would have secured the bonus point, but equally the home side put in a determined defensive shift when it was called for.
And credit to Moseley for their desire to keep going, as in the final period of the game they were able to pick up two tries from front row forward Lawson Porter and winger Dan Brough.
Nevertheless, Rotherham were pleased to come away with a good win and no doubt the players are looking forward to giving their bodies a bit of a rest with no game next week.
A delighted Harvey Biljon commented post-match:
“We were in a real game; it was one of two halves, but I’m proud of my players in both halves.
“Birmingham Moseley came at us in that first half and we withstood a lot of pressure and then we went and took some great scores.
“In the second half we countered their emotion straight after half time when they scored pretty quickly and we were able to get ourselves back into the game again.
“They say coming here and having to go up the hill in the second half is always difficult, but we were a little bit disappointed that we didn’t come away with the bonus point.
“I was pleased with how the players stuck to task and remained focused throughout the game.
“We identified a few things in training this week and the players were able to implement those things during the game and that was very pleasing.”
Titans: Cooke (T), Du Randt (T), Bustin (T), Hayes (3C, 3P)
Birmingham Moseley: Edwards (T), Porter (T), (Brough (T), Jolly (2C)
Yellow Card: Kivalu (Titans)
Attendance: 703
Referee: Iain Kiy
Assistant Referees: Kieron Henry & Jon Petzing
Titans: 15 Jack Townend (Capps 75), 14 Aidan Shortall, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey, 9 James Naylor (Bruzulier 40), 1 Charlie Capps © (Kivalu 53), 2 Luke Cole (Bergmanas 53), 3 Rikki Stout (30), 4 Zak Poole ©, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Ellis Thomas, 7 Harry Newborn (Cowen-Leak 74), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu (Townend 80), 18 Andrew Foster, 27 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 20 JB Bruzulier.
Birmingham Moseley: 15 Sam Pointon, 14 Dan Brough, 13 Morgan Adderly-Jones, 12 Elliott Creed (Egodo 48), 11 Aquile Smith, 10 Tommy Taylor, 9 Jack Jolly, 1 Joe Foreman (Priest 35), 18 Ryan Roach (Pogson 53), 3 David Langly (Porter 53), 4 Harry Barnes (Smith 55), 5 Harry Butler (Roach 74), 6 Fin Smith (Dawes 33), 7 Santiago Edwards, 8 Ollie Stedman (Capt.) (Barnes74).
Replacements: 2 Ben Pogson, 17 Ethan Priest, 16 Lawson Porter, 19 Morgan Dawes, 20 Tuoyo Egodo.
Rotherham Titans slow start to the game ultimately cost them dearly as they went down 45-34 to a lively Bishop’s Stortford outfit on a mild afternoon at Clifton Lane.
The entertaining contest saw 11 tries scored with the visitors edging the dot downs by 6 tries to 5. Rotherham’s scores came via a brace from JB Bruzulier with one each for Jamie Cooke, Tomasi Tanumi and Harry Newborn. Lloyd Hayes added 9 points from the tee.
Ironically the key to Stortford’s success was in no small part their defence!
Despite conceding 5 tries Bishop’s defensive display was one of the best seen at Clifton Lane for many years.
Rotherham were virtually camped inside the visitors 22 for the majority of the second half and despite having three players sent to the bin for repeatedly offending, Bishop’s still managed to hold out for win and full credit to them for that.
Rotherham will look back at this one and recognise the game was virtually gone inside the opening 30 minutes after Bishop’s scored 5 tries!
Titans did get on the board in the first half with a Jamie Cooke try and a penalty from Lloyd Hayes, but when you go in at the break against a good team trailing 35-8, it’s always going to be difficult thereafter.
Rotherham did respond superbly in the second period and ultimately won the half 26-10, scoring a further 4 tries and collected the bonus point.
But Bishop’s were very smart in how they handled being down to 13 players and cleverly took lots of time out of the game to frustrate Rotherham.
Reflecting after the game Harvey Biljon said:
“It was the classic “game of two halves” and although there’s some who want to talk about the positives and about winning the second half 26-10, but for us if we’re honest, we gave a team that we knew were coming here motivated opportunities and they took those opportunities.
“Although we responded it was too little too late. Our kick execution wasn’t on point, our kick chase wasn’t where it normally is and we’ve thrown the ball to them on a few occasions and then when you give up two cheap scores in the first half and one in the second half, you’re always going to be involved in a losing battle.
“Hopefully we can go away and we can pick those moments, learn from them, learn from a team that came here really motivated and recognised that we have to make sure we stay who we are, we go to Tuesday and we go to Thursday and nothing changes.
“We’ve lost a game of rugby, but importantly we got another point and now we get back into training and build from there.
Titans: Bruzulier (2T), Cooke (T), Tanumi (T), Newborn (T), Hayes (3C, 1P)
Bishop’s Stortford: Rogers (2T), Bolton (T), Biard (T), Mills (T, 1C), Penalty Try, Cooke (4C, 1P)
Yellow Card: Povey & Kivalu (Titans), Ferguson, Smith & Charter (Bishop’s)
Attendance: 250
Referee: Owen Taylor
Assistant Referees: Adam Carpenter & Kieron Henry
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Tomasi Tanumi (Capps 77), 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier (Naylor 76), 1 Charlie Capps (c) (Kivalu 47), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 56), 3 Andrew Foster (Donkor71), 4 Zak Poole (c), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor (Tanumi 80), 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin (Copley 44).
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Ben Copley, 20 James Naylor.
Bishop’s Stortford: 15 David Hayes, 14 Tom Mills, 13 Jack Biard, 12 Austin Pope, 11 Alex Gilham, 10 Mike Cooke, 9 Chris Bolton (Briers 64), 1 Tristan Smith, 2 Alex Rayment (Moffitt 29), 3 Toby Hill (Cilia 40) (Johnson 74), 4 Hamish Ferguson (Charter 71), 5 Fraizer Kiff, 6 Harrison Langworthy, 7 Ollie Jones, 8 Will Rogers (Capt.) (Hill 64).
Replacements: 16 Ollie Moffitt, 17 Josh Cilia, 18 Harry Charter, 19 Sam Johnson, 20 Charlie Briers.
Photo: Gareth Siddons
Rotherham Titans were made to work hard for their 34-17 bonus point win over a very decent Leicester Lions outfit on a bright afternoon at Westleigh Park.
Leicester deservedly led 17-10 at the break after playing some attractive rugby, but a much improved second half performance from Rotherham eventually saw them run out worthy winners.
The South Yorkshire side outscored the hosts by 5 tries to 2 with scores coming via a brace from Ronnie Du Randt and one each for Jack Bergmanas, JB Bruzulier and Jack Hedley with Lloyd Hayes adding 9 points from the tee.
Despite the hosts enjoying the better moments in the first half it was Rotherham that scored first inside the opening ten minutes, when hooker Jack Bergmanas dotted down from the back of a powerful maul.
Leicester quickly responded however when lively fly half Tom Threlfall knocked over a 3-pointer, before centre Aaron Pope finished off a lovely flowing move that began inside the Lions half.
Titans responded and levelled the match when Ronnie Du Randt received the ball out wide before stepping back inside to score.
The home side looked bright and threatening with ball in hand, particularly when Threlfall was involved.
Indeed, it was the fly half who was instrumental in the next score when his dummied pass allowed him to break, which in turn saw the ball arrive with scrum half James Stubbs who dotted down under the sticks.
Despite Rotherham’s efforts they couldn’t add to their tally, and they went in at the break trailing and with much to ponder.
With the reset button pressed the second 40 minutes saw a much improved performance from the South Yorkshire outfit.
Ronnie Du Randt’s converted try early in the second half levelled matters after good work close to the line from Lloyd Hayes.
Titans retook the lead for the first time since the 13th minute on the hour mark when an alert JB Bruzulier sniped over to score, following some powerful work in the build up from centre Jamie Cooke.
A penalty ten minutes from time from Lloyd Hayes crucially stretched Rotherham’s lead to ten points which provided a ‘more than one score ahead’ cushion.
Then just before full time winger Jack Hedley went over in the corner following more good work in the build up from Jamie Cooke, Rob Povey and Ronnie Du Randt.
Rotherham would have been delighted, but relieved to have come away with the win and they will now look to prepare well for the next challenge which Bishop’s Stortford will present at Clifton Lane this week.
Speaking afterwards Harvey Biljon reflected:
“I am really proud of our team, it’s five points away from home in what was a very tough game. I thought the Leicester Lions team were well coached, they had a great game plan in place and they executed it very well. We had to work really hard to get the win and I know Leicester are going to win a lot of games this season.
“All week we spoke about the resilience of Leicester, we seen from their results this season they have come from behind a few times and they did that with their win against Sedgley Park. So, for us from a defensive point of view and how we controlled that second half, it made me really proud of our players.”
Titans: Du Randt (2T), Bergmanas (T), Bruzulier (T), Hedley (T), Hayes (3C, 1P)
Leicester Lions: Pope (T), Stubbs (T), Threlfall (2C, 1P)
Yellow Card: None
Attendance: 239
Referee: Jamie Parr
Assistant Referees: Tim Allatt & Jason Garrick
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Tomasi Tanumi, 10 Corben Ollivent (Povey 79), 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Zach Toerien (Capps 40), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 46), 3 Alastair Donkor (Foster 40), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor (Thomas 76), 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Charlie Capps, 18 Andrew Foster, 19 Ellis Thomas, 20 Rob Povey.
Leicester Lions: 15 George Pearson, 14 Jack Edwards, 13 Aaron Pope, 12 Joe Brock, 11 Jake Sterland, 10 Tom Threlfall (Witheat 28), 9 James Stubbs, 1 Will Roberts (Dawson 61), 2 Oliver Taylor (Allen 46), 3 Isaac Thompson (Romano 46), 4 Lewis Chessum, 5 Ethan Godefroy (Capt.) (Britton 61), 6 Simon Johnson 7 Johnny Murdoch, 8 Reuben Logan.
Replacements: 16 Arthur Allen, 17 Chris Romano, 18 Aaron Dawson, 19 Joey Britton, 20 Rafe Witheat.
Photo: Steve Bott
Rotherham Titans impressed hugely with a stunning performance to beat Dings Crusaders 45-19 on a balmy autumn afternoon at Clifton Lane.
The bonus point victory, Titans fourth in five games, was their best effort of the season and sees them rise into third place in the National 1 table behind big hitters Rams and Richmond.
Rotherham outscored the Crusaders by 5 tries to 3 with John Okafor grabbing a hat trick and Callum Bustin and Loma Kivalu chipping in with one each. Lloyd Hayes continued his impressive form off the tee by adding a further 20 points.
However, it was Dings who started the brighter and they deservedly took the lead inside the opening quarter when a powerful drive from their pack was finished off by hooker Tomos Gwilliam.
It would be fair to say at this stage there were worrying moments for Rotherham to contend with, as Dings pace made them look threatening every time they had the ball.
However, those moments quickly passed as Titans back rower John Okafor grabbed a headline-hitting hat trick.
His first try saw him pick up from the base and charged in from 20 metres to dot down, his second effort a touch less spectacular saw him collect the ball close to the line from JB Bruzulier to crash over and his third saw him carve through the Dings defence to race in for a spectacular score.
Titans had an opportunity to claim the bonus point on the stroke of half time, but a fumbled line out saw the opportunity pass.
Nevertheless, soon into the second half the bonus point was indeed collected when number 8 Callum Bustin, ably assisted by Andrew Foster powered over following a line out.
Hayes extended the home sides advantage shortly after with a penalty before on the hour mark Dings winger Deago Bailey mightily impressed with an individual score under the sticks.
Any jitters the Dings try may have initiated were soon snuffed out, as Rotherham effectively wrapped up the game when prop forward Loma Kivalu finished off a tremendously powerful maul 15 minutes from time.
Two further penalties were added by Hayes to stretch the Titans lead to 45-14, before in the final play of the game, in the sixth minute of injury time, Dings winger Sol Taufa went over in the corner.
Rotherham will have been hugely pleased with their efforts against a very good Dings outfit, but as is such, the focus will quickly switch to next week’s away game at Leicester Lions.
Commenting after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“I think the whole week the players recognised the threat of Dings Crusaders and I have to commend our players for stepping up, especially from a control and concentration point.
“How they controlled when we had the ball and the concentration because of the number of threats that there were in that Dings team, across their front row all the way out to their back three.
“I was really pleased we kept them to three tries, I would have liked it to be two, but you can’t have everything.
“We were composed when we needed to be; we took the 5 points when they were on offer and we took the three points when they were too. We had a really good balance today.”
Titans: Okafor (3T), Bustin (T), Kivalu (T), Hayes (4C, 4P)
Dings Crusaders: Gwilliam (T), Bailey (T), Taufa (T), Knight (1C), Edwards (1C)
Yellow Card: Foot (Dings)
Attendance: 250
Referee: Ben Rayner
Assistant Referees: Jason Garrick & Simon Williams
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Travis Gideon, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 JB Bruzulier (Naylor 70), 1 Charlie Capps (C-C) (Kivalu 58), 2 Luke Cole (Bergmanas 48), 3 Alastair Donkor (Foster 33) (Donkor 77), 4 Zak Poole (C-C), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor (Cowen-Leak 58), 25 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Andrew Foster, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 21 James Naylor.
Dings Crusaders: 15 Tom Foot, 14 Deago Bailey, 13 Harry Rowson, 12 Harry Tarling, 11 Sol Taufa, 10 George Boulton (Capt.) (Smith 54), 9 Tom Knight (Edwards 45), 1 Louie Trevett, 2 Tomos Gwilliam (Gollop 57), 3 Jimmy Halliwell (Ncube 46), 4 Olly Bilton, 5 Will Thompson (Alex Bilton 57), 6 Matt Lane, 7 Aaron Tull, 8 Harry Horne.
Replacements: 19 Tom Gollop, 18 Brian Ncube, 17 Alex Bilton, 21 Sam Edwards, 22 Ollie Smith.
Rotherham Titans were denied a famous victory as Sale scored in the final play of the game to run out 21-17 winners on a bright but at times wet afternoon at Heywood Road.
Sale crashed over from a catch and drive in the fifth minute of injury time and although the referee couldn’t see the ball grounded, the assistant referee gave the try.
Titans crossed the whitewash twice with scores from Charlie Capps and Tomasi Tanumi, with Lloyd Hayes adding 7 points from the tee.
Despite the disappointment of defeat Rotherham can be proud of their efforts against one of the top established sides in the division.
They will now focus their attention on next week’s visit of Ding’s Crusaders to Clifton Lane.
Sale started the game brightly with their early efforts being rewarded on 5 minutes when scrum half Joe Green finished off a nice break from the home side.
The early score in previous times may have sent out an ominous warning to the Titans, but in truth it was Rotherham that enjoyed the lion’s share of territory and possession thereafter; their set piece worked well throughout and once again their pack had the better of things at scrum time.
Indeed, Sale wouldn’t score again until 5 minutes before the end.
Rotherham soon levelled matters when loosehead prop Charlie Capps went over after some powerful work close to the line.
Titans took a deserved lead before the half hour mark when centre Tomasi Tanumi found a gap in the Sale defence to slip through and score.
Before the break Rotherham had opportunities to add to their tally, but credit to Sale as their determined defence managed to keep them out.
Lloyd Hayes extended the South Yorkshire sides lead to 17-7 before the hour mark and at this stage it looked as if Roth would go on to run out comfortable winners.
However, Sale are not a top-end side without just cause.
Having hung-in for much of the second half, their time came on 75 minutes when Stone Priestley-Nangle managed to squeeze through the Titans defence to dot down under the posts to set up a tense finale.
In the final play of the game Sale were awarded a penalty and rather than opting to take the 3 points and draw the game, they took the brave option of kicking to the corner.
From the line out a melee ensued over the Titans line and whilst it seemed as if the ball was held up and as no one appeared to be able to see if the ball was grounded or not, it looked as if the only option available to the referee was to signal held up and blow for time.
Unfortunately for Rotherham the touch judge who was ten metres away was able to advise the referee that a try had been scored.
So the game ended in heartbreak for Rotherham, but they can take pride in their performance and confidence in the knowledge they can compete with the best sides in the division.
Speaking post match Harvey Biljon reflected:
“I think you saw a reaction from Sale today and they put in one hell of a performance and gave us a real battle. I think what was encouraging and what we enjoyed was giving our squad a taste of what a top-end National 1 game feels like and looks like.
“It might be a little bit disheartening when you lose a game in injury time, but at the same time I was really impressed by the effort from our players and I’m excited because we’re still learning and we’ve still got a long way to go.
“There was three or four moments with the officials where we gave away a few penalties and we need to go away and understand how to get on their side, because when you look at it from the touchline you’ve got confusion.
“So it’s how the players take those messages from the referee and make sure they can adapt at the right time.
“I don’t have the answers for our players on a couple of questions they have given me, so I’ve got to go away and find out how we can coach those moments in training through the week.
“However, we have just come away from home to Sale FC and taken a point; no one gave us a hope at the beginning of the season. Let’s get encouraged about taking a point against a very good team and look forward to our next challenge against Dings Crusaders.”
Titans: Capps (T), Tanumi (T), Hayes (2C, 1P)
Sale FC: Green (T), Priestley-Nangle (T), Brown (T), Hunt (3C)
Yellow Card: None
Attendance: 600
Referee: Adam Wookey
Assistant Referees: Adam Carpenter & Michael Harris
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Travis Gideon, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey (Ollivent 34) (Povey 40), 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Capt.) (Kivalu 30) (Capps 46), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 47), 3 Andrew Foster (Stout 30) (Foster 46) (Stout 74), 4 Frankie Gascoigne (Copley 42), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Ben Copley, 20 Corben Ollivent.
Sale FC: 15 Mark Dixon, 14 Obi Ene, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 James Robins, 11 Tom Walsh (Roberts 59), 10 Will Hunt, 9 Joe Green (Street 47), 1 Ben Carlile (Brown 56), 2 Josh Brown (Pope 42), 3 Ciaran Parker (Ford 47), 4 Nick Gray, 5 Evan Mintern, 6 Jos Gilmore (Priestley-Nangle 47), 7 Ciaran Booth (Carlile 68), 8 Andrew Hughes (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Jake Pope, 17 Callum Ford, 18 Stone Priestley-Nangle, 19 Osian Roberts, 20 Sean Street.
Rotherham Titans were made to graft hard before eventually running out 48-19 winners over a dangerous Esher side on a sunny afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Rotherham outscored their Surrey-based opponents by 7 tries to 3 with Lloyd Hayes contributing 23 points after dotting down for a brace and adding 13 points from the tee. Callum Bustin also scored two tries, with Jack Bergmanas, Ronnie Du Randt and Luke Cole completing the scoring.
Titans’ forwards demonstrated their dominance throughout which in turn laid the foundations for a rapid start that saw them race into a 19-0 lead inside the opening 25 minutes.
Two powerful Callum Bustin tries sandwiched one from hooker Jack Bergmanas, all of which came through driving mauls close to the line.
Titans blistering start hit the buffers when two Esher tries in the space of 5 minutes followed. Firstly, second rower Will Inglis charged down a clearance kick and proceed to collect and gallop through, then winger Stan Norman intercepted and raced in to narrow his sides deficit to 19-12.
Stunned by Esher’s quick-fire response Rotherham had to regroup and steady the ship. This they did however and before the break they re-established control when Lloyd Hayes collected just inside the visitors 22 before skipping through to score.
The second half saw Esher start brightly as they moved the ball quickly looking for gaps in the Rotherham defence, which they found on 51 minutes when a short pass arrived with full back Harry Faulkner who charged through to score.
Esher were now enjoying their best period of the game and when on the hour mark they chose to kick a 3-pointer from in front of the sticks, it looked as though they would trail by just 4 points. Surprisingly however, Owen Waters saw his effort drift just wide of the target.
From that point on the visitors rarely trouble the Titans line.
Lloyd Hayes extended Roth’s lead with a penalty before full back Ronnie Du Randt nipped in at the corner for the fifth try.
Replacement hooker Luke Cole quickly added the sixth and Lloyd Hayes added the cherry on the top when in the final play of the game he went in for Titans seventh.
Other than for a brief blip in concentration during the third quarter Rotherham will have been delighted with their efforts, which sees them unbeaten after 3 games in National 1.
Next week Roth face a huge test when they cross the Pennines to take on Sale FC at Heywood Road and their focus will now quickly turn to that.
Speaking after the game Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:
"We had a tremendous start but were frustrated by our efficiency in being able to control the pitch and play in the right areas.
"When you concede tries from a charge-down and an intercept you allow teams to stay in the game a little bit longer and it took us 15 or 20 minutes through the second half to impose ourselves again.
“We have to stay focussed and execute the skill and do the brilliant basics for the 80."
Titans: Bustin (2T), Bergmanas (T), Du Randt (T), Cole (T), Hayes (2T, 5C, 1P)
Esher: Inglis (T), Norman (T), Faulkner (T), Waters (2C)
Yellow Card: Wilkins & Gratton (Esher)
Attendance: 250
Referee: Tim Allatt
Assistant Referees: Kieron Henry & Tim Dyer
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Travis Gideon, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Jamie Cooke (Naylor 78), 10 Rob Povey, 9 James Naylor (JB Bruzulier 40), 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 49), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 49), 3 Andrew Foster (Donkor 37) (Foster 63), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Curran Maguire (Thomas 57), 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn (Maguire 76), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Ellis Thomas, 20 JB Bruzulier.
Esher: 15 Harry Faulkner, 14 Stan Norman, 13 Ed Volley (Clare 68), 12 Owen Waters, 11 James Botterill, 10 Tom Walker, 9 Charlie Clare (Mortimer 49), 1 Jacob Morris, 2 Sam Westmacott (Ganley 44), 3 Sam Gratton (Seriki 49), 4 Adam Bullett (Capt.), 5 Will Inglis, 6 Cam Wilkins (Norris 51), 7 Gabriel Seriki (Spiers 44), 8 Josh Thorne (McLean 61).
Replacements: 16 Tom Spiers, 17 Conor Ganley, 18 Olly Norris, 19 Alex McLean, 20 Henry Mortimer.
Rotherham Titans impressed in week 2 of National 1 with a 45-28 win over Darlington Mowden Park on a sunny afternoon at the Darlington Arena.
Titans outscored the hosts by 6 tries to 4 with a brace of dot downs for both Zak Poole and Callum Bustin, with Ronni Du Randt and Harry Newborn also crossing the whitewash. Lloyd Hayes sealed a perfect afternoon from the tee with 15 points.
The key to the game was Titans blistering start which saw them race into a 21-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes.
Titans powerful pack laid the foundations as Zak Poole and Callum Bustin bulldozed over for the opening two tries.
This was quickly followed by full back Ronnie Du Randt cutting through to dot down.
A shell shocked Park were forced into making a couple of changes and this lead to former Titan Garry Law coming on in the 23rd minute.
Park worked themselves back into the contest and got on the board when live-wire scrum half Ben Douglas broke through to score.
Rotherham however were in no mood to take their foot off the pedal.
Lloyd Hayes extended Rotherham’s advantage shortly after with a 3-pointer from the tee, before in the final play of the half Harry Newborn secured the bonus point as he finished off after good work from Travis Gideon.
The second half saw the home side make the game a far more even affair.
Indeed, two quick tries after the restart from Ben Douglas and Ollie Walker narrowed Park’s deficit to 31-21 to give them hope of a remarkable comeback.
Sparked back into life however, Rotherham snuffed out the home sides hopes quickly as Bustin and Poole both barged over to effectively wrap up the game.
Credit to Park though, they never gave up and a minute from time they grabbed a deserved bonus point when centre Ben Frankland dotted down.
Rotherham can be delighted, if a little surprised, with their start in National 1 as two wins from their opening two games sees them just a point behind leaders Rams.
The focus will now switch to next Saturday’s home encounter against fellow promoted side Esher at Clifton Lane.
Speaking after the game Harvey Biljon reflected:
“I am absolutely delighted that we have come away from home with a really tough test and got five points; that for this team is a brilliant achievement.
“I think there’ll be a fair bit of learning on how competitive this league is; Darlington did not give up and they thoroughly deserved their four tries and the bonus point.
“At the same time we’ve got to learn not to give those up; there was probably a couple of passes in the first and second half where I think if we can get that right on the pitch, we can make further improvement.
“We have said from the beginning that this is a squad performance and yes we do have a long injury list, but it’s great to see the squad come together and still travel in the right direction and be able to step in and stick to task around what the team is trying to achieve.
“It was great to see those guys come in today; Travis Gideon, James Naylor and Ben Copley all did a great job. Hopefully they’ve got a taste for it and want to keep on taking this club in the right direction.
At this early stage I think we are exceeding expectation, but let’s try and ride the wave as long as we can; we know it’s not going to be easy and we have an even bigger test coming up next in Esher, but let’s try and enjoy the journey and keep improving.”
Titans: Poole (2T), Bustin (2T), Du Randt (T), Newborn (T), Hayes (6C, 1P)
Darlington Mowden Park: Douglas (2T), Walker (T), Frankland (T), Law (4C)
Yellow Card: Newborn (Titans)
Attendance: 712
Referee: Ben Rayner
Assistant Referees: Brendan Fitzmaurice & Simon Williams
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Travis Gideon, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier (Naylor 67), 1 Charlie Capps (Co-Capt.) (Kivalu 32) (Capps 58) (Kivalu 32) , 2 Luke Cole (Bergmanas 45), 3 Andrew Foster (Stout 32) (Foster 58) (Stout 78), 4 Zak Poole (Co-Capt.), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Ben Copley (Allan 62), 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin (Copley 67).
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Lewis Allan, 20 James Naylor.
Darlington Mowden Park: 15 Josh Ree, 14 Ollie Walker, 13 Liam Checksfield, 12 Ben Frankland, 11 Ewan Greenlaw, 10 Harry Read (Law23), 9 Ben Douglas, 1 Alfie Barron, 2 Sam Kyle-Clay (Harrison 64), 3 Eoin Harrison (Fantini 23), 4 Oscar Usher (Hall-Lyon 62), 5 Louis Peacock, 6 Max Fraine (Oliver 62), 7 Will Jones (Capt.) (Fraine 78), 8 Joe Craggs.
Replacements: 16 Jacob Oliver, 17 Ethan Hall-Lyon, 18 Yaree Fantini, 19 Garry Law, 20 Callum Trees.
Rotherham Titans made a dream start on their return to National 1 with a hard-fought, but well-deserved 31-21 win over a very good Rosslyn Park side.
Titans shared a 6-try thriller with their dot downs coming via Luke Cole, John Okafor and Callum Bustin, whilst Lloyd Hayes added 16 points from the tee.
The downside for Rotherham was back rower Travis Gordon and centre Joe Mounsey both left the field with nasty looking injuries.
The game was very competitive and close throughout; the visitors showed an appetite to play with ball in hand, whilst Rotherham stayed very controlled, allowing their powerful pack to set-up a dominant platform to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Indeed, Titans registered the first points of the game when hooker Luke Cole dotted down from the base of a maul and when Lloyd Hayes added a penalty just before the 20-minute mark, the home side would have been content with their start to Nat 1.
Rosslyn Park have been touted as one of the favourites to win the league and as any good side would, they bounced back quickly as hooker Jasper Cameron powered over for Stefan James to convert.
The intensity was high from both teams and in the space of 2 minutes around the half-hour mark both sides scored again.
John Okafor showed good awareness close to the line to pick up and dive over, whilst Park’s former Titan Charlie Mulchrone, took one of his trademark quick tap-penalties to break and send in full back Joe Luca Smith.
Just before the break Hayes sent over another penalty and the home side went in at the break leading 20-14.
Rosslyn took the lead in the game for the first time early after the restart when that man Mulchrone popped up again to score himself; James added the extras.
Now Rotherham would be examined and their mentality put to the test; the outcome of which was a resounding pass!
Firstly, Hayes nosed Rotherham back into the lead with his third penalty, before on 65 minutes back rower Callum Bustin dotted down following a hugely powerful maul from the impressive pack.
Trailing 28-21 there was a tense finish to the game as Rosslyn Park went in search of a converted try to level the match.
Rotherham however, stood firm and with great intensity kept out the visitors, eventually going on in injury time to grab a late Hayes penalty and deny Park any reward for their spirited efforts.
Rotherham will now quickly regroup, dust themselves down and switch focus to next week’s assignment away at Darlington Mowden Park.
After the game Titans’ Harvey Biljon said:
“The team had to step up to some adversity through the first game of the season after losing a big player like Travis Gordon inside the first 10 minutes. Your team needs to adapt to that pretty quickly and they did that well.
“There were a couple of key areas I need to commend the team on, particularly how they stuck to task, because you could see how dangerous Rosslyn Park was. They had three or four opportunities in the first half and they scored with two of them.
“You can see that we’re going to have to get used to the physicality and fitness in this league, because through the back end of the game there was some real effort required and from a conditioning point of view we were really tested.
“Rosslyn Park just kept coming at us; if you look at their team on paper compared to ours, I think anyone with any rugby understanding would not have put Rotherham in the equation.
“However, being at Clifton Lane with the support base we have here made a big difference. I think that what’s sport is all about – having days like today – and today was a good day for the club!”
Titans: Cole (T), Okafor (T), Bustin (T), Hayes (2C, 4P)
Rosslyn Park: Cameron (T), Joe Luca Smith (T), Mulchrone (T) James (3C)
Yellow Card: JB Bruzulier (Titans)
Attendance: 250
Referee: Matt Sharpe
Assistant Referees: Ian Farrell & Matt Daubney
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Joe Mounsey (Green 60), 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Co-Capt.) (Kivalu 32) (Capps 53), 2 Luke Cole (Bergmanas 40), 3 Andrew Foster (Stout 32) (Foster 53), 4 Zak Poole (Co-Capt.), 5 Curran Maguire (Kivalu 68), 6 John Okafor, 7 Travis Gordon (Newborn 8), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Harry Newborn, 20 Max Green.
Rosslyn Park: 15 Joe Luca Smith, 14 Charlie Walker, 13 Theo Manihera, 12 Matt Gordon, 11 Benji Marfo, 10 Stefan James (Smith 68), 9 Charlie Mulchrone (Capt.) (Fenley 68), 1 Josh Pieterse (Cade 21) (Charalambous 68), 2 Jasper Cameron, 3 Rhys Charalambous (Woodward 53), 4 Gregor Gillanders, 5 Jordan Martin, 6 Matt Bolwell, 7 Archie Hoskin, 8 Jack Digby (Stevenson 55).
Replacements: 16 Conrad Cade, 17 Matt Woodward, 18 Craig Stevenson, 19 Ewan Fenley, 20 Luc Smith.
Photo: Gareth Siddons
Rotherham Titans were made to graft hard for their 41-17 win over a bright and lively Durham University side on a warm evening at Clifton Lane.
Titans outscored their opponents by seven tries to three and brought their pre-season campaign to a conclusion with a perfect 3 wins from 3 games.
Now the focus will shift sharply to next week’s National 1 opener at home to Rosslyn Park.
Durham provided a stern test in this final run out with their energy and enthusiasm keeping the home side on their toes, particularly in a competitive first half which saw the sides share 6 tries and go in at the break level at 17-17.
Titans scores came from winger Tainne Finn who dotted down in the corner following a huge miss-pass from Max Green, fullback Jack Townend scored next after bursting through and racing in from 30 metres and Ellis Thomas powered over from the tail of a driving maul.
The second half, though still competitive, saw Rotherham get on top and go on to score a further four tries, whilst managing to deny Durham adding to their first half tally.
A brace of powerful tries from Callum Bustin extended the lead, before Tomasi Tanumi skipped over in the right-hand corner and late on John Okafor did the same in the opposite corner.
The victory although hard-fought was well deserved and the coaching staff got to see a number of players get some valuable game time.
Following the match Titans Matt Smith explained:
“Massive credit to Durham University, they turned up again and gave us a really hard game, as we knew they would.
“I thought there were periods in the game where we looked good, that was when we stuck to process and we were all on the same page and that meant we scored in little flurries.
“But there were other times in the game where we were very frustrating, we were playing in the wrong areas and people were going off-script.
“Although we put 40-points on a team I think we all came away a little bit frustrated and that’s because we know there was so much more we could have done in the game, especially as we were so dominant up front.”
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tainne Finn, 13 Tomasi Tanumi, 12 Corben Ollivent, 11 Will Wood, 10 Charlie Metcalf, 9 Max Green, 1 Zach Toerien, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Alastair Donkor, 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Callum Russell, 6 Ellis Thomas, 7 Ben Copley, 8 Travis Gordon (Capt.).
Replacements: Loma Kivalu, Luke Cole, Andrew Foster, Lewis Allan, Curran Maguire, Zak Poole, John Okafor, Harry Newborn, Callum Bustin, James Naylor, JB Bruzulier, Rob Povey, Joe Mounsey, Lloyd Hayes, Travis Gideon, Ronnie Du Randt.
Referee: Owen Taylor
Assistant Referees: Ian Farrell & Jason Garrick
Titans made to graft hard for Guernsey win
Rotherham Titans continued their successful pre-season campaign with a hard-fought, but well deserved 31-21 win over a very decent Guernsey Raiders side.
Titans performance was less fluid than 7 days earlier against Leeds, however, they still managed to outscore their hosts by 5 tries to 3, despite a challenging day’s preparation.
The day started early for many with alarm clocks ringing at 3:30am. A 2-hour delay at Manchester airport followed with the squad sat on the plane for over 90 minutes and then whilst sitting down for their pre-match meal we’re told the kick-off would be delayed by 1 hour to 7 o’clock.
So all in all to run out winners against a much-improved Guernsey outfit is not to be underestimated.
The game itself saw Rotherham start brightly as they raced into a 10-0 lead inside the opening 15 minutes, following a nice individual try for Rob Povey and a pack effort finished off by Jack Bergmanas.
Titans had further opportunities to extend their lead but failed to take them.
This led to the home side finding some confidence of their own which saw them score a converted try on the half hour mark to reduce their arrears to 10-7.
The first half was ended prematurely by the referee as a Guernsey player suffered what appeared to be a serious leg injury.
The half time break allowed Rotherham to regain their composure and 2 quick tries followed after the restart.
Harry Gilson-Fox crashed over for another pack try, before Lloyd Hayes intercepted and raced home from distance.
Not to be outdone Guernsey continued to battle hard and put Rotherham under pressure.
Raiders endeavours were rewarded with 2 late tries which narrowed the gap to 24-21 with 10 minutes remaining and set-up a tense finale.
Rotherham however controlled the final moments and put the game to bed when Luke Cole dotted down at the end.
Rotherham Titans put in an excellent first-game performance to run out 40 -7 winners over a lively Leeds outfit under the lights at Clifton Lane.
The South Yorkshire side outscored their opponents by 6 tries to 1 with scores coming from Cuchulain Livingstone, Jamie Cooke, JB Bruzulier, Ronnie Du Randt, Zak Poole and Travis Gideon, with Lloyd Hayes adding four points from the tee and Rob Povey six.
In a fairly tight first half it was Leeds who started the brighter as they showed good energy and enthusiasm. This ensured Rotherham had to graft hard to keep them out; but this they did and in turn the hosts grew in confidence.
Just before the 20-minute mark Rotherham were reward for their endeavours when winger Cuchulain Livingstone finished off in the corner.
Ten minutes later Jamie Cooke on the other wing raised a boisterous cheer from the Rotherham faithful when he went over to double the Titans advantage. It was a sweet moment for him in his first game back after a 2 year absence through injury.
Leeds showed how dangerous they could be when Rotherham briefly switched-off and scrum half Ewan Laughton raced through to score under the posts.
The second half saw Rotherham control more of the game and to be fair they dominated much of what went on.
JB Bruzulier showed good awareness to add a third try and Ronnie Du Randt showed good pace and footwork for the fourth.
Titans Captain fantastic continued his great try-scoring record as he bulldozed his way over for the fifth and livewire Travis Gideon deserved his dot down at the end for his contribution.
Speaking afterwards Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:
“I was really impressed with the hard work that the players have put into the pre-season. I think they’ve had a different pre-season in that they haven’t had the traditional conditioning block. We’ve had a rugby ball in hand from day one and I think that showed tonight.
“What excites me is we saw a big group of young men create opportunity , but not be able to capitalise when we were always in their third and that means there is lots of growth still to come, but we have to make those mistakes to make sure as we grow as a team over the next 18 months we get better and better.
“If you had offered me that scoreline before the game I would have taken that because I was speaking with Peter (Leeds DOR) before the game and he told me they were fielding a strong side. We know how tight it was between the sides last season, so we’ve obviously making small steps in the right direction.”
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Cuchulain Livingstone, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Zach Toerien, 2 Luke Cole, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Curran Maguire, 5 Harry Gilson-Fox, 6 Travis Gordon, 7 Ben Copley, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: Charlie Capps, Jack Bergmanas, Andrew Foster, John Okafor, Lewis Allan, Callum Bustin, James Naylor, Charlie Metcalf, Rob Povey, Tainne Finn, Joe Mounsey, Travis Gideon, Jack Townend.
Referee: Ben Rayner
Assistant Referees: Jason Garrick & Matt Daubney
Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons
Rotherham Titans brought their Centenary season to an end in spectacular fashion by winning promotion with a 40-26 win over Billingham on a cool afternoon at Greenwood Road.
Titans victory will see them compete next year in National One after a stunning season saw them win 25 out of 26 games and secure their first promotion in 21 years.
The South Yorkshire side outscored their hosts by 5 tries to 4, with dot downs from Jack Bergmanas, Laurence Cowen-Leak, John Okafor, Jack Taylor and Lloyd Hayes, with the latter also adding 12 points from the tee.
The points from Lloyd Hayes made sure for the second season running he topped the National Leagues as the leading point’s scorer and he also broke Juan Pablo Socino’s club record of most points in a season.
Titans’ victory was incredibly their fifteenth consecutive bonus-point win since their narrow loss to Leeds in November and congratulations to Leeds for making the title race an exciting one that went to the final day of the season.
And congratulations to Billingham who deserved their bonus point from the game which guarantees them their place in National 2 North next term.
The game was a tense one with so much at stake for both clubs and although Rotherham had secured the bonus point before the break, they only led by 26-19 with Billingham already on 3 tries.
The second half saw Rotherham take control and extend their lead with an early penalty from Hayes and a try from winger Jack Taylor and when Hayes knocked over another penalty on 72 minutes to make it 37-19 the game was effectively wrapped up.
However, there was late drama on 80 metres when prop forward Dan Dixon got over the line for Billingham to secure their status in the league and well done to them.
However, Lloyd Hayes had the last say with a very late penalty and as they say, the crowd went wild – for both teams!
“It’s a bit of a fairy-tale,” said Titans Harvey Biljon.
He added, "A promotion in a centenary season is something special and in ten, 15 or 20 years’ time people will look back and remember a team that had to stick with it for so long in second place and then go and win a real pressure game (against Leeds) and manage to stay undefeated in the second half of the season and see it out away from home.
"Today’s game reflected the season, we had some real challenges with the way Billingham came at us and we had to problem solve. There was tension through the whole game but the way the team closed out the win through the second half was pretty special considering the way we were challenged in the first half.
"In the huddle afterwards, I thanked the players for their effort and told them they deserved it. They’re champions. No-one can ever take that away from them.”
Try scorer John Okafor said, “Harvey kept telling us, ‘stay in the fight. Don’t look at the league table. I know you guys are the best team in the league so keep going.’ Beating Leeds at Clifton Lane last month was the pivotal moment for us.”
Skipper Zak Poole added, “I’ve been here a long time. This is my club and when it’s your club and you achieve something it means so much more. We’ve been through some downs and fallen short but now we have finally made it happen.
“Today wasn’t just about the lads out there. It was about the fans and every single person connected with Rotherham Rugby Club.”
Referee: Henry Pearson
Attendance: 1002
Yellow Card: Bustin & Newborn (Titans)
Titans: Bergmanas (T), Cowen-Leak (T), Okafor (T), Taylor (T), Hayes (T, 3C, 3P)
Billingham: Kirkbride (T), Kirby (T), Dixon (T), Peter Evans (T, 3C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor (Kivalu 78), 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier (Metcalfe 72), 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 61), 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 79), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 19 John Okafor, 25 Harry Newborn, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak (Payne 79), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 23 Marcus Payne, 22 Will Metcalfe.
Billingham: 15 Elliott Husband (Capt.) (Youll 65), 14 Jonny Horner, 13 Matt Kirby, 12 Joe Evans, 11 Joe Scarborough (Groark 66), 10 Peter Evans, 9 Connor Foley, 23 Dan Dixon, 2 Ed Graham, 3 James Watson (Beadling 79), 24 Ryan Kirkbride (Walton 34), 5 Mike Whinn (Kirkbride 65), 6 Tom Campbell, 7 Nathan Myers, 8 Dan Burns.
Replacements: 16 Kieran Clark, 17 Harry Beadling, 18 Mike Walton, 19 Peter Youll, 20 Louie Groark.
Rotherham Titans had to work extremely hard to secure a 36-14 win over South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Tigers on a bright afternoon at Dore Moor.
Titans outscored the hosts by 4 tries to 2 with dot downs coming from Laurence Cowen-Leak, Callum Bustin, Jack Townend and Jack Taylor, with Lloyd Hayes adding 16 points from the tee.
The win puts Rotherham on the brink of promotion and a return to National One after three seasons in N2N.
Titans will become champions next Saturday if they beat Billingham at Greenwood Road – a game no one at Clifton Lane is taking for granted.
This game at Dore Moor proved to be every bit as challenging as expected, with the home side giving everything to stop the Clifton Lane side.
Rotherham however eventually got the upper hand, securing the bonus point try in the final play of the game.
Indeed it was Rotherham who started the brighter as they raced into an early lead when back rower Laurence Cowen-Leak scored in the corner after receiving a short pass from Harry Dunne.
Tigers came back strongly as they showed plenty of emotion and they took the lead when former Titan Josh Redfern powered over for Mark Ireland to convert.
The game was shaping up nicely and there was plenty of physicality on show as each side attempted to wrestle control.
Titans regained the lead on 25 minutes when number 8 Callum Bustin peeled off a maul to bulldoze his way over in the corner.
It looked as though Rotherham would go in at the break with the advantage; however in the fifth minutes of injury time Tigers worked the ball nicely through the backs for centre Sam Wager to dot down under the post. Ireland knocked over the extras to send the home side in 14-12 to the good.
Titans have often this season produced strong second half performances and this proved to be the case once again.
The league’s top point’s scorer, Lloyd Hayes, proved deadly with the boot as he slotted over four penalties as Rotherham slowly took charge of the game.
As the match entered the final 10 minutes Rotherham increased their advantage and effectively wrapped up the game when full back Jack Townend ran in for the third try, after good work in the build up from Will Milner. Hayes’ conversion made it 31-14.
In the final play the cherry was added when winger Jack Taylor went in at the corner after Cowen-Leak had made good ground to send him in.
The large contingent of Rotherham’s travelling support duly made the appropriate noise on full time.
The focus will now immediately shift to Saturday’s game at Billingham, where a win for Rotherham would see them gain their first promotion for 21 years.
Speaking afterwards Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:
"Sheffield Tigers came to play. They were fired up and they put in a hell of a performance.
"Beforehand we were calm but after the kick-off you could see the anxiety because the players knew how important the game was.
"Once we spoke at half time then we were in a position to change gear and let the game unfold and we fully deserved a bonus point win.
"Nothing changes for us. We've worked hard and we'll do so again and enjoy the trip to Billingham. This gives us something to go and play for on the last day and that's exciting."
Referee: Daniel Woods
Attendance: 510
Yellow Card: Hayes, Capps, Bustin (Titans), Redfern (Tigers)
Titans: Cowen-Leak (T), Bustin (T), Townend (T), Taylor (T), Hayes (4P, 2C)
Sheffield Tigers: Redfern (T), Wager (T), Ireland (2C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier (Metcalfe 74), 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 59), 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 72), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.) (Kivalu 4), 19 John Okafor, 25 Rupert Kay (Payne 74), 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 23 Marcus Payne, 22 Will Metcalfe.
Sheffield Tigers: 15 Will Baker, 14 Jamie Broadley, 13 Barney Goatley, 12 Sam Wager (Manderfield 69), 11 James Norman, 10 Mark Ireland, 9 Ryan Holmes, 16 Nick Bingham (Garside 56), 2 Will Archer, 3 Karl Garside (Bennett 40) (Bingham 77), 4 Joe Fitzsimons, 5 Dom Santimaria (Hawksworth 56), 21 Connor Scott (Cartwright 45), 6 Liam Wallace (Monks 69), 8 Josh Redfern.
Replacements: 1 Will Bennett, 17 Harry Cartwright, 18 Dan Hawksworth, 19 Lee Monks, 20 Ben Manderfield.
Photo Credit: Gareth Lyons
Rotherham Titans ran in 10 tries to beat a determined Preston Grasshoppers side 67-20 on a breezy afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans’ dot down came via a brace from Jack Townend, with one each coming for John Okafor, Charlie Capps, Zak Poole, Jack Taylor, Luke Cole, Cuchulain Livingstone, Callum Bustin and Lloyd Hayes, with the latter also adding 15 points from the tee and Will Milner also chipped in with 2 points.
The win was Titans biggest of the season and the supporters celebrated accordingly in the clubhouse afterwards.
Those celebrations hit new heights as news of Leeds Tykes defeat at Fylde came filtering through.
The Tykes defeat means if Rotherham wins their final two games they will be promoted to National One and this would be a fitting reward for them in their Centenary season.
This game saw Rotherham start brightly as they took the lead inside two minutes when John Okafor dotted down following a tremendous break from Lloyd Hayes.
Preston’s Ed Keohane and Titans’ Hayes then traded penalties before the next try came just before the half hour when Roth’s Harry Dunne fed full back Jack Townend who showed great desire to get over.
The momentum was now with the home side and the lead was extended when a nice offload from John Okafor close to the line was finished off by prop forward Charlie Capps.
The second half saw Titans increase the intensity as they looked to go all season at home undefeated.
The bonus point was wrapped up within four minutes when skipper Zak Poole touched down after collecting a sharp pass from Harry Dunne.
From the restart Rotherham scored immediately; Zak Poole made good ground before finding John Okafor who threw a sumptuous long-pass out to winger Jack Taylor for him to coast home for a lovely try.
To be fair Preston never stopped trying and on 50 minutes they were rewarded when a loose ball was hacked on by back rower Rob Willetts who won the foot race to collect and go in next to the posts.
Titans however responded quickly and effectively as they ran in another two scores.
Jack Townend grabbed his second of the game when he barged over in the corner having collected a pass on the edge of the 22 and then hooker Luke Cole finished off after more good work in the build up from Lloyd Hayes to make it 48-10.
Despite the points mounting up against them Grasshoppers continued to work hard and they scored a second try when hooker Harry Holden dotted down from the tail of a maul from a line out.
Once again however Rotherham hit back with a brace of tries.
It was Lloyd Hayes who this time finished off near the corner as the ball was spread the full width of the pitch; this was followed by Cuchulain Livingstone grabbing his first try for the club as he showed good ambition to get over following a lovely long pass from Hayes.
Five minutes from time Preston grabbed a third try through second rower Ally Murray, before in the final play of the game Titans’ Callum Bustin dotted down from the back of a powerful scrum.
Speaking afterwards Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:
“We spoke before the game about putting in a performance that would support having an unbeaten season at home and I think that’s what they went out and did from minute one.
“It was great to see John Okafor score early and then we battled through the first half and in the second half I thought we saw the best that Rotherham have played since I got here.
“We’ve been operating in fits and starts through the season, whereas today we’ve stuck to task and played really well and that was reflected in the score.
“The team has improved a lot as the season has progressed and today’s performance was a big step in the right direction.
“We still have two tough games to go and the aim is to maintain our progression to the end of the season.”
Referee: Michael Harris
Attendance: 250
Yellow Card: Hayes (Titans)
Titans: Townend (2T), Okafor (T), Capps (T), Poole (T), Taylor (T), Cole (T), Livingstone (T), Bustin (T) Hayes (T, P, 6C), Milner (1C)
Preston Grasshoppers: Willetts (T), Holden (T), Murray (T), Keohane (1P, 1C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi (Livingstone 63), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier (Metcalfe 45), 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 57), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 35), 3 Gareth Denman (Kivalu 30), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 19 John Okafor, 25 Harry Newborn (Kay 47), 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 26 Rupert Kay, 20 Cuchulain Livingstone, 22 Will Metcalfe.
Preston Grasshoppers: 15 Jacob Browne, 14 Craig Procter, 13 Jack Lightowler, 12 Cameron Brown, 11 Tyler Spence, 10 Ed Keohane, 9 Joe Harrison (O’Donnell 40), 1 Will Parkinson, 2 Harry Holden, 3 Mike Ashdown (Trippier 40), 4 Ewan Naylor (Richardson 50), 5 Ally Murray, 6 Declan Norrington, 7 Rob Willetts (Luke Procter 53), 8 Josh Longson (Capt.).
Replacements: 25 Olli Trippier, 17 Luke Procter, 18 Scott Richardson, 19 Ciaran O’Donnell, 20 Rory Brand.
Photo Credit: Gareth Lyons
Rotherham Titans put in an outstanding performance to beat league leaders Leeds Tykes 32-26 in a pulsating encounter on a bright, but gusty afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans outscored their West Yorkshire rivals by five tries to four with Jack Taylor and John Okafor bagging a brace each with Harry Dunne grabbing the fifth; Lloyd Hayes added 7 points form the tee.
The result leaves Rotherham 2 points behind Leeds at the top with 3 games remaining and everything is up for grabs in terms of promotion; it’s likely the final outcome won’t be settled until the last game of the season.
The match itself demonstrated a high standard of skill in difficult conditions and was indeed a credit to National League Rugby.
It was Rotherham that came out of the blocks quickest and inside 8 minutes found themselves 10-0 up following a Lloyd Hayes penalty and a converted try from winger Jack Taylor. The latter showed good pace and desire to chase down a clearance kick to dot down in front of a packed clubhouse.
Midway through the half Leeds narrowed the gap when winger Ben Turpin scored a fine solo try when he chased his own kick to score in the corner,
Although Rotherham held the advantage on the scoreboard it was the visitors who held sway in terms of territory and possession. Indeed the hosts had to graft hard on numerous occasions to keep the leaders out.
That graft was rewarded when late on in the first half Rotherham scored two quick-fire tries.
Firstly a lovely break from Lloyd Hayes on halfway saw him feed John Okafor who went in from just outside the 22. Then centre Harry Dunne was on hand to pick up from the base of a ruck to dive over.
With the last kick of the half Lloyd Hayes missed a difficult penalty effort, but Rotherham went in leading 22-5.
The second half was always going to be a testing one for Rotherham as they had the stiff wind in their faces.
The test became even more challenging when in the space of two minutes Titans lost Jack Bergmanas and Zak Poole to the sin bin.
Whilst down to 13 players Leeds unsurprisingly took advantage and grabbed their second try through flanker Jonny Teague following a period of possession inside the Titans 22.
However, once Rotherham returned to a full complement of players on the pitch they quickly added to their tally and secured the bonus point. This came on 66 minutes when a lovely miss-pass from JB Bruzulier found Jack Taylor on the right wing to dive over in the corner to make it 27-12.
Leeds are not top of the table and unbeaten coming into this game for no reason. Inside the final 8 minutes they threw caution to the wind in pursuit of a bonus point.
Their ambition was rewarded with two tries from Pete Lucock and a scintillating one from full back Kieran Davies who finished off a lovely break which started from inside the Leeds 22.
Any nerves Rotherham had were quickly dispelled when late on John Okafor picked up a loose ball inside the Rotherham half and proceeded to gallop home from around 60 metres to secure a memorable victory.
Reflecting after the match Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“I think what stands out the most is the character and heart that Rotherham showed today.
“There was some real adversity through the game; we were down to 13 players at one stage, but the way the players kept on getting off the floor for each other was pretty special.
“The other thing that really stood out for me is if you go back to when we played Leeds earlier in the season, we are a much better team than we were then.
“I think that came through today because Leeds is a team that is in form and you can see the skill they have and the style of rugby they play is pretty attractive; we needed to dig deep and the lads delivered.
“Not everything went our way and you have to give them credit around their set piece, their maul and scrum was functioning and it took us time to get rewarded in those areas and build ourselves into the game.
“There was numerous defensive sets that we had to deal with and the players were outstanding in those moments and that went a long way to earning us our victory.
“I have to make mention of the unbelievable support we had today. Since I’ve been here I’ve seen the crowds growing, I’ve seen how vocal they are and how they get behind everyone and today they were outstanding again; let’s hope they keep coming.”
Referee: Ben Simpson
Yellow Card: Cowen-Leak, Bergmanas, Poole (Titans), Brady (Leeds)
Titans: Taylor (2T), Okafor (2T), Dunne (T), Hayes (2C, P),
Leeds Tykes: Turpin (T), Teague (T), Lucock (T), Davies (T), Irvine (3C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 56), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Matt Smith (Cowen-Leak 61) (Bustin 67), 19 John Okafor, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak (Newborn 52), 8 Callum Bustin (Ward 56).
Replacements: 25 Harry Newborn, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 16 Rupert Kay, 20 Will Metcalfe.
Leeds Tykes: 15 Kieran Davies, 14 Callum Irvine, 13 Ben Dixon (Venables 51), 12 Tom Williams (Dixon 61), 11 Ben Turpin, 20 Pete Lucock, 9 Will Hardwick (Macnab 59), 1 Toby Williams, 2 Adam Brown (Capt.), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Jake Brady, 5 Tom Collins, 6 Junior Nu’u (Ademakin 51) (Nu’u 61), 7 Jonny Teague, 8 Eddie Brown.
Replacements: 16 Aarin Yorke, 17 Alex Fishwick, 18 Tobi Ademakin, 19 Charlie Venables, 10 Henry Macnab.
Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons