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