Rotherham Titans maintained their title ambitions with a thrilling 47-31 win over Tynedale on a glorious, sunny afternoon at Station Road.
Rotherham outscored their North East opposition by 6 tries to 5, as Connor Field scored a hat-trick and Jamie Cooke, George Tucker and Tom Lewis all chipped in with 5-pointers; full back Lloyd Hayes had a productive day from the tee as he added a further 17 points.
Titans pretty much dominated the opening 40 minutes which saw them race into a 24-5 half time lead. Jamie Cooke opened the scoring for the South Yorkshire side after good work by the pack meant he could exploit the space outside to run in for the first try.
Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty shortly afterwards before Connor Field quickly followed up on the half hour with a try under the posts having picked off a pass to intercept from 35 metres out.
Roth’s third try which came five minutes later was a belter. From turnover ball on the edge of their own 22 Titans collected with first Keifer Laxton and then Zak Poole taking play up inside the Tynedale half. From there the ball was spread across the full width of the pitch for left wing George Tucker to dot down in the corner.
Just before the break there was the first sign of what was to come in the second half when Tynedale winger Seamus Hutton ran in to score.
Rotherham secured the bonus point on 50 minutes when scrum half Sam Boxhall took a quick-tap penalty and made good yardage downfield before finding Lloyd Hayes in support. The full back popped a pass to Connor Field who raced in to score his second of the match.
However, just after the hour mark Titans were stunned when in the space of 2 minutes the hosts ran in two tries through centre Will Miller and full back Robert Parker to reduce the hosts’ arrears to 17-31 which injected some urgency into the game.
Titans settled things down a little when Lloyd Hayes slotted over a penalty, but the peace didn’t last as from the restart Tynedale ran in for their bonus point try through Robert Parker.
In what was fast becoming a game of 7’s Rotherham hit back almost immediately when flanker Keifer Laxton made a busting break from around halfway to take play deep inside the 22, before he offloaded to Tom Lewis in support for his side’s fifth try of the game.
In a gallant display tenacious determination Tynedale came back once more and scored a fifth try through replacement forward Ben Bell, after Roth briefly switched-off from a penalty close to their line.
With four minutes remaining Rotherham would have been nervous, despite holding a 39-31 lead.
However, those nerves were put to bed when firstly Lloyd Hayes added his third penalty of the game and then winger Connor Field picked off another interception to run in from 55 metres to score in the corner and wrap up a thrilling game of rugby in the North East.
Speaking immediately after the match Titans Adam Byron said:
“The boys worked incredibly hard, it was a very hot day and again we are asking players that haven’t had a lot of rugby to come out here and do 80 minutes and they did an outstanding job.
“We had a depleted bench with only four boys on it; and of the two forwards on the bench we could only really use one of them and that‘s a big ask when it’s as hot as it was today.
“Nevertheless, the boys to dug in well because Tynedale made it hard work; every time you kick off you know they are going to have a go at you. And on a big, wide pitch like this one, where there is a lot of space to defend, they make it really hard for teams that come here for the full 80 minutes.
“We knew they were going to have a go at us, we knew they were going to run at us and throw the ball about, but the lads put in a great shift to make sure we did enough to win the game.”
Referee: Tim Allatt
Attendance: 280
Yellow Card: None
Titans: Field (3T), Cooke (T), Tucker (T), Tom Lewis (T), Hayes (4C, 3P)
Tynedale: Parker (2T), Hutton (T), Miller (T), Bell (T), Rodgers (3C)
Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Connor Field, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle (Lewis 35), 9 Sam Boxhall, 19 Tom Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 27 Rikki Stout (Quigley 35) (Stout 59), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Harry Williams, 22 Olly Fisher, 20 Tom Lewis.
Tynedale: 15 Robert Parker, 14 Guy Pike, 13 Ross Cooke, 12 Will Miller, 11 Seamus Hutton (Leslie 38), 10 Jake Rodgers, 9 Matty Outson (Capt.), 1 Angus White (Batey 68), 2 David Batey (Carmichael 50) (Telfer 74), 3 Liam Carmichael (Telfer 25) (Loughhead 50), 4 Chris Wearmouth, 5 Graeme Dunn, 6 Jonny Cousin (Bell 50), 7 Henry Wainwright (Blackburn 68), 8 Ben Blackburn (Stanwix 50).
Replacements: 16 Adam Telfer, 17 Owen Loughhead, 18 Ben Bell, 19 Rob Stanwix, 20 Josh Leslie.
Photo Credit: John & Barbara Austin