Rotherham Titans continued their preparations for life back in the Champ with an encouraging performance despite going down 43-36 to Premiership outfit Newcastle Red Bulls at Kingston Park.

On a bright but windy afternoon in the North East, the two sides produced a highly entertaining and free-flowing encounter which saw 13 tries scored, with the home side eventually edging the contest by seven tries to six.

There was very little to separate the teams throughout the 80 minutes, with the final seven-point margin perhaps a fair reflection, after Red Bulls showed a clinical edge in crucial moments.

The first half was played at a frantic pace, with both sides determined to move the ball and attack from anywhere on the field. Newcastle proved particularly ruthless when opportunities presented themselves, taking their chances to establish a 29-19 advantage at the interval.

Titans, though, were more than a match for their higher-level opponents and crossed for three well-worked tries of their own.

Hooker Morgan Veness was first on the scoresheet for Rotherham, powering over from a well-executed catch-and-drive to reward the Titans’ pressure in the Newcastle 22.

Winger Ben Cambriani then demonstrated his finishing ability with a neat touch down in the corner, before Jackson Barling produced another powerful effort to crash over and give the visitors a deserved haul of points.

Despite those efforts, the Red Bulls’ clinical finishing saw them take control of the scoreboard and head into the break with a ten-point cushion.

Rotherham returned for the second half with renewed purpose and produced an even stronger display, showing the character and attacking quality that will be required when the Champ campaign gets underway.

The Titans won the second period 17-14, outscoring their hosts by three tries to two, and continued to ask plenty of questions of the Premiership defence.

Veness grabbed his second try of the afternoon to underline the effectiveness of the Titans’ forward play, before replacement hooker Louis Inman got his name on the scoresheet with another well-earned five-pointer.

Rotherham saved one of their best attacking moves until late in the contest, with Cambriani finishing off a lovely flowing move to claim his second try and complete the Titans’ tally of six.

Newcastle, however, had done enough during the opening 40 minutes to keep their noses in front and eventually secured a hard-fought 43-36 victory.

Despite the defeat, there were plenty of positives for Rotherham to take from an entertaining encounter against Premiership opposition. The Titans matched Newcastle for long periods, won the second half and demonstrated plenty of attacking intent.

With just one pre-season fixture remaining, preparations appear to be moving in the right direction for the newly promoted South Yorkshire side.

Titans now turn their attention to their final warm-up game against Durham University at Clifton Lane next Friday evening, before the real challenge of Champ Rugby begins.

Reflecting on this game Titans Harvey Biljon stated:

“I think the most important thing for us is being exposed to what it’s going to feel like at the next level and I thought Newcastle did exactly that. Their transition speed and the speed they played at is what we’ve got to get used to and there was no doubt at times during the game that we were having to catch up and we need to learn to react quicker.

“When we had an opportunity to implement what we’ve trained through pre-season, I though t some of that worked really well and we got some reward and I feel we missed a few opportunities ourselves. But most importantly it gave me an opportunity to find out about some of our players and I’m coming away really encouraged by the attitude and the effort by a lot of them.

“I’m excited by the challenges that are ahead of us, but at the same time we’ve got to make sure we come away from this game and identify key moments that we’re going to face in the Champ this season that we’ve got to be better in.”

Titans: Veness (2T), Cambriani (2T), Barling (T), Inman (T), Bennett (2C), Threlfall (1C)

Newcastle Red Bulls: Jackson (2T), Hicks (T), Evans (T), Hutchison (T), Palframan (T), Fletcher (T), Henry (3C)

Referee: Harry Walbaum

Assistant Referees: John Meredith & Gregg Dawson

Titans: 15 Ryan McGloin, 14 Jackson Barling, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Ben Cambriani, 10 Russell Bennett (Capt.), 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Zac Nearchou, 2 Morgan Veness, 3 Tom Bairstow, 4 Louis Guthrie, 5 John Okafor, 6 James Brown, 7 Harry Stone, 8 Ellis Thomas.

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Alastair Donkor, 18 Corrie Barrett, 19 Curran Maguire, 20 Jack Baldry, 21 Travis Gordon, 22 Lekima Ravuvu, 23 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, 24 Tom Threlfall, 25 Gus Patterson, 26 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, 27 Isaac Shaw.

Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Ethan Grayson, 14 Nathan Greenwood, 13 Alex Hearle (Capt.), 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Brandon Jackson, 10 Zack Henry, 9 Joe Davis; 1 Elvis Kitenge-Fuki, 2 Samson Adejimi, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 Oscar Usher, 5 Finn Baker, 6 Max Hicks, 7 Charlie Evans, 8 Adam Scott.

Replacements: 6 George Bolam, 7 Charlie Turnbull, 8 Euan Oakes, 9 Fergus Callington (Durham University), 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Paul Masoe (Doncaster Knights), 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Dom Wade (Durham University), 20 Lucas Oxley (Newcastle University), 21 Charlie Dinneen, 22 Alfie Warwick, 23 Oli Spencer.