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.
