Titans 41 Durham University 17

Rotherham Titans were made to graft hard for their 41-17 win over a bright and lively Durham University side on a warm evening at Clifton Lane.

Titans outscored their opponents by seven tries to three and brought their pre-season campaign to a conclusion with a perfect 3 wins from 3 games.

Now the focus will shift sharply to next week’s National 1 opener at home to Rosslyn Park.

Durham provided a stern test in this final run out with their energy and enthusiasm keeping the home side on their toes, particularly in a competitive first half which saw the sides share 6 tries and go in at the break level at 17-17.

Titans scores came from winger Tainne Finn who dotted down in the corner following a huge miss-pass from Max Green, fullback Jack Townend scored next after bursting through and racing in from 30 metres and Ellis Thomas powered over from the tail of a driving maul.

The second half, though still competitive, saw Rotherham get on top and go on to score a further four tries, whilst managing to deny Durham adding to their first half tally.

A brace of powerful tries from Callum Bustin extended the lead, before Tomasi Tanumi skipped over in the right-hand corner and late on John Okafor did the same in the opposite corner.

The victory although hard-fought was well deserved and the coaching staff got to see a number of players get some valuable game time.

Following the match Titans Matt Smith explained:

“Massive credit to Durham University, they turned up again and gave us a really hard game, as we knew they would.

“I thought there were periods in the game where we looked good, that was when we stuck to process and we were all on the same page and that meant we scored in little flurries.

“But there were other times in the game where we were very frustrating, we were playing in the wrong areas and people were going off-script.

“Although we put 40-points on a team I think we all came away a little bit frustrated and that’s because we know there was so much more we could have done in the game, especially as we were so dominant up front.”

Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tainne Finn, 13 Tomasi Tanumi, 12 Corben Ollivent, 11 Will Wood, 10 Charlie Metcalf, 9 Max Green, 1 Zach Toerien, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Alastair Donkor, 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Callum Russell, 6 Ellis Thomas, 7 Ben Copley, 8 Travis Gordon (Capt.).

Replacements: Loma Kivalu, Luke Cole, Andrew Foster, Lewis Allan, Curran Maguire, Zak Poole, John Okafor, Harry Newborn, Callum Bustin, James Naylor, JB Bruzulier, Rob Povey, Joe Mounsey, Lloyd Hayes, Travis Gideon, Ronnie Du Randt.  

Referee: Owen Taylor

Assistant Referees: Ian Farrell & Jason Garrick

Guernsey 21 Titans 31

Titans made to graft hard for Guernsey win

Rotherham Titans continued their successful pre-season campaign with a hard-fought, but well deserved 31-21 win over a very decent Guernsey Raiders side.

Titans performance was less fluid than 7 days earlier against Leeds, however, they still managed to outscore their hosts by 5 tries to 3, despite a challenging day’s preparation.

The day started early for many with alarm clocks ringing at 3:30am. A 2-hour delay at Manchester airport followed with the squad sat on the plane for over 90 minutes and then whilst sitting down for their pre-match meal we’re told the kick-off would be delayed by 1 hour to 7 o’clock.

So all in all to run out winners against a much-improved Guernsey outfit is not to be underestimated.

The game itself saw Rotherham start brightly as they raced into a 10-0 lead inside the opening 15 minutes, following a nice individual try for Rob Povey and a pack effort finished off by Jack Bergmanas.

Titans had further opportunities to extend their lead but failed to take them.

This led to the home side finding some confidence of their own which saw them score a converted try on the half hour mark to reduce their arrears to 10-7.

The first half was ended prematurely by the referee as a Guernsey player suffered what appeared to be a serious leg injury.

The half time break allowed Rotherham to regain their composure and 2 quick tries followed after the restart.

Harry Gilson-Fox crashed over for another pack try, before Lloyd Hayes intercepted and raced home from distance.

Not to be outdone Guernsey continued to battle hard and put Rotherham under pressure.

Raiders endeavours were rewarded with 2 late tries which narrowed the gap to 24-21 with 10 minutes remaining and set-up a tense finale.

Rotherham however controlled the final moments and put the game to bed when Luke Cole dotted down at the end.

Titans 40 Leeds 7

Rotherham Titans put in an excellent first-game performance to run out 40 -7 winners over a lively Leeds outfit under the lights at Clifton Lane.

The South Yorkshire side outscored their opponents by 6 tries to 1 with scores coming from Cuchulain Livingstone, Jamie Cooke, JB Bruzulier, Ronnie Du Randt, Zak Poole and Travis Gideon, with Lloyd Hayes adding four points from the tee and Rob Povey six.

In a fairly tight first half it was Leeds who started the brighter as they showed good energy and enthusiasm. This ensured Rotherham had to graft hard to keep them out; but this they did and in turn the hosts grew in confidence.

Just before the 20-minute mark Rotherham were reward for their endeavours when winger Cuchulain Livingstone finished off in the corner.

Ten minutes later Jamie Cooke on the other wing raised a boisterous cheer from the Rotherham faithful when he went over to double the Titans advantage. It was a sweet moment for him in his first game back after a 2 year absence through injury.

Leeds showed how dangerous they could be when Rotherham briefly switched-off and scrum half Ewan Laughton raced through to score under the posts.

The second half saw Rotherham control more of the game and to be fair they dominated much of what went on.

JB Bruzulier showed good awareness to add a third try and Ronnie Du Randt showed good pace and footwork for the fourth.

Titans Captain fantastic continued his great try-scoring record as he bulldozed his way over for the fifth and livewire Travis Gideon deserved his dot down at the end for his contribution.

Speaking afterwards Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:

“I was really impressed with the hard work that the players have put into the pre-season. I think they’ve had a different pre-season in that they haven’t had the traditional conditioning block. We’ve had a rugby ball in hand from day one and I think that showed tonight.

“What excites me is we saw a big group of young men create opportunity , but not be able to capitalise when we were always in their third and that means there is lots of growth still to come, but we have to make those mistakes to make sure as we grow as a team over the next 18 months we get better and better.

“If you had offered me that scoreline before the game I would have taken that because I was speaking with Peter (Leeds DOR) before the game and he told me they were fielding a strong side. We know how tight it was between the sides last season, so we’ve obviously making small steps in the right direction.”

Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Cuchulain Livingstone, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Zach Toerien, 2 Luke Cole, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Curran Maguire, 5 Harry Gilson-Fox, 6 Travis Gordon, 7 Ben Copley, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: Charlie Capps, Jack Bergmanas, Andrew Foster, John Okafor, Lewis Allan, Callum Bustin, James Naylor, Charlie Metcalf, Rob Povey, Tainne Finn, Joe Mounsey, Travis Gideon, Jack Townend.

Referee: Ben Rayner

Assistant Referees: Jason Garrick & Matt Daubney

Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons