Sheffield 17 Titans 37

Rotherham Titans were made to work hard for their deserved 37-17 win over Sheffield on a wet and windy afternoon at Abbeydale Park.

Titans outscored the hosts by 4 tries to 3 and secured the bonus point with dot downs from Dan Rundle, Loma Kivalu, Kareem Eissa and John Okafor, with Lloyd Hayes adding 17 points from the tee.

The win keeps Titans in second place behind Leeds Tykes as the league now goes into a 2-week break, before the resumption with the home game against Otley at Clifton Lane on the 4th of November.

The match itself was a fiercely contested derby with both sides giving everything in what were at times difficult conditions, particularly in the second half when the heavens opened and handling became tricky.

Nevertheless in an entertaining clash it was the Titans who got the scoreboard ticking first when Lloyd Hayes knocked over an early penalty.

Moments later however the home side stormed into the lead when the ball was spun across the backline for centre Charlie Davies to cut through for a try which former Titan Jonny West converted.

Hayes reduced his sides arears on 12 minutes with another 3-pointer, before midway through the half Dan Rundle put Roth ahead with a score in the corner following a sharp pass from Kareem Eissa. It was a lead Rotherham would not relinquish.

Surprisingly for all the attacking intent from both teams there would be no further scores in the half. Indeed it wasn’t until the 56th minute that the scoreboard needed an update when Hayes tagged over his third penalty of the game.

Immediately Sheffield struck back with a fine try that saw the ball move through plenty of hands with some nice offloads for full back Cameron Catleugh to go over. The missed conversion by Elliot Fisher left the game delicately poised at 16-12 to Roth.

Any nerves the Clifton Lane outfit may have had were quickly dispelled as they scored 3 tries in a 12 minute blitz.

Firstly front row forward Loma Kivalu bulldozed his way over from close range, then scrum half Kareem Eissa showed some nifty footwork to dart back inside for a nice score, before John Okafor dived over spectacularly to wrap up the game and secure the bonus point after some impressive work in the build up from Tomasi Tanumi.

Sheffield did have the last word when former Titan Ryan Burrows crashed over in the final play, but ultimately Rotherham deservedly came out on top after putting in a hard-working and resolute performance.

More of these performances will likely be needed throughout the long winter months if Titans are to stay in touch with high-flyers Leeds Tykes.

Speaking after the game Rotherham head coach, Gary Pearce said:

“We are delighted to get the win; I thought the lads were outstanding in the second half and were very dominant. The first half was a bit of a start-stop affair which didn’t allow us to get much momentum, but that changed in the second half.

“We left some scores out there in the first half, but we didn’t panic at half time and we controlled the game in the second half as our pack got on top and we scored a couple of nice tries.”

Referee: George Ounsley

Attendance: 397

Yellow Card: Smith (Titans)

Titans: Rundle (T), Kivalu (T), Eissa (T), Okafor (T), Hayes (4C, 3P)

Sheffield: Davies (T), Catleugh (T), Burrows (T), West (1C)

Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Dan Rundle, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 27 Callum Bustin (Tanumi 61), 11 Lewis Winterbottom, 10 Will Milner (Bustin 75), 9 Kareem Eissa, 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 34) (Capps 71), 2 Luke Cole (Bergmanas 47), 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 34) (Denman 71), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 19 John Okafor, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak (Payne 68), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 18 Marcus Payne, 20 Tomasi Tanumi.  

Sheffield: 15 Cameron Catleugh (West 53), 14 James Flint (Adcock 33) (Flint 40), 13 Charlie Davies, 12 Will Smith, 16 Christian Hooper, 20 Jonny West (Posa 52), 9 Elliot Fisher, 1 Aaron Lonsdale, 2 Rhodri Campbell (Bartlett 40), 22 Jake Hicklin (Rogers 52), 4 Archie Crapper (Adcock 52), 5 Dom Parsons (Capt.), 6 Alex Fawdry (Crapper 75), 7 Jason Hignell (Flinders 52), 8 Ryan Burrows.

Replacements: 23 Reece Bartlett, 3 George Rogers, 24 Charlie Flinders, 21 Matt Adcock, 17 Callum Posa.

Titans 34 Fylde 19

Rotherham Titans maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a dominant 34-19 win over top side Fylde on a warm afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans’ tries came from Matt Challinor, Tomasi Tanumi, Zak Poole and in the final play of the game a penalty try; with Lloyd Hayes adding 12 points from the tee.

The win keeps Titans in second spot in the table, just 2 points behind leaders Leeds Tykes.

Roth’s performance was their best of the season, particularly in the opening 30 minutes in which they outplayed and outmuscled their illustrious opponents.

Indeed the South Yorkshire men raced into a 14-0 lead inside the opening 7 minutes after a blistering start shook their opponents to their boots.

First up Matt Challinor was on hand to dot down under the sticks following some powerful work from the pack, before Tomasi Tanumi showed good strength to touch down near the corner after some slick handling by the Roth backline.

Titans continued to totally dominate and were probably disappointed that their next score didn’t arrive until 2 minutes before the break.

The third score can be attributed the pack, as from a 5 metre scrum they powerfully marched the Fylde forwards into reverse, allowing skipper and number 8 Zak Poole to finish off.

Fylde are a class side and they were always going to provide a response; this came in the final play of the half when winger Adam Lanigan cut back inside to score after receiving a long miss-pass from Greg Smith.

The second half was a more even affair, but surprisingly the next score didn’t arrive until just before the hour mark when Titans Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty.

Fylde looked bright and lively with ball in hand and they picked up their second try when centre Jordan Dorrington went over after two zippy passes sent him in.

Roth nibbled further ahead through a second Lloyd Hayes penalty after which in the final minutes Fylde picked up a third try.

This came through dual-registered Premiership prop forward Tye Raymont, who powered his way over from close range to reduce his sides arrears to 27-19 with Smith’s conversion.

However, if the final play of the match Rotherham secured the bonus point when aptly the pack were awarded a penalty try after a maul was deliberately collapsed on the line. Fylde’s Corey Bowker was yellow carded for his part in the misdemeanour.

The result was an impressive and fully deserved one against a class side and Rotherham can take confidence in the knowledge they can compete and beat the best sides in the division.

The challenges as always come thick and fast; the next game sees a South Yorkshire derby against Sheffield at Abbeydale and again Roth will need to be at their best if they are to give themselves an opportunity to get a result.

Speaking after the match Titans head coach, Gary Pearce, said:

“We knew it was going to be a competitive game; Fylde finished runners-up last year and they are a good side who play good rugby. They’re always there at the end and we knew it was going to be a big game and we prepared accordingly.

“We were on fire in the first half and if we had gone in at half time 50 points up I don’t think anyone could have complained; we just didn’t take our chances and we had so many of them.

“We were dominant, we were powerful and we are progressing as a team. We talk every week about improving, but we let ourselves down a little bit sometimes because we are not clinical enough.

“However, if we can put a performance like that together for longer periods and take the chances we create, then we are going to blow sides away and we will be a very difficult side to beat.

“Defensively we did really well and we were excellent in the first half, but they are always going to have their 10 minutes because of how they play the game and because they have good players, there is no doubt about that. They’ve probably got 4 of the best players in the league in their side and we respect that.”

Referee: Henry Pearson

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Bustin (Titans), Bowker (Fylde)

Titans: Challinor (T), Tanumi (T), Poole (T), Pen Try, Hayes (3C, 2P)

Fylde: Lanigan (T), Dorrington (T), Raymont (T), Smith (2C)

Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Jack Render, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne (Bustin 37), 11 Tomasi Tanumi, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 27) (Capps 75), 2 Jack Bergmanas (38), 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 27) (Denman 70), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith (Okafor 63), 6 Rupert Kay (Smith 70), 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 19 John Okafor, 27 Callum Bustin.  

Fylde: 15 Sam Carleton, 14 Ben Turner, 13 Jordan Dorrington, 12 Tom Carleton, 11 Adam Lanigan, 10 Greg Smith, 9 Ben Gould (Wootton 62), 1 Corey Bowker (Brookes 33) (Bowker 70), 2 Ben Gregory (Capt.), 3 Peter Altham (Raymont 23), 4 Matt Ashcroft, 5 Ethan Hall-Lyon, 6 Toby Harrison, 7 Tane Bentley (Garrod 48), 20 David Fairbrother (Parker 4).

Replacements: 16 Alex Brookes, 18 Tye Raymont, 23 Matt Garrod, 17 Sam Parker, 19 Will Wootton.