Rotherham Titans ran out worthy 39-14 winners as they outscored their South Yorkshire rivals, Sheffield RUFC, by 5 tries to 2 on a wet afternoon at Abbeydale Park.
Titans’ tries came from Sam Veall, Rupert Kay, Jack Hedley, Callum Bustin and Zak Poole, with a further 14 points coming from the boot of Lloyd Hayes.
The win maintains Roth’s interest at the top and sees them move up to fourth in the table, nine points behind joint leaders Sedgley Park and Fylde, with Hull Ionians in third place.
The game itself, Titans first league encounter against their near-neighbours, saw the away side open the scoring as early as the third minute, when a Lloyd Hayes kick from his own half was impressively finished off by full back Sam Veall. Hayes narrowly missed with the conversion, but it was his only miss of the afternoon.
As expected however the home side came back strongly as they looked to bloody the Rotherham nose.
On seven minutes an alert Christian Hooper showed good awareness around the breakdown to pick up and skip through unfettered to score under the sticks. Will Hodgson’s conversion put the home side 7-5 ahead.
The next 20 minutes Sheffield demonstrated what a good side they are as they enjoyed lots of possession and match Roth in most departments.
The Lane men did well to keep the hosts out during this period, but on the half hour mark they regained a lead they would never relinquish when back rower Rupert Kay dotted down after a brilliant 50 metre break from Theo Nwosu-Hope in the build-up.
The score seemed to lift Roth’s confidence levels and from this point on they looked a different team as they dominated much of what followed.
On 39 minutes Roth had their third try when a multi-phase period of play culminated in winger Jack Hedley collecting out wide before darting through the Sheffield defence to score near the posts. Hayes’ conversion sent his side in 19-7 to the good.
Both teams stayed out on the pitch for the half time oranges, but it was Roth who started the second period brighter and had the bonus point try secured inside three minutes, when Callum Bustin received a short pass from Zak Poole to dart through under the posts.
Just before the hour mark Roth’s skipper Zak Poole effectively wrapped up the game when he scored from a pick and go on the far side away from the stand in the fast approaching gloom.
Lloyd Hayes added a penalty on 68 minutes before a late rally from Sheffield saw replacement scrum half Elliot Fisher score a deserved try for his side’s efforts.
However, the last word went to Rotherham in injury time, when Lloyd Hayes put over a drop goal to finish things off nicely for his side.
Titans will now reset and prepare for another South Yorkshire derby on Saturday when the Tigers from Sheffield will be the visitors.
Speaking after the game Titans’ Adam Byron said:
Head coach Adam Byron, celebrating a victory against his old club, said: "The conditions were difficult and the ball was slippy. It took us a while to build but once we did we were very clinical with our ball in their area.
"Sheffield had some good possession but on a day like today you don't necessarily want to have the most possession and I'm pleased we kept them to the score that we did.
"I wish Sheffield all the best. I'm glad they're in the league they are. I think this is where they should be."
Referee: Ben Davis
Attendance: 495
Yellow Card: None
Titans: Veall (T), Kay (T), Hedley (T), Bustin (T), Poole (T), Hayes (4C, 1P, 1D/G)
Sheffield: Hooper (T), Fisher (T, 1C), Hodgson (1C)
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Jack Taylor (Dunne 73), 12 Harry Dunne (Ollivent 62), 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 66), 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 66), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 62), 3 Danny Rylance (Denman 23), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Callum Bustin, 7 Rupert Kay (Payne 40), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Marcus Payne, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Kai Ramrattan.
Sheffield: 15 Ieuan Cooke (Kimpton 68), 14 Alfie Kimpton (Taylor 40), 13 Ed Vitta, 12 Will Smith, 16 Christian Hooper (Cooke 75), 10 Callum Posa, 9 Will Hodgson (Fisher 56), 22 Jake Hicklin, 2 Ianto Jones (Keeton 59), 3 Thomas Bagnall (Lonsdale 51), 4 Dave Clayden, 5 Dominic Parsons, 6 Robert Fawdry (Hignell 56), 7 Matthew Adcock, 8 Ryan Burrows.
Replacements: 23 Alex Keeton, 20 Aaron Lonsdale, 21 Jason Hignell, 18 Will Taylor, 17 Elliot Fisher.
