Titans 21 Rams 14

Rotherham Titans put in a brilliant display to overcome a determined Rams outfit 21-14 on a sodden afternoon at Clifton Lane.

With running rugby almost impossible both teams defence came to the fore as the sides shared 4 tries with Titans dot downs coming from Rob Povey and Aidan Shortall whilst Lloyd Hayes added 11 points from the tee.

At times Rotherham’s defence was forced to graft hard to keep the league leaders out and it was a task they almost always succeeded in.

Rams had the better of the early exchanges, but the saturated conditions made handling difficult, and errors were almost inevitable from both sides.

In a fiercely competitive first half it wasn’t until the 21st minute that the deadlock was broken when following a period of forward pressure, Rams centre Solodrau Radianirova broke through to score under the posts for Fraser Honey to convert.

Titans Curran Maguire was sent to the bin for 10 minutes at this point for his sides repeat offending in trying to keep Rams out.

Credit to Rotherham though, whilst a man down they actually won the next 10 minutes with a Lloyd Hayes penalty!

Indeed, as the half wore on Rotherham became more threatening and began to impose themselves on the game.

Their endeavours were rewarded late in the half when Hayes knocked over another penalty to send his side in at the break trailing 7-6.

With the elements now in Titans favour they wasted little time in making them count as fly half Rob Povey skated through the Rams defence to dot down for a converted try.

Rotherham had the better of things for much of the second half, but Rams aren’t top of the league for no reason.

Just after the hour mark and following more pressure from the Rams pack, blindside flanker James McRae, with a little help from his friends, dotted down for a converted try to put his side back ahead at 14-13.

Undeterred, Titans work rate remained high as they kept Rams under pressure which in turn forced the visitors into errors.

Ten minutes from time one such error saw Lloyd Hayes knock over his third penalty to put Roth back ahead 16-14.

Just two minutes later Rotherham pushed further ahead when winger Aidan Shortall finished off in the corner after receiving a pass from Hayes; the latter narrowly missed the extras from the touchline.

Rams went in search of a score that would potentially give them a share of the spoils with a converted try.

However, the Titans defence was majestic as they repeatedly repelled the marauding Rams and when referee Owen Taylor blew for time, Rotherham rightly celebrated their deserved victory.

Commenting after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:

“Firstly, I’d like to say a big thanks to the ground staff for getting the game on. In terms of the match you can see why Rams are the league leaders, they really took it to us, particularly in the first half, but actually throughout the entire game.

“The squad had quite a bit of adversity this week in terms of being able to train; we couldn’t train because of the snow and ice and we couldn’t do live mauls or any live scrummaging and we had very little opportunity to do much.

“So, we really do have to give credit to the boys for the character, the resilience and determination that they put in. They came together as a squad and they really did deserve their victory today.”

Titans: Povey (T), Shortall (T), Hayes (1C, 3P)

Rams: Radianirova (T), McRae (T), Honey (2C)

Yellow Card: Maguire (Titans)

Attendance: 250

Referee: Owen Taylor

Assistant Referees: Ben Rayner & Jason Garrick

Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Aidan Shortall, 10 Rob Povey (Ollivent 73), 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps © (Kivalu 61), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 63), 3 Andrew Foster (Donkor 61), 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Zak Poole ©, 7 Ellis Thomas, 8 Callum Bustin.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Alastair Donkor, 26 John Okafor, 20 Corben Ollivent.

Rams: 15 Zach Clow (Lamb 54), 14 Axel Kalling-Smith, 13 Solodrau Radianirova, 12 Rowan Grundy, 11 Tomasz Pozniak, 10 Fraser Honey, 9 Ollie Cole (Murray 54), 1 Antony Marris (Harris 40), 2 Max Hayman ©, 3 Ryan Lomas (Baker 40), 4 Nile Dacres, 5 Dan Swain, 6 James McRae, 7 Tom Vooght, 8 Robbie Stapley (MacRae 46).

Replacements: 17 Patrick Harris, 18 James Baker, 19 Morgan MacRae, 20 Jake Murray, 21 Andrew Lamb.

Sedgley Park 30 Titans 35

Rotherham Titans secured a well-deserved 35-30 victory over a dangerous Sedgley Park side on a grey afternoon at Park Lane.

The bonus point win saw each team score 4 tries with Titans dot downs coming from Rob Povey, Jack Bergmanas, Zak Poole and Luke Cole, with Lloyd Hayes adding 15 points from the tee.

The win was a hard fought one and keeps Rotherham third ahead of the league leaders Rams visit to Clifton Lane next Saturday.

The game was anticipated to be a closely fought affair and that’s how it transpired as both teams gave their all.

Rotherham took the lead as early as the fourth minute when a nice short pass from Lloyd Hayes found Rob Povey who eyed a gap in the defence to race through and score under the posts. Hayes added the extras.

Back came Park however with winger Rhys Henderson taking advantage down the right hand side to score. Warren Seals missed the conversion to leave his side trailing.

Roth extended their lead shortly after when a powerful drive from over ten metres out saw Jack Bergmanas dot down from the tail for a converted try.

In this seesaw battle Sedgley narrowed their deficit to just two points with a lovely try from Andy Riley after good work in the build up from number 8 Tom Ailes.

The match momentum at this point tilted in favour of the home side. Seals gave Park the lead for the first time with a penalty, before late in the half hooker Adam Mallinson crashed over to score an unconverted try.

Crucially however, with the final kick of the half Titans Lloyd Hayes knocked over a 3-pointer to send his side in narrowly trailing 20-17.

Rotherham would have been concerned 8 minutes into the second period when Henderson grabbed his second try from a Warren Seals cross-field kick to dot down. Seals’ conversion stretched the home sides advantage to 10 points.

Titans would have to dig deep and find an answer if they were to secure just their second ever win at Park Lane.

And indeed they did!

Before the hour mark two converted tries put Rotherham back ahead.

Firstly, captain Zak Poole stretched over to score following some good work by the pack. That was his 49th league try which puts him level with all-time club try scorer John Dudley.

Then Harry Newborn broke away on halfway before finding Luke Cole in support, he collected and showed good pace to charge in from 30 metres.

Two late penalties from Lloyd Hayes extended Roth’s lead to 35-27 and crucially beyond a converted try.

However, with the last kick of the game Warren Seals bagged a penalty to give Sedgley Park a deserved 2nd bonus point for their efforts.

Titans would have been relieved but delighted with their victory. The only blight on the afternoon was Harry Newborn being stretched off with a nasty looking injury.

Speaking after the game Harvey Biljon reflected:

“What a performance away from home to get 5 points against a team that really fronted up and you’ve got to give Sedgley Park their credit.

“For me the impressive part was how we showed composure throughout the game. We never looked flustered, we remained calm and we just worked our way up the pitch and then went and got our scores.

“When you come up against a team that has the ability to score from anywhere, they are going to get scores against the run of play and that’s what they did.

“On the whole our control and composure was key, as was taking our opportunities when they came; whether that be three or five points.

“However, we’ll go away and address a couple of things, because there is always one or two elements where you can go away and train on them during the week to make sure we are better.

“But overall I was pleased with what we did today and Sedgley deserved their 2 points.”

Titans: Povey (T), Bergmanas (T), Poole (T), Cole (T), Hayes (3C, 3P)

Sedgley Park: Henderson (2T), A. Riley (T), Mallinson (T), Seals (2C, 2P)

Yellow Card: Bustin & Capps (Titans)

Attendance: 400

Referee: Henry Pearson

Assistant Referees: Kieron Henry & Paul Fincken

Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Aidan Shortall, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey, 9 James Naylor (Bruzulier 46), 1 Loma Kivalu (Capps 40), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 42), 3 Alastair Donkor (Foster 40), 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Zak Poole ©, 7 Harry Newborn (Gascoigne 61), 8 Callum Bustin.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 30 Charlie Capps ©, 18 Andrew Foster, 27 Frankie Gascoigne, 20 JB Bruzulier.

Sedgley Park: 15 Andy Riley, 14 Rhys Henderson, 13 Matt Law, 12 Matt Riley © (Glasse 70), 11 Albert Bradshaw, 10 Warren Seals, 9 Matt Sturgess, 1 John Blanchard (Downham 32) (Blanchard 60), 2 Adam Mallinson, 3 Tye Raymont (Rylance 32) (Raymont 60), 4 Bob Birtwell, 5 Connor James, 6 Braemar Murray (Deans 24), 7 Lewis Bradley, 8 Tom Ailes.

Replacements: 16 Austin Downham, 17 James O’Connell, 18 Danny Rylance, 19 Oliver Glasse, 20 Isaac Deans.

Titans 18 Plymouth Albion 17

Rotherham Titans were forced to graft hard in defence before grabbing a 18-17 victory with a last-kick-of-the-match penalty from Lloyd Hayes on a grey afternoon at Clifton Lane.

The teams shared 4 tries with Rotherham’s scores coming from Luke Cole and Rob Povey, whilst Lloyd Hayes added 8 points from the tee.

The foundation for this hard-fought victory was built on an epic defensive display by Rotherham.

However, full credit must be extended to Plymouth; they came to Clifton Lane and almost conquered on the back of a valiant effort which saw them spend long periods in the Rotherham half of the pitch.

Indeed, they deservedly took the lead inside the opening 5 minutes when hooker Rhys Williams dotted down from the tail of a catch and drive close to the line.

Titans soon responded though when following a period of forward pressure the ball arrived with hooker Luke Cole who dived over to level the scores.

Against the run of play Rotherham went ahead on 20 minutes when fly half Rob Povey intercepted a pass 5 metres from his line and raced the length of the field to score.

Rotherham spent the remainder of the half on the back foot as Albion powered forward with their big pack. Incredibly however they managed to keep them out under the severest of pressure and often on their own line.

If Roth were hoping to turn the tide in the second half they would have been disappointed. Albion continued where they’d left off in the first half as they dominated most of what went on.

Eventually the pressure told just after the hour mark when the dam broke and Plymouth were awarded a penalty try to take the lead.

Not long after Titans Lloyd Hayes and Albion’s Tom Putt traded penalties to leave the score at 17-15 to the visitors.

In a final twist however, in the very last play of the game Rotherham were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Up stepped Hayes to nail the kick and secure an unexpected win.

Whilst Albion will no doubt feel they let this one get away, the Rotherham players can be proud of their commitment to stay in the game and their desire to put their bodies on the line to grab the win.

Commenting after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:

“I think for the supporter watching a team win with the last play of the game is always exciting and feels rewarding, but I think this is one of those occasions where Plymouth came here and obviously really fronted up. You could see the emphasis they put in around the set piece, the scrum and the maul in particular.

“But then I’ve got to look at the reaction of our players; I thought our defensive sets and the length of time we were in those defensive sets was exceptional.

“I think the way we problem solved through the adversity of the yellow cards was really great as was the fact that in the 81st minute we could still go and find field position to earn a penalty to win the game.

“That’s what it means stepping up; the game is about small margins and today not a lot went our way, we didn’t have a lot of possession, we didn’t have a lot of territory and you’ve got to give Plymouth credit for the way they brought the game to us, but we’ll go away with a well earned and well-fought four points.”

Titans: Cole (T), Povey (T), Hayes (1C, 2P)

Plymouth Albion: Williams (T), Penalty try, Putt (1C, 1P)

Yellow Card: Capps, Thomas, Bergmanas (Titans)

Attendance: 250

Referee: Ben Rayner

Assistant Referees: Adam Carpenter & Jason Garrick

Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Aidan Shortall, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps ©, 2 Luke Cole, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Zak Poole ©, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Ellis Thomas, 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Andrew Foster, 19 Harry Gilson-Fox, 20 James Naylor.

Plymouth Albion: 15 Tom Putt, 14 Shae Cornish, 13 Archie Hill, 12 Israel Akinrowo, 11 Craig Duncan, 10 Harry Legg, 9 Jack Oulton (Capt.), 1 Jenson Boughton, 2 Rhys Williams, 3 Dan Pullinger, 4 Jake Clemson, 5 Joel Broadhurst, 6 Angus Hodges 7 Jake Bond, 8 Herbie Stupple.

Replacements: 16 Ben Moa, 17 Harry Wilkinson, 18 Ethan Burger, 19 Morgan Stone, 20 Frankie Dart.