Sheffield Tigers 22 Titans 41

Rotherham Titans recovered from a slow start to eventually overcome a resilient Sheffield Tigers 41-22 on a bright but blustery afternoon at Dore Moor.

Titans outscored Tigers by 7 tries to 4 with Kieran Curran helping himself to a brace and one each for Sam Boxhall, Harry Newborn, Lloyd Hayes, Connor Field and George Tucker.

The home side started much the sharper as they no doubt looked to give their near-neighbours a bloody nose on this first competitive fixture between the sides.

Indeed, it took Tigers just 4 minutes to breach the Rotherham defence as hooker Louis Townsend broke off the tail of a maul to score the first try.

Titans did hit back shortly after when scrum half Sam Boxhall dotted down following a nice exchange of passes with Jamie Cooke; but Tigers soon restored their advantage when Townsend popped up again to dot down from a catch and drive close to the line.

On 25 minutes matters worsened for Rotherham as former player Jamie Broadley cut through to score a converted try to give Tigers a healthy 17-5 lead and send the Dore Moor crowd into raptures. Indeed the Tigers players on the field celebrated with equal gusto as they anticipated a huge shock was on the cards.

However, Titans eventually began to settle to their task and started to exert some control, all of which resulted in Kieran Curran crossing the whitewash twice before the break.

First he received a quick-tap from Sam Boxhall to barge his way over and then in the final play of the half and following a sustained period of pressure inside the Tigers 22, he received a nice inside pass from Joe Carlisle allowing him to charge through for a nice score to reduce the arrears to 17-15.

Whatever was said over the half time oranges certainly had a positive effect for the Titans, as within 18 minutes of the restart they ran in 4 further tries to effectively seal the game.

First up replacement hooker Harry Newborn showed good strength to muscle over following a number of phases in the 22.

Next a sweeping backs move which started in their own half saw the ball pass through many hands, before arriving with full back Sam Veall; he then ghosted through before popping a pass back inside for Lloyd Hayes to finish off.

Titans’ next try was a belter as skipper Zak Poole ripped the ball from Tigers on the edge of his own 22, before then charging downfield to take play up to the Tigers 10 metre line and then offloading to winger Connor Field to charge in to score under the posts.

The final try for Rotherham saw replacement winger George Tucker show tremendous determination as he burrowed his way over in the corner to end a period of total domination by the Clifton Lane men.

To be fair to the home side they never stopped battling and when replacement forward Sim Meek squeezed over late on to secure a bonus point, it was fair reward for the Tigers efforts on the day.

Speaking on the pitch post-game Titans Adam Byron said:

“We are really pleased with the result; these Yorkshire derbies are tough games and the South Yorkshire derbies are even tougher.  As we’ve seen all season everyone wants to take the Rotherham scalp and you could see how much Tigers wanted it today.

“We go into the lion’s den every week and every week it’s a cup final and it’s a difficult to play cup finals on a weekly basis; no other club in this division has that to contend with, but the boys have done it again and we are really pleased with the performance.

“We probably let ourselves down a little bit in the opening 20 minutes; it’s wasn’t about being outplayed, it was more about our own discipline and decision making and how we managed the game.

“Then in the following 20 minutes we really got ourselves back into the match and we went in at half time just 2 points behind and then we were able to come out in the second half and really do a job.

“The boys are an intelligent group and there’s lots of experience in our dressing room and most of the time they don’t need me to tell them what to do; so our chat at half time was pretty easy and after the break they came out and reacted accordingly and that was very pleasing.”

Referee: Owen Taylor

Attendance: 452

Yellow Card: Richardson & Carlisle (Titans), Broadley (Tigers)

Titans: Curran (2T), Boxhall (T), Newborn (T), Field (T), Tucker (T), Hayes (T, 3C),

Sheffield Tigers: Townsend (2T), Broadley (T), Meek (T), Parkin (1C),

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Connor Field (Donkor 22), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke (Tucker 49), 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 19 Tom Richardson (Field 32), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 29), 27 Rikki Stout (Quigley 67), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Kieran Curran, 7 Marcus Payne (Williams 57), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Alastair Donkor, 25 Matti Williams, 21 George Tucker.

Sheffield Tigers: 15 Sam Down, 14 Otis Floyd, 13 Jamie Broadley, 12 Sam Wager, 11 Chris Keetley (Nicholson 46) (Keetley 77), 10 Tom Parkin, 9 Ryan Holmes, 1 Will Bennett, 2 Louis Townsend, 3 Nick Bingham (McLaughlin 75), 4 Joe Fitzsimons, 5 Charlie Cone (Meek 48), 16 Connor Scott (Clark 77), 7 Jack Baldry (Monks 40), 8 Angus Hughes.

Replacements: 20 Lee Monks, 17 Sim Meek, 18 Cam McLaughlin, 19 Kieran Nicholson, 6 Freddie Clark.

Photo Credit: Roy France

Huddersfield 36 Titans 31

Rotherham Titans surprisingly suffered their third defeat of the season as they crashed to a 36-31 reversal to a spirited Huddersfield side at Lockwood Park.

Titans did manage to pick up two points for their efforts which keeps them in second place in the league. However, the South Yorkshire side will now need to regroup ahead of the visit of Harrogate to Clifton Lane this week.

Whilst it’s fair to say Rotherham endured a bad day at the office, Huddersfield fully deserved their win after a heroic performance on the day and although Titans scored as early as the second minute through centre Jamie Cooke, Huddersfield outplayed their Yorkshire rivals for much of the opening 40 minutes.

Indeed Huddersfield ran in four tries to secure the bonus point before half time through Callum Thompson, Nick Sharpe, Kian Stewart and Sam Nunn.

So delighted at securing the bonus point, Huddersfield’s head coach took delight in thumping out a tune on the away dug-out just to let everyone know how happy he was!

Rotherham’s other points in a lacklustre first half came from number 8 Kieran Curran as he dotted down from the tail of a powerful scrum close to the line.

Titans came out with more purpose after the break and looked more threatening than they had before.

Indeed within10 minutes of the re-start Titans crossed the whitewash twice through centre Harry Dunne who sneaked up the blindside to crash over and then winger George Tucker who finished-off in the corner after the ball was spread across the field through a number of hands.

This reduced the Titans deficit to 26-24 and most in the ground would have expected the South Yorkshire outfit to kick-on and secure the win.

However, Huddersfield were having none of that and to their credit extended their lead just before the hour mark when loosehead prop Callum Thompson crashed over from a catch and drive close to the line.

Back came Rotherham in what was now a thrilling encounter which had the bumper crowd roaring.

With just 8 minutes remaining and following some powerful work from the Titans pack, lock forward Lewis Allan collected the ball to bulldoze his way over. Joe Carlisle added the extras to level the scores at 31-31.

However, it wasn’t to be Roth’s day. With 3 minutes remaining Huddersfield took play up deep inside the 22 before second rower Nick Sharpe effectively used his bulk to crash over and give his side a stunning victory.

Speaking on the pitch following the full time whistle, a disappointed Adam Byron said:

“We are obviously frustrated and I’m upset for the boys in terms that it’s been a long hard slog. We have been doing exceptionally well with players coming into positions with a lack of rugby and performing every week, but today it was maybe one step too far.

“We have to learn from this; we have to learn that if we want to be a team that wants to win the league, we have to turn up every week and we have to be disciplined enough to be in the right frame of mind every week and we have to put in a performance every week.

“At this stage of the year Huddersfield had nothing to play for other than getting a big upset and that was their motivation and because we didn’t turn up, we didn’t put in a performance that was good enough to win and well done to them for getting the result.

“If we want to be a team that’s mid-table then you can turn up some weeks and not others, but we want more than that, we want to be a team that wins a league.

“So we have to be a team that turns up every time and that’s a hard ask, but that’s something we have to learn to do as a squad and that’s the step we’ll have to make next year if we are going to win the league.”

Referee: Ben Davis

Attendance: 498

Yellow Card: Ed Brown (Huddersfield)

Titans: Cooke (T), Curran (T), Dunne (T), Tucker (T), Allan (T), Carlisle (3C)

Huddersfield:  Thompson (2T), Sharpe (2T), Stewart (T), Nunn (T), Milner (3C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Tom Lewis (Taylor 78), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall (Fisher 68), 19 Tom Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 51), 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton (Payne 45) (Boxhall 78), 8 Kieran Curran (Quigley 64).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Marcus Payne, 22 Olly Fisher, 20 Lewis Taylor.

Huddersfield: 15 Tom Hodson, 14 Kian Stewart, 13 Lewis Workman, 12 Will Milner, 11 Sam Nunn, 10 Matt Law, 9 Jonny Mason, 1 Callum Thompson, 2 Liam Stapley, 3 Jack Smith (Walker 39) (Smith 43), 4 Luke Pearson (Davis 39), 5 Nick Sharpe, 6 Harvey Keighley-Payne, 7 Lewis Bradley (Capt.), 8 Ed Brown.

Replacements: 16 Lewis Brook, 17 Toby Walker, 18 Leighton Davis, 21 Joe Potter, 20 Cameron Catleugh.

Titans 47 Loughborough 17

Rotherham Titans maintained their unbeaten home record with a 47-17 win over a spirited Loughborough Students side on a sunny afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans’ points came way of a hat trick by skipper Zak Poole, and one each for Sam Boxhall, Tom Lewis, George Tucker and Joe Carlisle, the latter also added 12 points from the tee.

The win keeps Rotherham on the heels of league leaders Hull and should the East Yorkshire side make any slip-ups on the run-in, the South Yorkshire outfit will look to step-in and take advantage.

The game itself saw Roth start brightly as they raced into a 14-0 lead inside the opening 15 minutes.

The first try came courtesy of the Titans pack as they powerfully drove over from a scrum 10 metres out; number 8 Zak Poole dotted down from the base to seal the deal and fly half Joe Carlisle tagged over the extras.

Roth’s second score came from turnover ball on their own 22 which saw Zak Poole collect and make good ground before Tom Lewis and Marcus Payne combined to send it out wide to scrum half Sam Boxhall; he charged home from 40 metres, with Carlisle adding the conversion.

Loughborough, who looked bright and energetic all afternoon, stunned Roth moments later when full back George Barber showed tremendous tenacity to shake-off a number of tackles before sending in winger Darragh Walsh to score.

However, Titans soon re-established control and scored two further converted tries before the break. The first of which came after full back Sam Veall made significant ground down the right after collecting around halfway, before he popped a nice inside pass to Tom Lewis for him to show a good turn of foot to race in.

The bonus point try saw Veall involved again; he took play up to the line before Sam Boxhall popped out a pass from the base to send in Zak Poole near the corner. Carlisle impressed with the difficult conversion to send his side in at the break leading 28-5.

The second half saw the visitors start with good energy and intent and when winger Ryan Apps crossed the whitewash in the far corner following a long miss-pass; it was a fair reward for the Students’ efforts.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes a flurry of scores followed. On 71 minutes Titans’ skipper Zak Poole showed good awareness to take a quick-tap penalty to run in from close range for his hat trick, before two minutes later the visitors replied with their third try when centre Archie Heard intercepted and ran it home from 55 metres, both tries were converted.

As the game entered its final stages Rotherham finished off in style as they added two more tries to complete a fine afternoon’s work.

Firstly, Joe Carlisle showed some silky skills before dotting down next to the posts and then converting his try for a perfect 6 from 6 for him.

Then in the final play; following a tremendous break downfield from replacement scrum half Ollie Fisher, the ball was fed out wide to George Tucker who just managed to squeeze over in the corner. Sam Boxhall took over kicking duties following Joe Carlisle leaving the field, but unfortunately for him his effort drifted wide.

Overall Rotherham will have been pleased with their performance and the result, but they will have been especially pleased with the players that have come into the squad in recent weeks and impressed in the manner they have.

Speaking immediately after the game Titans Adam Byron concluded:

“We are really pleased with the result and in terms of control I think that’s one of our best performances of the year.

“Getting an early lead was important and it was pleasing that we did, as that’s something we’ve spoken about and once we got that lead I don’t think we ever looked in danger after that.

“I thought we were really clinical today, every time we were in their 22 we seemed to come away with points and the boys managed the game really well.

“There were one or two occasions when it looked like Loughborough may get a couple of quick scores to get themselves back into it, but the lads scrambled back well and stopped them getting any momentum.

“It’s also pleasing to keep our unbeaten record at home; this is something that you want to build your season on and making your home ground a fortress is so important and we’ll try to stay unbeaten here for the rest of the year.”

Referee: Tim Allatt

Attendance: 317

Yellow Card: Poole (Titans)

Titans: Poole (3T), Boxhall (T), Lewis (T), Tucker (T), Carlisle (T, 6C)

Loughborough: Walsh (T), Apps (T), Heard (T), Tom Smith (1C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Tom Lewis, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne (Taylor 40), 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle (Boxhall 78), 9 Sam Boxhall (Fisher 71), 19 Tom Richardson (Quigley 39) (Richardson 70), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 54), 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Keifer Laxton (Williams 70), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Matti Williams, 22 Olly Fisher, 20 Lewis Taylor.

Loughborough: 15 George Barber, 14 Ryan Apps, 13 Ollie Smith (Heard 50), 12 Archie Heard (Burgwin 48), 11 Darragh Walsh, 10 Tom Smith (Capt.), 9 Charlie Briers (Law 40), 1 Seb Smith, 2 Jamie Harding (Westmacott 40), 3 Josh Toms (Harri Williams 33), 4 Toby Adlington, 5 Jack Shine, 6 Anthony Pedlar, 7 Nick Jennings, 8 Fergus Dick (Scharink 49).

Replacements: 16 Mink Scharink, 17 Harri Williams, 18 Sam Westmacott, 21 Jonny Law, 20 Iwan Burgwin.

Photo Credit: Steve Mettam