Titans 38 Tynedale 14

Rotherham Titans ran out 38-14 winners over Tynedale to maintain their unbeaten start to the season on a cool and breezy afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Rotherham outscored their opponents by 6 tries to 2 with a brace from Tom Lewis and one each for Rikki Stout, Mat Clark, Alastair Donkor and a penalty try, with fly half Lloyd Hayes adding 6 points from the tee.

The win sees Rotherham stay in fifth place in the league, nine points behind leaders Stourbridge, but with one game in hand on their West Midlands rivals.

The game itself saw Rotherham dominate throughout; although to be fair to the visitors they never stopped battling and indeed enjoyed some good moments in the second half.

However, right from the off Titans appeared to be in control with their set piece quickly established a platform from which to build.

On 12 minutes that platform resulted in tighthead prop Rikki Stout dotting down for Titans first try, after a powerful drive from a line out marched relentlessly forwards.

By the end of the first quarter Roth extended their lead when the ball was moved quickly from the base of a ruck by Sam Boxhall to Lloyd Hayes at first receiver; the fly half threw a lovely miss-pass to Mat Clark who showed good strength to power over.

Just after the half hour mark and Titans scored a belter of a team try through full back Tom Lewis.

From a Roth scrum just outside their own 22 Boxhall picked up and found Mat Clark who made good ground before involving Jamie Cooke and Callum Bustin who took play up to Tynedale’s 22.

Boxhall, Hayes, Stout, Newborn and Dunne were all then involved as the ball went through the hands before arriving with full back Tom Lewis who raced in to score a superb try in the corner.

Two minutes into the second half Tom Lewis had his second and Titans fourth try when from a Lloyd Hayes clearance kick Tynedale fumbled which enabled Lewis to gather up the loose ball to charge in from 40 metres and score in the corner to give his side a 24-0 lead.

Maybe at this point the home side thought it was job done and maybe their intensity dropped a fraction; but whatever it was credit must be given to Tynedale as they enjoyed a 15 minute period where their hard-work and adventure rewarded them with two converted tries through second rower Chris Wearmouth and centre Guy Pike.

However, in the final 10 minutes Rotherham re-gathered themselves to seal a fine victory when first they were awarded a penalty try on 74 minutes and then eight seconds after coming on as a replacement, loosehead prop Alastair Donkor found a gap in the defence to charge through for Titans sixth try of the match.

Commenting on the result, Titans new head coach, Adam Byron said:

“I am really pleased with how my first game has gone, it’s great to experience the atmosphere and to see what the Titans are all about at home and it’s great that we started with a home fixture.

“It’s good to get the five point win because that what we asked the boys to do. There’s obviously stuff to work on, but that’s normal otherwise we wouldn’t do any training in the week because there wouldn’t be anything to work on and I’m looking forward to getting some more work done with the lads.

“We are always trying to solve issues, we spoke in the week of how we start games etc... and unfortunately this week it was the other way round and we weren’t at our best in the opening period of the second half and we didn’t quite perform as we would have liked.

“I’ve just said to the lads that rugby is about problem solving and that’s not just on a Tuesday and Thursday, but also during the 80 minutes of a game. We did a good job in the first half, but in the second we just needed to problem solve a little bit more.

“It was good to see three of our tries came through the backs, but that’s also credit to our forwards because they suck teams in and get them narrow and that gives our boys in the backline the opportunities to do their thing and they were able to exploit that today.”

Referee: Ben Davis

Attendance: 523

Yellow Card: Theo Nwosu-Hope (Titans)

Titans: Lewis (2T), Stout (T), Clark (T), Donkor (T), Penalty Try, Hayes (3C)

Tynedale: Wearmouth (T), Pike (T), Ball (2C)

Titans: 15 Tom Lewis, 14 Connor Field, 13 Mat Clark, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Sam Boxhall (Pocklington 74), 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 74), 2 Harry Newborn (Entressengle 71), 3 Rikki Stout (Quigley 54) (Stout 71), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Marcus Payne (Nwosu-Hope 54), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 16 Fran Entressengle, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 20 Sam Pocklington.   

Tynedale: 15 Jay West, 14 Seamus Hutton, 13 Guy Pike, 12 James Clark, 11 Adam Todhunter (Outson 66), 10 Matty Outson (Capt.), 9 Alex Ball, 1 Angus White (Carmichael 48), 2 Ralph Johnston, 3 Ben Haigh (Loughhead 69), 4 Chris Wearmouth (Blackburn 56), 5 Graeme Dunn, 6 Jonny Cousin, 7 Joe Mills (Stanwix 62), 8 Henry Wainwright.

Replacements: 16 Liam Carmichael, 17 Owen Loughhead, 18 Rob Stanwix, 19 Jack Outson, 20 Ben Blackburn.

Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons

Titans 20 Hull 15

Rotherham Titans put in a tenacious performance to out-muscle a very good Hull side to run out narrow 20-15 winners on a bright, but windy afternoon at Clifton Lane.                                                                                          

Trailing 12-3 on the hour mark Titans looked to be in danger of losing their first game of the season, but a strong finish ensured they kept their unbeaten status intact.

Rotherham’s points came courtesy of a try each for Callum Bustin and Harry Newborn, with Lloyd Hayes adding 10 points with the boot with some outstanding kicking from the tee.

Indeed it was the home side that started brighter; their energy levels looked good and there was plenty of intensity about their work.

This early pressure resulted in Roth taking a seventh minute lead when fly half Lloyd Hayes knocked over penalty from in front of the posts at the clubhouse end.

Hull had come into the game as joint league leaders and with a reputation of being a tough, physical side and one which could boast of having the meanest defence in the division.

The game confirmed that reputation was deserved and rightfully earned. They matched the Titans physically and their work rate around the park was relentless.

Just after the 20-minute mark and with Hull’s first foray into Titans 22 they came away with a try through loosehead prop Loma Kivalu, who was helped over the line by a powerful pack following a series of pick and goes. Simon Humberstone missed the extras as the swirling wind picked up in severity.

Following a low-scoring first half, the second period saw more points scored, but without the drop in ferocity which had been so evident during the opening 40 minutes.

The visitors had impressed as expected and it was they who scored next on 48 minutes when a series of pick and goes close to the Titans line resulted in replacement prop Charlie Beech dotting down near the corner. This time Humberstone impressed with the extras to take his side 12-3 up.

Rotherham maintained their desire to get back into the game, but frustratingly for them a combination of unfortunate execution and valiant defending from Hull meant they were unable to narrow the gap.

Eventually however on the hour mark Roth finally received some reward for their graft. From a five metre line-out Titans pack drove towards the line for number 8 Callum Bustin to dot down and with Lloyd Hayes’ brilliant conversion from the touchline the game was now in the balance at 12-10 to Hull.

Hull hit back almost immediately to go further ahead at 15-10 with a penalty from Humberstone; this ensured the Shed’s nerves remained frayed and backsides stayed firmly perched on the edges of seats.

Ten minutes from time though Roth finally nosed ahead when a drive from the tail of a line out saw hooker Harry Newborn get the vital dot down next to the corner flag. Hayes once again impressed hugely to convert from touch to put his side 17-15 up.

Three minutes from time Humberstone missed an opportunity to allow Hull to regain the lead when he missed a long-range penalty kick, but with the last action of the match Lloyd Hayes sealed the win for Rotherham with a mid-range penalty to give his side a hard-fought, but well-deserved win.

Speaking on the pitch after the game Titans’ Steve Salvin said:

“To be honest I would have been satisfied even if we hadn’t got over the line, because there have been games this year where we have won, but we haven’t been “at it” and emotionally in the right frame of mind, and that’s all you can ever ask of anyone, you just want the lads to empty the tank.

“But don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing to win the game, but I honestly think if we hadn’t have won I would have gone home nearly as proud as I will tonight, because of the sheer effort and heart that I saw. I just said in the huddle that I never thought we were out of it because I knew we were in the right place emotionally.

“We had to adapt a little bit; I don’t think until just before we scored our first try that we had mauled all game; partly because we’d not had the opportunity and partly because we’d executed poorly, but ultimately that element of our game is what turned it – and for the boys to have been able to adapt and put that in place and put them under that level of pressure was just immense.

“Hull defended a lot and they defended well; they are by far the best defensive team in the league and that showed today.

“The tough thing when you have to defend phase after phase it batters your body and I’m not taking anything away from Hull because I have a huge amount of respect for them, but in the last 10 minutes or so I just felt they were done physically because of all the defending they’d done throughout. They never stopped trying but their tank was running close empty I felt.”

Referee: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 544

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Bustin (T), Newborn (T), Hayes (2P, 2C)

Hull: Kivalu (T), Beech (T), Humberstone (P, C)

Titans: 15 Tom Lewis, 14 Connor Field, 13 Mat Clark, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 George Tucker, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Jonny West (Pocklington 47), 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Rikki Stout (Quigley 63), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Payne 57), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin (Nwosu-Hope 70).  

Replacements: 16 Fran Entressengle, 17 Alastair Donkor, 18 Colin Quigley, 19 Marcus Payne, 20 Sam Pocklington. 

Hull: 15 Stephen McColl, 14 Mike Adlard, 13 Alastair Heard (Capt.), 12 Stephen Johnson, 11 Keane Naylor, 10 Simon Humberstone, 9 Sam Crane, 1 Loma Kivalu, 2 Alistair Thomson, 3 Mike Jobling, 4 Cameron Curry, 5 Liam Regardsoe, 6 Latu Makaa'fi, 7 Laurence Cowen, 8 Will Hall.

Replacements: 16 Reece Dean, 17 Harvey Harding, 18 Ben Boothman, 19 Mike Dias, 20 Charlie Beech.

Photo courtesy of Gareth Lyons

Titans 37 Luctonians 22

Rotherham Titans continued their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought 37-22 win over a dogged and resilient Luctonians outfit on a bright afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans outscored their opponents by 5 tries to 3, with Callum Bustin going over for a brace and Fran Entressengle, Mat Clark and Matti Williams chipping in with a dot down each; Lloyd Hayes added 12 points from the tee.

Although not at their best, Rotherham still managed to come out on top against a side that played with plenty of spirit and lots of endeavour.

Indeed it was Roth who started the scoreboard ticking when as early as the third minute Callum Bustin crashed over from the tail of a powerful drive following a line-out close to the line. Lloyd Hayes impressively nailed the extras from out wide.

Luctonians are nearer the bottom of the table than they are top, but as always, league position is no barometer for how well a team can perform.

The North Herefordshire side demonstrated this to good effect just 7 minutes later when their man-mountain lock forward, Owien Harriott-Davis, showed great strength as he bulldozed his way over.

Back came Rotherham though and scored an almost carbon-copy try to their first, as hooker Fran Entressengle dotted down from the tail of the maul and from almost the identical spot on the field, Hayes again was successful with the conversion.

Luctonians scrum half Owen Randell squeezed in a penalty, before Roth added their third try just before half time.

This time it was outside centre, Mat Clark, who touched down following some good ball retention inside the oppositions 22, after Harry Dunne made a good half break to take play up close to the line. Clark then showed good strength under pressure to get the ball down.

Within the first 5 minutes of the second half Roth secured the bonus point try when Callum Bustin peeled off another maul to power over near the corner.

Again however Luctonians responded and they scored a nice try on 49 minutes when full back Tom Jones deftly chipped through for outside centre James Wheeler to nip in to score near the sticks. Randell knocked over the extras to reduce his side’s arrears to 24-15.

It was almost as though Titans needed Luctonians to score to give them the necessary spark to up their own game and this happened once again just 5 minutes later.

This time it was replacement back rower Matti Williams who dotted down following another powerful drive from a line-out. Hayes impressed with his conversion from out wide to extend Roth’s lead to 31-15.

Luctonians refused to roll over as they kept Titans honest in their endeavours and they perhaps deserved their bit of fortune for their third try after a kick-through deflected and bounced kindly for them; all of which enabled replacement front-rower Connor Deignan to collect and show good pace to race through and score. Randell added the extras.

Rotherham did however have the final say as they added two further penalties through Lloyd Hayes to sensibly close out the game.

Speaking on the pitch post-match Titans’ Steve Salvin said:

“A win is a win and today we got exactly that and picked up 5 points and maybe we need to put a bit of context on the result.  

“In the last 2 weeks we have beaten Fylde and Hull Ionians and today we played a team, with all due respect, is possibly going to finish in the bottom half of the table.

“We then have Stourbridge and Hull to follow and they are teams that are expected to be possibly in the top four and so we gave the boys a massive amount of credit for winning over the last 2 weeks.

“However, in the first half particularly we were poor and we’ll need to raise those levels significantly going forwards and we’ll certainly need to raise them going into the Stourbridge game.

“From everything we have seen of Stourbridge, it seems they are a very good side; they’re unbeaten up to this point and we know it’s going to be very tough down there.

“Too many of us today didn’t get ourselves into the right frame of mind and although we have taken five points and that should always be celebrated, it feels disappointing because of our overall performance.

“But as I’ve said, let’s not lose context because the lads have done really well over the last couple of weeks. To go back-to-back against Fylde and Hull Ionians who are both top-four sides and to win and bag 9 points shows we are not a bad side, we’ve just had a bit of an off-day today.

“We now have to make sure we have a good week’s preparation so we’re in good shape to take on Stourbridge next week.”

Referee: Daniel Woods

Attendance: 594

Yellow Card: Kelly (Luctonians)

Titans: Bustin (2T), Entressengle (T), Clark (T), Williams (T), Hayes (3C, 2P)

Luctonians: Harriott-Davis (T), Wheeler (T), Deignan (T), Randell (2C, P)

Titans: 15 George Tucker, 14 Connor Field, 13 Mat Clark (Bustin 74), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke (Drennan 66), 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Jonny West, 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 45), 2 Fran Entressengle (Newborn 66), 3 Colin Quigley (Stout 40), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Callum Bustin (Williams 50).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Alastair Donkor, 18 Rikki Stout, 27 Matti Williams, 20 Matty Drennan.  

Luctonians: 15 Tom Jones (Nott 52), 14 Frank Kelly, 13 James Wheeler, 12 Rob Aikman, 11 Charlie Grimes, 10 Lewis Parkes, 9 Owen Randell, 1 Ben Murphy (Deignan 57), 2 Ben Link, 3 Joe White (Kone 69), 4 Harry Whiteman, 5 Owien Harriott-Davis (S. Jones 77), 6 Jack Forsythe (Watkins 25), 7 Mat Hackley (Capt.), 8 Sam Jones (Cheshire 52).

Replacements: 20 Connor Deignan, 17 Zac Watkins, 16 Cheick Kone, 19 Aiden Cheshire, 21 Josh Nott.

Photo courtesy of Gareth Siddons

Hull Ionians 24 Titans 27

Rotherham Titans maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought, but well-deserved 27-24 win over Hull Ionians on a glorious sun-soaked afternoon at Brantingham Park.

Tries from Matty Drennan, Lloyd Hayes, Callum Bustin and Theo Nwosu-Hope ensured Rotherham picked up the bonus point win to keep them joint top of Nat 2 North with Sedgley Park.

However, once again the South Yorkshire side had to demonstrate their resilience and mental toughness as for the fifth consecutive game they found themselves behind at half time.

As expected, Ionians flew out of the blocks with great emotion and intensity and as a result found themselves 10-0 ahead just after the 20-minute mark, following an early penalty from fly half Ben Smith and then a pick and go try from tighthead prop Ben Bell, which Smith converted.

On the half hour and almost with Titans first foray into the I’s 22, they came away with a try after good work from the backs and forwards took play up close to the line, before scrum half Matty Drennan picked up from the base to dive over.  Jonny West narrowly missed the extras.

Back came Ionians though as Roth continued to struggle to get a foothold in the game and five minutes before the break I’s extended their advantage when on-loan centre Jack Townend exploited a gap in Roth’s defence to race through for a nice try. Smith converted to send Ionians in at the break leading 17-5.

Roth needed a stronger start to the second period and this they managed as their own work-rate and intensity lifted.

Just 4 minutes in and Titans had their second try of the game when Lloyd Hayes collected on the edge of the I’s 22 and proceeded to run around, then through the defence to touch down in the corner for an unconverted try.

From this point forward the game was pretty much dominated by Rotherham and within ten minutes the scores were level after number 8 Callum Bustin peeled off a driving maul close to the line to score near the corner. Lloyd Hayes converted from out wide to make it 17-17.

Despite Roth now being in the ascendancy, Ionians tenaciousness in defence meant the South Yorkshire side had to wait until 10 minutes from time before they took the lead.

The bonus point try for Roth came when Theo Nwosu-Hope charged down a clearance kick inside the I’s 22 and proceeded to collect and run in to dive over in the corner. Again Hayes nailed the conversion from out wide to make it 24-17.

Two minutes from Time Rotherham sealed the game when Hayes added a penalty following more impressive work from the Titans pack.

In added time Rotherham thought they had a fifth try, but unfortunately Theo Nwosu-Hope’s effort was deemed to have been knocked on.

As a consolation and perhaps deservedly so, with the final play of the game Ionians back rower George Mewburn scored his sides third try of the match for Smith to convert.

Speaking straight after the game Titans’ Steve Salvin said:

“We were way off it in the first 40 minutes; we came up against a side that was loaded with emotion, well organised, well coached and physical and for 40 minutes we weren’t even close. We were second best by some distance and to be honest we were probably lucky to get in at half time only 12 points down.

“We started the second half like we should have started the first half; we know we have quality, but quality is meaningless unless you are prepared to work hard. In the first 40 we didn’t work hard enough and in the second 40 we were so much better.

“We’ve done this 3 times away from home now, so you can’t question the boys’ resilience or mental toughness, but what you can probably question is how effective we are in the first 20 or 30 minutes of games away from home.

“We played well in the second half because we worked harder and that’s all we talked about at half time, working harder. We got outworked in the first half and I would argue we outworked them in the second half and as a result we won the game.”

Referee: Peter Caunt

Attendance: 425

Yellow Card: Challinor (Titans)

Titans: Drennan (T), Bustin (T), Nwosu-Hope (T), Hayes (T, P, 2C)

Hull Ionians: Bell (T), Townend (T), Mewburn (T), Smith (P, 3C)

Titans: 15 Tom Lewis, 14 George Tucker, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Jonny West, 9 Matty Drennan (Clark 40), 1 Charlie Capps (Pleasants 60), 2 Harry Newborn (Entressengle 60), 3 Rikki Stout (Quigley 67), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Harry Williams (Nwosu-Hope 53), 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 23 Francis Entressengle, 17 Alex Pleasants, 18 Colin Quigley, 19 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 20 Mat Clark.

Hull Ionians: 15 William Edwards, 14 Sam Wilson, 13 Josh Britton, 12 Jack Townend, 11 Nathan Hill, 10 Ben Smith, 9 Josh Bird (Metcalfe 53) Bird (61), 1 David Laverick (Bell 74), 2 Ben Stephenson, 3 Ben Bell (Morton 40), 4 Joe Makin, 5 Alex Campbell (Peters 40), 6 George Mewburn, 7 James Sanderson (Capt.) (C. Sanderson 74), 8 Callam Sanderson (Hudson 60).

Replacements: 16 Christopher Morton, 17 Thomas Peters, 18 Allan Hudson, 19 Kobby Opoku-Fofie, 20 William Metcalfe.

Photo courtesy of Gareth Lyons

Titans 28 Fylde 13

Rotherham Titans ran out 28-13 winners against top-of-the-table Fylde in atrocious wet and windy conditions at Clifton Lane.

The win leaves Rotherham still unbeaten after 5 games, after two tries from back rower Callum Bustin and one from tighthead prop Rikki Stout proved to be the crucial scores against a very dangerous outfit from the North West.

The first half saw Rotherham enjoy the majority of territory and possession. However, following a 2nd minute successful penalty from Jonny West, the South Yorkshire side were unable to convert that pressure into further points.

Indeed, credit has to be given to Fylde for their resilience in defence, after they manfully repelled the Titans on several occasions close to their own line. Their willingness to lay their bodies on the line was commendable and on 20 minutes, although against the run of play, they scored an outstanding try.

Full back Tom Carleton collected a clearance kick inside his own 22 and displayed smart footwork and a turn of foot to evade the several defenders as he took the ball deep inside Titans half. Two quick passes later and winger Henry Hadfield glided in to dot down under the sticks. Greg Smith had the formality of tagging on the extras to give his side a 7-3 lead.

Although disappointed to concede such a long-range try, Rotherham continued to force the game with their powerful play, both in the tight and in the loose. This in turn led to another penalty shortly before the break which West nailed to send Roth in at the break trailing by a solitary point.

Despite the second period being predominantly controlled by Roth, it was Fylde who scored next on 47 minutes when Smith extended his side’s advantage to 10-6 with a penalty kick.

Just four minutes later however Titans regained a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, when from a catch and drive close to the line, number 8 Callum Bustin dotted down after a terrific drive from the pack. West impressed from out wide with his conversion to make it 16-10.

With just over 10 minutes to go Smith put over a long-range penalty against the wind to reduce his side’s arrears to 16-13 and to potentially set up a nervy finish to the game.

However, five minutes later the game was effectively sealed when tighthead prop Rikki Stout touched down following another powerful drive from the home pack.

With the final play of the game in injury time, Callum Bustin scored an outstanding individual try when he collected from over 25 metres out to crash his way through the Fylde defence to put the icing on the top of a fine performance in difficult conditions. Jonny West conversion meant Rotherham replaced Fylde at the top-of-the-table after 5 games.

Speaking on the pitch afterwards Steve Salvin said:

“It was an immensely satisfying victory; to win 28-13 on a pretty grim day weather wise was a good outcome.  The big thing for us to take away is to see 20 lads put that amount of effort into the game; that was just outstanding. I am so proud of them and I’ve just told them to go and enjoy it because they fully deserve it.

“The positive thing is, and I don’t think anyone in the ground today would disagree, we can still get better.  But the thing I will give the lads credit for is effort and I would give them 10 out of 10 for that.

“This game away from home on a dry day against Fylde is a different game. Their game is expansive and high tempo, so today’s conditions wouldn’t have really suited them; but we still had to go out there and do a job against a side that came here full of confidence having put 80 points on a side last week.

“We felt in the first half we ground them down a little bit and then the dam sort of broke in the final 20 minutes and we were able to get a couple of tries and as a group we are delighted to get the win.”

Referee: Owen Taylor

Attendance: 517

Yellow Card: Tucker (Titans)

Titans: Bustin (2T), Stout (T), West (2C, 3P)

Fylde: Hadfield (T), Smith (1C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 George Tucker (Lewis 63), 13 Mat Clark, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Jonny West, 9 Sam Pocklington, 1 Charlie Capps (Pleasants 60), 2 Harry Newborn (Entressengle 78), 3 Colin Quigley (Stout 33), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Harry Williams (Nwosu-Hope 47), 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 23 Francis Entressengle, 17 Alex Pleasants, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 20 Tom Lewis.   

Fylde: 15 Tom Carleton, 14 Henry Hadfield (Jordan 75), 13 Tom Forster, 12 Scott Rawlings, 11 Tom Grimes, 10 Greg Smith, 9 Adam Lanigan, 1 Zack Barrow, 16 Ben Gregory (Capt.), 3 Matt Ashcroft (Bowker 36) (Ashcroft 75), 4 Olli Parkinson, 5 Matt Garrod (Bentley 62), 6 Marcus Blake, 7 Phill Mills, 8 Harlan Corrie.

Replacements: 17 Sam Kyle-Clay, 18 Corey Bowker, 19 Tane Bentley, 2 Ben O’Ryan, 20 Scott Jordan.

Photo courtesy of Steve Mettam

Blaydon 17 Titans 49

Rotherham Titans overcame a sluggish start to the game as they stormed back to beat an enthusiastic Blaydon side by 7 tries to 2 to notch-up a worthy 49-17 victory, on a warm afternoon at Crow Trees

The victory sees Rotherham maintain their unbeaten start to the season after 4 games and lifts them into third place in the table, just 2 points behind league Leaders and Titans next opposition in 7 days’ time, Fylde.

Once again however, the South Yorkshire side found themselves behind at the end of the first quarter, as the home side raced out of the blocks to score two tries through loosehead prop Drew Thompson and fly half Jonny Ashman, both of which were converted by Ewan Greenlaw, who also added a penalty on 17 minutes to give his side a perfect start.

At this stage Blaydon were rampant and the momentum was undoubtedly with them and with a 17-0 lead, had they managed to make full use of their dominance at this juncture, the final outcome could have looked very different.

Rotherham however managed to keep their composure as they slowly began to exert some control in the game.

On 23 minutes Titans pack-power yielded its first points of the game when openside flanker Harry Williams dotted down from an authoritative driving maul, following a line out close to the line.

Buoyed with this success Rotherham now looked a better side as their confidence grew and they began moved the ball around and construct good phase work as they retained the ball convincingly.

Just after the half hour mark Roth reduced their arrears further when Mat Clark picked up from the base of a ruck and sniped through to take the ball up to the line before being brought down. Sam Pocklington was on hand however to flick a pass out to blindside flanker Lewis Allan in support, who in turn showed good footwork to step back inside to score.

Joe Carlisle nailed the extras to send Roth in at the break trailing by 17-12.

Rotherham continued to impress in the second period and within 10 minutes they poked their noses in front for the first time, when 22 seconds after coming on as a replacement, Callum Bustin dotted down having broken-off the maul close to the line to score. Jonny West tagged over the extras to give Roth a slender 19-17 lead.

To be fair to Blaydon they still looked threatening, especially in broken play and when there were gaps to be exploited Roth needed to be on their toes to keep them out, but this they did when it mattered.

Just after the hour mark Titans added to their advantage following a nice break down the right wing from debutant George Tucker. As he was grounded deep inside the 22 the ball was picked up by Sam Pocklington and fed back inside to the onrushing Harry Dunne who jinked through to score a nice try.

The next 10 minutes saw two penalties follow and up stepped Jonny West to convert as Roth increased the lead to 30-17.

Two minutes from time any lingering hopes the home side had of a late comeback were quashed when Theo Nwosu-Hope charged the ball down around half way and then Mat Clark hacked on for Jamie Cooke to collect and score under the sticks. West’s conversion made the score 37-17.

From the restart Roth almost switched into party mode as victory had been secured.

A clearance kick from inside his own 22 from Jonny West was brilliantly gathered by Harry Williams who then galloped off before sending the ball out wide to Jamie Cooke, who in turn took play inside the Blaydon 22. A couple of phases later and loosehead prop Alex Pleasants got in on the act when he collected from 15 metres out to charge through to score. West added the extras.

And then in the final play of the game some great handling and offloading resulted in a brilliant team try for the Titans. The cross field move included Mat Clark, Sam Pocklington, Jonny West, Alex Pleasants, Callum Bustin, Zak Poole and Theo Nwosu-Hope who stepped inside before finding Francis Entressengle who raced in to finish off a superb try and seal a marvellous victory.

Speaking on the pitch after the game Titans’ Steve Salvin said:

“Being 17-0 down after 17 minutes wasn’t the start we had planned, but to be honest I still thought we would win the game because we just hadn’t started.

“We reviewed Blaydon in the week and they did almost a picture-perfect execution of a game plan we knew was coming our way. We talked about it, we prepared for it and we trained for it, but for whatever reason in that opening period we just let them do what they wanted and on this pitch with the cohesion they have, they fully deserved their 17-point lead.

“However, I never thought we were out of it and I knew if we got a foothold and some control of the game we would come through. Also, to get back to 17-12 before half time was a massive bonus.

“I think the boys deserve a lot of credit in that they always find a way to get back into games; they were 17-3 down against Sedgley and got themselves into a winning position and today again they came back from being 17 points down and that shows how resilient they are as a group.

“We are still fallible though and if we are going to kick-on and be successful, because we’re not where we need to be yet, we’ll have to keep working until we get there.”

Referee: Michael Harris

Attendance: 348

Yellow Card: None

Titans: H. Williams (T), Allan (T), Bustin (T), Dunne (T), Cooke (T), Pleasants (T), Entressengle (T), Carlisle (1C), West (3C, 2P)

Blaydon: Thompson (T), Ashman (T), Greenlaw (2C, P)

Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 George Tucker, 13 Mat Clark, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle (West 35), 9 Sam Pocklington, 1 Charlie Capps (Pleasants 57), 2 Harry Newborn (Entressengle 60), 3 Rikki Stout (Quigley 57), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Lewis Allan (Bustin 46), 7 Harry Williams, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Callum Bustin, 17 Colin Quigley, 18, Alex Pleasants, 19 Francis Entressengle, 20 Jonny West.   

Blaydon: 15 Nathan Bailey, 14 James Cooney, 13 Ewan Greenlaw, 12 Alex Clark (Capt.) (Mongan 68), 11 Jack Appleton, 10 Jonny Ashman (Clark 76), 9 John Clarkson, 1 Drew Thompson (Beattie 71), 2 Mike Newstead, 3 Elliott Beattie (Dodds 40), 4 Liam Wright, 5 Keith Laughlin (Kirkbride 20), 6 Alex Charlton, 7 Anthony Harrison (Cooper 16), 8 Ethan Clarke (Gray 59).

Replacements: 16 Danny Gray, 17 Alex Dodds, 18 Ryan Kirkbride, 19 Paddy Cooper, 20 Hugh Mongan.

Titans 48 Bournville 46

Rotherham Titans breathed a huge sigh of relief when with the final kick of the game Lloyd Hayes sealed a 48-46 victory for the home side over a very energetic Bournville outfit.

The victory keeps Titans unbeaten in Nat 2 after 3 games, but they will need to tighten up defensively for their away trip to Blaydon next week.

On a glorious sun-soaked afternoon at Clifton Lane the supporters will remember this one for some time, as Rotherham came out on top in this 13 try bonanza; although at no stage could either side have been confident they would be victorious, as the lead changed hands five times.

Rotherham made the brighter start and inside the opening 15 minutes crossed the whitewash twice through packmen Zak Poole and Matt Challinor, with the opposition 10, Mitch McGahan, slotting over a 3-pointer in between, to leave Roth 10-3 to the good.

However, the visitors bounced back with gusto as they blitzed Rotherham with pace and power to run in 3 converted tries and a penalty in a devastating 15-minutes spell, to Roth’s sole score of a Harry Dunne converted try, to leave the scores at 27-17 to the ‘Chocos’.

Although not at their best on this balmy afternoon, Titans have a spirited bunch of boys who never want to be outdone. So as expected, back they came to reduce the arrears 4 minutes before the break when Matt Challinor crashed over for his second score of the match. Joe Carlisle tagged on the extras to send in the home side trailing 27-24 at half time.

The second period was every bit as frenetic as the first and when Bournville winger Ollie Dawkins ran in to score a converted try after just 2 minutes, to extend the visitors lead to 32-24, the frown lines on Titans faces deepened.

Yet again however the Lane men powered back!

This time Matti Williams and Zak Poole scored almost identical tries on 45 and 50 minutes respectively, through driving mauls from line outs inside the Bournville 22, with Lloyd Hayes also chipping in with two successful penalties to take Roth into a 40-32 lead.

But again, back the Birmingham based side came to narrow the gap to a single point on 70 minutes when replacement back Mikey Ho dashed through to score, for the impressive McGahan to convert.

Six minutes from time Rotherham probably thought they’d done enough to take the spoils when hooker Harry Newborn dotted down from the tail of a maul to give his side its seventh try of the game to go 45-39 ahead.

Now it was just a case of closing out the game!

But this game didn’t want to be closed out and 3 minutes into injury time it appeared as if the visitors had snatched the win when tighthead prop Ryan Smeilus crashed over for the nerveless McGahan to convert and put his side 46-45 up.

However, in the final play of this most remarkable of games Rotherham were awarded a penalty at a scrum and up stepped Lloyd Hayes in the 86th minute to tee up his shot. The nervy and stony silence which surrounded the ground was boisterously broken by the roar of the shed, as Hayes’ effort sailed through the posts to give Roth the most dramatic of victories.

Bournville would have been bitterly disappointed to have missed out on the win and they deserve a huge amount of credit for their part in making this game one of the most memorable in recent times at Clifton Lane.

Speaking after the game a shell-shocked Steve Salvin reflected:

“I think we have to celebrate the result because we have just gained 5 points, but we can’t be too pleased with our overall performance because we’ve just conceded 46 points and we were a long way off where we need to be.

“If that’s a benchmark of where we are in terms of our performance we need to be concerned, because we’ll not get away with that week in and week out and we will end up on the wrong end of the score on a regular basis.

“But we’ll review what we did well and what we didn’t and we’ll work hard as a group to improve and put things right for our next game again Blaydon.”

Referee: Peter Caunt

Attendance:  587

Yellow Card: Poole & Cooke (Titans), Burgoyne & Burrows (Bournville)

Titans: Poole (2T), Challinor (2T), Dunne (T), M. Williams (T), Newborn (T), Carlisle (2C), Hayes (3P)

Bournville: Dawson (T), Burrows (T), Burgoyne (T), Dawkins (T), Ho (T), Smeilus (T), McGahan (5C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Cameron McDonald, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle (Boxhall 64), 9 Sam Pocklington, 1 Charlie Capps (Pleasants 58), 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Colin Quigley (Stout 50), 4 Matt Challinor (Entressengle 80), 5 Matt Smith, 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope 7 Matti Williams (H. Williams 54), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Francis Entressengle, 17 Alex Pleasants, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Harry Williams, 20 Sam Boxhall.   

Bournville: 15 Owen Williams, 14 Tom Burrows, 13 Mark Coulson, 12 Sam Wilson, 11 Ollie Dawkins, 10 Mitch McGahan, 9 Ben Tibbetts, 1 James Burgoyne, 2 Zane Raimondi, 3 Ryan Smeilus, 4 Callum Thompson, 5 Harry Dawson, 6 Sam Monteiri, 7 Ashley Scriven, 8 Umraan Jadwat.

Replacements: 16 Archie McArthur, 17 Jonjo Fanning, 18 Fynlay Brown, 19 Tom Vickers, 20 Mikey Ho.

Photo courtesy of Steve Mettam

Sedgley Park 22 Titans 22

Rotherham Titans maintained their unbeaten start to the season after sharing the spoils at Park Lane with a hard-fought 22-22 draw against Sedgley Park.

The game could have gone either way and both sides could argue they deserved the win.

However, had Joe Carlisle’s long-range drop goal effort 3 minutes from time not narrowly missed the left upright, it would have been the South Yorkshire side that would have carried the day.

Despite Roth taking a fourth minute lead through a Jonny West penalty, it was Sedgley Park who looked the more threatening.

That threat was converted inside the first 25 minutes into a 17-3 lead, following two tries through Rob Birtwell and Matt Gallagher, with Steve Collins converting both and slipping a penalty over in between the tries.

Just after the half hour mark however Roth narrowed the deficit when from a line out close to the line, openside flanker Matti Williams peeled off the maul to crash over. West’s conversion attempt narrowly missed the right upright.

Titans were now fully in the game and looked more accomplished in their work. This turnabout saw them narrow the gap further when from another line out inside the 22, the Roth pack marched forward with authority to allow hooker Harry Newborn to crash over from the tail.

Jonny West expertly converted from out wide to send Titans in at the break trailing by 17-15.

The second half saw both sides batter away at each other as they looked to gain an edge and on 64 minutes it was Rotherham who managed to nose themselves in front with a fine score.

This time however it was a nicely worked move through their backline, when following a period of sustained pressure, Joe Carlisle zipped a pass out to Harry Dunne, who in turn broke through and exchanged passes with Connor Field before running through to dot down. Carlisle tagged on the extras to give Roth a 22-17 lead.

To be fair to the home side they looked dangerous throughout, but Titans nonetheless will be disappointed with what turned out to be the final score of the game to level the match.

From the breakdown on the Roth 10 metre line the Yorkshire side switched off for a moment and Sedgley picked up and broke through the middle allowing scrum half Dan Openshaw to race in from 40 metres for an unconverted try.

Both teams will look back on this one and feel it could have been their day and based on early season form, it’s quite like that both teams will be competing at the business end of the division come April.

Post-match Titans head coach, Steve Salvin, reflected:

“To come here in our second game of the season on what is probably the widest pitch in the division against one of the top sides and to get a draw, we have to be pleased; especially when you consider at one point we were 17-3 down.

“I think we are still quite some way off our potential, I think when we do hit our straps we will be a good side. I’ve just said to the boys that 5 weeks ago we lost to Sale and the week after Sedgley beat Sale, so we know that Sedgley are an outstanding side, but also it shows how much growth we’ve already had and we know there’s much more to come.

It’s always disappointing when you don’t win, but a draw here is better than a loss and we will take that one today.”

Referee: Michael Harris

Attendance: 300

Yellow Card: None

Titans: M. Williams (T), Newborn (T), Dunne (T), West (P, C), Carlisle (1C)

Sedgley Park:  Birtwell (T), Gallagher (T), Openshaw (T), Collins (P, 2C)

Titans: 15 Cameron McDonald, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Jonny West (Carlisle 55), 9 Sam Boxhall (Pocklington 62), 1 Charlie Capps (Stout h/t), 2 Harry Newborn (Entressengle 66), 3 Colin Quigley (Capps55), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith (M. Williams 66), 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 7 Matti Williams (H. Williams 62), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Fran Entressengle, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Sam Pocklington, 20 Joe Carlisle.

Sedgley Park: 15 Andrew Riley, 14 Sam Lowthion, 13 Oliver Glasse, 12 Matt Riley, 11 Jamie Harrison, 10 Steve Collins, 9 Dan Openshaw (Tansey 71), 1 John Blanchard, 2 Matt Gallagher, 3 Andrew Curtis (Nonleh 23) (Curtis 44) (Nonleh 69), 4 Robert Birtwell, 5 Oscar Crowe (Chilvers 56), 6 Connor James, 7 Mark Goodman (Crowe 62), 8 Tom Ailes.

Replacements: 16 Beltus Nonleh, 17 Cashel Chilvers, 18 Elliot Crowe, 19 Jacob Tansey, 20 Alex Powell.

Photo courtesy of Steve Mettam

Titans 35 Wharfedale 5

Rotherham Titans got their National 2 North campaign underway with a hard-fought, but well-deserved win over Wharfedale, as they ran out 35-5 winners at a busy Clifton Lane.

Titans outscored their Yorkshire rivals by 5 tries to 1 with Matt Challinor dotting down twice and Jamie Cooke, Zak Poole and Lloyd Hayes also touching down for five pointers. Two Jonny West penalties and a conversion and a Lloyd Hayes conversion completed the scoring for the home side.

In a much-anticipated game and 546 days since the last one at Clifton Lane, all at Titans were keen to get the new season underway with a win.

However, despite enjoying the lion’s share of territory and possession during the opening quarter, it was the visitors who scored first through lock forward Ben Leacock on 19 minutes, after livewire scrum half Sam Gaudie had jinked through to catch Roth flat-footed.

Nevertheless Titans hit back within 10 minutes after a Jonny West show-and-go enabled him to break the line allowing Matt Challinor to crash over following a couple of phases close to the line. West tagged on the extras to give Roth the lead.

Just 5 minutes later and the outstanding Jamie Cooke scored Titans second when he showed great strength to pick up from the base to bulldoze his way over in the corner.

West narrowly missed the extras but just before the break made amends as he slotted over a penalty to give his side a 15-5 lead at the interval.

It was important the home side came out strong for the second half and this they did as they crossed the whitewash twice more inside the opening 13 minutes.

Firstly Matt Challinor crashed over following a series of pick and goes and then captain Zak Poole dotted down after more powerful work from the pack.

To be fair to Wharfedale it would have been easy for them to roll-over at this stage, but full credit to them for continuing to put their bodies on the line as they chased and harassed Rotherham relentlessly and indeed kept them scoreless for the next 25 minutes.

However, late on centre Lloyd Hayes skipped through for Titans fifth try of the match after Sam Pocklington slipped him in from the base of a scrum.

With the last kick of the match Jonny West added a penalty to round off a perfect start to the campaign.

Speaking on the pitch straight after the match and not wanting to get too carried away after one game, Steve Salvin noted:

“We’ve had a steady start and that’s all it is, if you’d offered us this before the game we would have snatched your hand off because we knew the quality of the team we were up against and the quality of the coaching staff they have.

“On top of that we knew they wouldn’t just go away and the only way we’ve got 35 points on the board is we showed some unrelenting qualities and that for me is the biggest positive.

“But there are definitely elements of our game we know we have to make significant improvements on, so as I’ve said it’s a steady start.”

Referee: Carl Adams

Attendance: 531

Yellow Card: Gaudie, Bullough & Beesley (Wharfedale)

Titans: Challinor (2T), Cooke (T), Poole (T), Hayes (T, C), West (2P, C)

Wharfedale: Leacock (T)

Titans: 15 Cameron McDonald, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Mat Clark, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Jonny West, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Colin Quigley, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Fran Entressengle, 17 Alastair Donkor, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Matti Williams, 20 Sam Pocklington.

Wharfedale: 15 Rian Hamilton, 14 Ralph Wellock, 13 Harry Bullough, 12 Thomas Davidson, 11 Oli Cicognini, 10 Jack Blakeney-Edwards, 9 Sam Gaudie, 1 Joe Altham, 2 Matt Speres, 3 Matt Beesley, 4 Ben Leacock, 5 Rhys Green, 6 Chris Jackson, 7 Jack Pinder, 8 George Hedgley.

Replacements: 16 George Altham, 17 Chris Steele, 18 Jack Thompson, 19 Ben Markey, 20 Luke Punton.

Photo courtesy of Steve Mettam

Titans 24 Bishop’s Stortford 31

Rotherham Titans would have been distraught to have lost 31-24 at home to Bishop’s Stortford, after dominating for large periods of the game.

Titans however, can only blame themselves for the defeat after all too often poor decision making, a lack of execution and ill-discipline all conspired to cost them what would have been an important victory.

From the off with a kick that went out on the full, until the end where the visitors scored the winning points in the final play of the game, Rotherham will look back and reflect on the number of points they “gave” Stortford in their quest for victory.

A poor first half effort from Titans saw them trail at the break 17-12 after going behind as early as the second minute after Bishop’s centre James Ayrton strolled through with ease.

Titans finally got on the board through number 8 Anthony Maka on 18 minutes as he dotted down under the posts. Unfortunately for Sam Hollingsworth, his conversion was charged down to leave the hosts trailing by two points.

Stortford’s lead was extended to five point just moments later when fly half George Cullen slotted over a penalty.

Once again though Rotherham bounced back when second rower Kieran Frost showed good awareness and strength to barge his way over and when Hollingsworth tagged over the extra Titans held the lead for the first time at 12-10.

That lead however lasted less than 3 minutes as James Ayrton sailed in again, and again it was all too easy as far as Rotherham were concerned, and when George Cullen converted the visitors went 17-12 to the good.

The opening quarter of the second half brought out the best of Rotherham as they dominated in every facet of the game and during this spell they scored two tries.

The first one came on 45 minutes as Anthony Maka powered over from close range and the second came following a dominant spell of forward pressure which resulted in replacement prop Harry Whitfield going over in the corner to give Titans a 24-17 edge.

Again though, Rotherham couldn’t hold onto their lead and within four minutes Stortford’s full back Nick Hankin finished off a nice backs move to level things up at 24 each following Cullen’s conversion.

And although it was Rotherham who enjoyed the majority of possession in the time which remained; in the final play of the match Bishop’s winger Josh Stannard finished off a counter attack in the corner to clinch the game and break the hearts of the home side.

A disappointed Steve Salvin speaking on the pitch at full time said, “We are bitterly disappointed not to have won the game, but what I would say is I don’t feel like we deserved to win it.  

“We put ourselves in a position to win the game, we were 7 points up with less than 10 minutes left and the key thing there is you have to have the ability to see out the game and we weren’t able to do that.

“We were poor in the first half, we came out for the second half and we were much improved, but I think ultimately what’s cost us is our ill-discipline in the first half and our inability to convert pressure into points in the second half.

“So I don’t feel hard done by, I feel like we’ve got what we deserved today, but the positive is we’ve taken two points and that has closed the gap at the bottom to four points.”

Referee: Charlie Gayther

Attendance: 462

Yellow Card: Thacker (Bishop’s Stortford)

Titans: Maka (2T), Frost (T), Whitfield (T), Hollingsworth (2C)

Bishop’s Stortford: Ayrton (2T), Hankin (T), Stannard (T), Cullen (4C, P)

Titans: 15 Tom Benjamin, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield 60), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 60), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost (North56), 6 Lewis Wilson 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka. 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Alfie North, 19 Kiefer Laxton, 20 Sam Boxhall.   

Bishop’s Stortford: 15 Nick Hankin, 14 Josh Stannard, 13 Sam Winter (Capt.), 12 James Ayrton, 11 Chris Smith (Linney 56), 10 George Cullen, 9 Tom Banks (Gliksten 60), 1 Louis Castiglione, 2 Harrison King (Huppatz 70), 3 Kieran Sassone (McCrone 70), 4 James Thacker, 5 Tom Lewis, 6 Luis Ball (Banks 64), 7 Dan Elsom, 8 Charlie Kingham.  

Replacements: 16 Miles Huppatz, 17 Tom McCrone, 18 Rory Banks, 19 Joss Linney, 20 Al Gliksten.

Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons

Rams 25 Titans 20

Rotherham Titans were bitterly disappointed to not get the win against top-end side Rams, as they were narrowly beaten 25-20 at Old Bath Road on a wet and blustery afternoon.

The fact Rotherham were so disappointed not to pick up a bonus point win, over one of the very best teams in the division, really does show how far this group has progressed since the turn of the year.

They now however, need to make sure they start to get over the line in these close encounters if they are to maintain their status in National 1 for next season.

The game itself swung one way then another throughout the 80 minutes.

Indeed the hosts took the lead as early as the third minute when flanker Tom Vooght barged his way over, with fly half Alex Seers converting and it would be fair to say the hosts deserved their lead.

In fact Rams enjoyed the bulk of play for most of the first quarter and only some aggressive defensive work by the Titans kept the Reading based outfit at bay.

However, just after the half hour Rotherham hit a purple patch and incredibly scored three tries before the half time oranges.

First up on 31 minutes was blindside flanker Lewis Wilson, who after some fine work from the Titans pack, which first saw Anthony Maka make some good ground, he was on hand to collect from Sam Boxhall to dot down under the posts. Connor Dever tagged over the extras to level things up at 7 apiece.

Just three minutes later and Titans went ahead when Tom Benjamin scored a scintillating try.

An initial break from Connor Dever inside the Rotherham half got them moving, before the ball was spread across the backline to Benjamin who collected whilst still in his own half. The flying fullback then evaded two Rams defenders before showing exceptional footwork to round Will Partington to score a brilliant try. Dever missed the difficult conversion from out wide.

Back came the hosts however and they levelled matters two minutes before the break when skipper Robbie Stapley dotted down from the base of a powerful scrum.

Undeterred Titans fought back with great determination as the game went into injury time.

From a line out on the hosts 22 the Rotherham’s pack powered forward before Anthony Maka broke away and took play up to the Rams line.

The ball came out to Connor Dever who neatly found winger Ben Robbins and he showed immense strength to bulldoze his way over for a terrific try to end the half and send his side in with a 17-12 advantage.

Playing with the slope in the second half Rams levelled the game at 17 each on 47 minutes when winger Jack Rossiter stepped inside from out wide to touch down; following what had been s sustained period of Rams forward pressure inside the Titans 22.

On the hour mark the hosts nosed 20-17 ahead from an Alex Seers penalty after Titans were unluckily adjudged to have made a high tackle, before Rotherham again levelled the score when Sam Hollingsworth added a penalty on 69 minutes, after referee Fergus Kirby disallowed a Rotherham try for a forward pass.

Four minutes from time Referee Kirby then sent Lewis Wilson to the bin for a technical offence and a minute later Rams ruthlessly exploited their man advantage to crash over through replacement forward Ross Crame.

In the final play of the game Rotherham looked dangerous 15 metres from the Rams line and with good momentum, as they powered forward looking for a bonus point victory. Unfortunately for them they knocked on at a crucial time and that was that.

Speaking on the pitch after the game, a disappointed Steve Salvin said, “I think this result against one of the best sides in the division shows how far this group has come in a short space of time, since the turn of the year. However, that doesn’t stop us from being immensely frustrated that whichever way you look at it, that should have been a five-point win for us today!

“We’ve made that evident to the players, they are hurting every bit as much as the coaches and the backroom staff, but how far we have come doesn’t make a great deal of difference at the moment because we should have come away with five points.

“Our discipline let us down, we gave away too many opportunities when we had field position; we either coughed-up the ball or we gave away a penalty, which in turn led to us giving them possession and territory. There were probably nine or ten instances of that when we could have built pressure, but we gave them an easy out through poor skill execution or poor discipline.

“So yes we have come a long way, but at some point we have to make these opportunities count and that’s why I’m so frustrated because it should have happened today. I’m sure when the emotion has drained out we’ll take a huge amount of positives from what the boys did against a very good side.”

Referee: Fergus Kirby

Attendance: 523

Yellow Card: Guttridge (Rams), Wilson (Titans)

Titans: Wilson (T), Benjamin (T), Robbins (T), Dever (1C), Hollingsworth (1P)

Rams: Vooght (T), Stapley (T), Rossiter (T), Crame (T), Seers (1C, 1P)

Titans: 15 Tom Benjamin, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Tom Bacon, 10 Sam Hollingsworth (Boxhall 15) (Hollingsworth 55), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield (Williams 41), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 63), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka (Waddington 61) (North 66). 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Toby Williams, 18 Ben Waddington, 19 Alfie North, 20 Sam Boxhall. 

Rams: 15 William Partington, 14 Jack Rossiter, 13 Kieran Leicester, 12 Andrew Humberstone, 11 Andrew Denham, 10 Alex Seers (Hayhow 63), 9 Ollie Cole, 1 Niall Kidd, 2 Ben Henderson (Moffitt 41), 3 James Baker (Zeiss 67), 4 Oliver Taylor, 5 Colin Thomson, 6 Jamie Guttridge (Crame 63), 7 Tom Vooght, 8 Robbie Stapley (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Ollie Moffitt, 17 Cameron Zeiss, 18 Ross Crame, 19 Connor Hayhow, 20 Jack Moates.   

Photo Credit: Rams RFC

Titans 26 Hull Ionians 10

Rotherham Titans put in an attritional performance to wear down Hull Ionians in tough conditions, as they ran out worthy 26-10 winners at a wet and very blustery Clifton Lane.

The victory saw the South Yorkshire side secure what could be at the end of the season a vital bonus point for scoring four tries, although the fourth dot down didn’t arrive until the 80th minute.

The game was never going to be a high-scoring affair as the rain lashed down and gusts of winds in excess of 60 km/h whipped across Clifton Lane.

Indeed, playing into the conditions in the first half Rotherham put in an awesome display to go in at the break actually leading 7-3.

Titans’ points came via winger Ben Robbins who hacked on from a wayward pass from Ionians fly half Tom Stephenson 60 metres out, he then won the foot race to touch down under the sticks. Hollingsworth tagged over the extras from in front.

Ionians sole success in the opening period came from the tee when full back Max Titchener slotted over a penalty to reduce his side’s gap to 4 points.

Titans came out for the second half full of confidence with the elements now in their favour. However, it took them up until just before the hour mark before their next score.

This came following a period of forward dominance, when finally the ball was flung out to the backs, before ultimately arriving with Tom Bacon who drew the last defender to send in Ben Robbins for his and Titans second try.

Unexpectedly however, Ionians bounced back shortly after when scrum half Sam Crane picked up a loose ball around halfway and made ground right up to the Titans line, before second rower Joe Makin collected to crash over from close range. Titchener’s conversion reduced the visitor’s deficit to 12-10 with fifteen minutes remaining.

Titans however held their nerve to score two late tries through skipper Zak Poole on 71 minutes from a pick and go and then on 80 minutes from replacement loose head prop Toby Williams, when he used his significant power to bulldoze his way over for the crucial bonus point try.

With Birmingham Moseley’s game against Sale FC lost to the weather, Rotherham are now just 6 points adrift of the Midlanders in the relegation race and they will look forward to a weekend off now before they go again in two weeks-time.

Speaking after the game Titans Martin Jenkinson said, “We said today with the weather conditions and it being a Yorkshire derby, everything was about doing the job and getting the result. Pre-match we talked about how it didn’t matter how we got there, as long as we got there and that’s what happened today.

“Some people may look at it as a foregone conclusion that Rotherham should have won the game; nothing could have been further from the truth. Ionians are a good team and there are no easy games in this league and the boys went out there and did a good job.

“We would have preferred better conditions and we would have backed our boys to have played the better rugby had there not been the wind and the wet conditions, but it’s the same for both teams and you have to play whatever it is and by and large I thought the boys played the right sort of game in those conditions.

“The game was probably won in the first half; to go in at the break in front in those conditions was a very good effort. Yes we had a breakaway try, but I thought we deserved that reward for causing that mistake from the pressure that we applied.

“Overall we are delighted to get the bonus point and that’s been a recurring theme during our recent renaissance in that we are taking points out of every game and we are taking all the points that we can get at times in certain games. Today could have been a four point day, but the lads made sure it was a five point day.”

Referee: James O'Brien

Attendance: 491

Yellow Card: Dunne (Titans)

Titans: Robbins (2T), Poole (T), Williams (T), Hollingsworth (3C)

Hull Ionians: Makin (T), Titchener (1C, 1P)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Tom Benjamin, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield (Williams 49), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 62), 3 Will Dennis (Stout 49), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Maka 49), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Kieran Curran (Preston-Routledge 69).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Toby Williams, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Anthony Maka, 20 Sam Boxhall.

Hull Ionians: 15 Max Titchener, 14 Alfie Beadle, 13 Lewis Minikin (Kirk 24), 12 Duell Trueman, 11 Callum Smith, 10 Tom Stephenson (Whyte 69), 9 Sam Crane, 1 Dave Laverick (Capt.), 2 Ben Stephenson, 3 Ben Bell (Peace 57), 4 Joe Makin, 5 Tyler Heelas, 6 George Mewburn, 7 James Sanderson (Choudhury 17) (Sanderson 20) (Choudhury 36), 8 Ed Brown (Sanderson 46).

Replacements: 16 Josh Peace, 17 Harry Butler, 18 Ben Whyte, 19 Rahat Choudhury, 20 Charlie Kirk. 

Richmond 52 Titans 20

Rotherham Titans overcame a poor first half display to storm back in the second half to pick-up a well-deserved bonus point, in their 52-20 defeat to league leaders Richmond at the Athletic Ground.

Titans collected the point for scoring four tries, although at the break it was difficult to envisage that such a feat could be achieved after a lacklustre first half on their part and a rampant effort from the hosts.

Indeed, Richmond ran in six tries during the opening 40 minutes, which in effect wrapped-up the game.

The only highlight in that opening period for the South Yorkshire side came on 23 minutes when winger Ben Robbins finished off nicely in the corner, after Tom Bacon made an excellent break down the right hand side.

However, as well as Richmond played, a high number of errors from the Titans certainly made the home side’s task easier than it should have been. Their line-out in particular caused them distress and a number of one-up missed tackles also hurt them badly.

So for the transformation which took place in the second half, the Rotherham players should be given a massive amount of credit as they outscored the league leaders by three tries to one.

Following Titans’ ‘old boy’ Charlie Mulchrone adding to the hosts tally on 47 minutes, Rotherham pretty much dominated events from there on in.

On 68 minutes Ben Robbins scored his and Titans second try when he just managed to squeeze through in the corner following a huge amount of pressure from the pack.

Then, as the game went into injury time Titans added their third try after two significant breaks in the build-up. Firstly Connor Dever made 30 metres in midfield with an arching run, then number 8 Anthony Maka showed good footwork and hand skills to pop a pass to Jamie Cooke for him to dot down in the far corner.

The crucial fourth try was secured in the final play of the match. From the base of a ruck inside the Richmond 22, the ball was flung across the backline from Dever to Bacon, who in turn fed replacement full back Sam Allan for a well-worked score.

From what had appeared a desolate position at the break, the fight Rotherham displayed in the second half not only secured a crucial bonus point, but offered realistic hope that they could yet clamber out of the relegation spot come the end of April.

Speaking after the game, an upbeat Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, explained, “The boys showed massive heart and massive courage in those final few minutes; we asked the boys for a reaction at half time and we got that.

“To come down here - and it is a long way to travel - against the league leaders in the first half was a washout. But at half time we sat in the dressing room and we said as a group “let’s take a look at ourselves,” and we asked “what do we want to achieve?”

“I just said to the boys in the post-match huddle, the second half could have gone one of two ways; it could have been an absolute disaster or it was what we got, which was a response with all heart and character and to score the final try at the end feels like we’ve won the game.

“The boys were absolutely fantastic and the reaction they gave in the second half was fantastic and I’m massively proud of them.

“It’s important now that we win our home games and keep picking up at least the bonus points away from home.

“Since the turn of the year we seen a massive improvement and we have to keep building on that to get us out of the relegation tussle. It’s a dogfight at the bottom and we will continue to fight right up until the end.”

Referee: Veryan Boscawen

Attendance: 545

Yellow Card: Dever & Ward (Titans), Parker (Richmond)

Titans: Robbins (2T), Cooke (T), Allan (T)

Richmond: Lynagh (2T), Mitchell (T), Mclean (T), Graham (T), Grimstone (T), Mulchrone (T), Hodgson (6C, P), Dennett (1C)

Titans: 15 George Castledine (Allan 75), 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Tom Bacon, 10 Morgan Bunting (Boxhall 75), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield, 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 55), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 40), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Elliott Ward (Waddington 53), 6 Ben Waddington (Frost 40), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka.

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Kieran Frost, 19 Sam Boxhall, 20 Sam Allan.

Richmond: 15 Louis Lynagh, 14 Dan Kelly, 13 Cameron Mitchell (Capt), 12 Ronnie Mclean, 11 Hamish Graham, 10 Tom Hodgson (Mulchrone 40), 9 Jamie Gibbs (Dennett 40), 1 Timmy Walford (Litchfield 69), 2 Ross Grimstone (Torpey 52), 3 Jimmy Litchfield (Banfield 52), 4 Byron Hodge, 5 Chris Allman (Bibic 40), 6 Tom Pashley, 7 Andrew Boyce, 8 Jake Parker.

Replacement: 16 Alex Bibic, 17 David Banfield, 18 Callum Torpey, 19 Lewis Dennett, 20 Charlie Mulchrone.

Titans 24 Chinnor 42

Rotherham Titans managed to secure what could be a crucial bonus point for scoring four tries in their 42-24 defeat to high-flyers Chinnor at a windswept Clifton Lane.

In what turned out to be a barmy game of rugby, Titans new boy Tom Benjamin, in on loan from Nottingham, bagged a brace of tries, with scrum half Connor Dever and winger Ben Robbins also crossing the whitewash; Sam Hollingsworth added four points from the tee.

Winning the coin toss and electing to play with the high winds in the first half was always likely to prove critical, as a half time lead was virtually guaranteed.

So when Chinnor ‘took the wind’ in the first half and Titans suffered three yellow cards in the opening 40 minutes, there was little surprise to see the South Yorkshire go in at the break trailing 35-5.

The only bight moment for Rotherham in that first period came on the half hour mark when full back Tom Benjamin raced in down the right hand side to finish off nicely, after Tom Bullough made a break to send him in from 40 metres. Sam Hollingsworth’s effort from the tee in the difficult conditions missed its target.

The second half however would have given Rotherham some crumbs of comfort and not least because they won the half 19-7 and scored 3 further tries to secure a vital bonus point, but mainly because of the spirit and character they displayed which will give all at Clifton Lane hope that the great escape is still possible with 9 games remaining.

In essence Rotherham pretty much bossed the majority of the second half, but it took then until just before the hour mark until they added to their tally, but when they did, they scored 2 very nice tries in the space of three minutes.

First up was scrum half Connor Dever who collected from the base of a ruck and then looked to dummy, before racing through a gap to dot down from inside the 22. Then Dever was involved again shortly after, as he collected a loose ball and fed it out wide for winger Ben Robbins to race in to score.

The momentum was now truly with the home side and hopes of a miraculous comeback were just beginning to enter the consciousness, as what had been 35-5 was now 35-17.

However, within five minutes those hopes were dashed when replacement back rower Matt Marley barged over for Chinnor to wrap up the game.

Nonetheless Rotherham continued to battle forward and show tremendous resilience and character. This they were rewarded for at the death when Sam Hollingsworth made a half break before off-loading to Tom Benjamin on his shoulder, for the debutant to run in and score under the sticks and secure a well-deserved try bonus point for the home side.

Commenting afterwards Titans’ Martin Jenkinson said, “It’s a difficult one as we have to be careful in what we say; however, things happen in games and the opening sequence in the first 10 minutes was rugby as we don’t recognise it and lots of people have to take responsibility for that.

“The first half was the first half; what we have to take from the game is how our boys reacted at half time. At the break we could have completely capitulated and we could have completely downed tools, but we didn’t.

“We came out and we won the second half and we started to get some decisions and at the end to get a point against a top-end side could be crucial in saving us at the end of the season.

“In the huddle just now we have said to the boys that we need to take ownership of the first 40 minutes and not to look elsewhere to lay the blame; and we do take ownership of it.

“We have to take the positives from the game and we must stay positive in our approach and the second 40 minutes gave us plenty of reasons to do so.”

Referee: Harry Walbaum

Attendance: 464

Yellow Card: Benjamin (Titans), Preston-Routledge (Titans), Wilson (Titans)

Titans: Benjamin (2T), Dever (T), Robbins (T), Hollingsworth (2C)

Chinnor: Penalty Try, Worrall (2T), Selway (T), Goss (T), Marley (T), May (5C)

Titans: 15 Tom Benjamin, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Dan Leake (Dunne 46), 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield (Newborn 49), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Will Dennis (Stout 60), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Ward 60), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Ben Waddington.

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Elliott Ward, 19 Sam Boxhall, 20 Harry Dunne.

Chinnor: 15 Will Harries, 14 Kieran Goss, 13 Sam Yawayawa, 12 Jason Worrall (Capt.), 11 Josh Hodson (Watson 16) (Kirwan 65), 10 Laurence May, 9 Ed Hoadley (Watson71), 1 Josh Pieters (Fidler 40), 2 Nick Selway, 3 Jo Rees (McNulty 37), 4 Jack Ramshaw (Thomas 53), 5 Joe Dancer, 6 James Tyas, 7 Carl Kirwan (Marley 58), 8 Willie Ryan.

Replacements: 16 Tom Fidler, 17 Josh McNulty, 18 Ben Thomas, 19 Matt Marley, 20 Callum Watson.

Darlington Mowden Park 41 Titans 27

Rotherham Titans shared a 10-try thriller against top six outfit Darlington Mowden Park, before eventually going down 41-27 at the Northern Echo Arena.

The result leaves Titans still 8 points adrift of Birmingham Mosely at the foot of the table with 10 games remaining, although 6 of those games are at Clifton Lane, starting with the visit of Chinnor on Saturday.

Rotherham can take some positives from defeat to the divisions leading point’s scorers, as the five tries they scored equalled the hosts tally and delivered them a hard-fought, but fully deserved bonus point.

Indeed, had the usually expert marksman from the tee, Sam Hollingsworth, had a more fortuitous afternoon with the boot, the result may have been a much closer affair, although to be fair to him, his shots off the plastic were just about all from out wide.

What Rotherham can be particularly pleased with however was 100% line-out success and a driving maul which dominated throughout.

Actually, both of Titans first half tries came via the driving maul, with skipper Zak Poole dotting down both times after tremendous work from the Rotherham pack.

Mowden’s first half points came with two tries from bulldozing number 8 Ollie Hodgson and one from flanker Callum Mackenzie; whilst classy fly half Warren Seals added 9 points from the tee.

Following an early Seals penalty at the beginning of the second period Rotherham added their third try through winger Ben Robbins, who showed blistering pace down the right wing to go over in the corner and when Hollingsworth nailed the difficult conversion Titans were within 10 points with over 30 minutes left.

Unfortunately for them however, during a five-minute spell of dominance between the 66th and 71st minutes Park’s Tom Marshall and Conrad Cade crossed the whitewash to secure the game.

Undeterred and showing a terrific amount of resilience and character Rotherham stormed back late on to score another two tries through lock forward Kieran Frost and a second for winger Ben Robbins.

Commenting afterwards, an upbeat Titans’ Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, said, “Darlington are a very good outfit and are pretty much irresistible at home; that’s their sixth straight win on the bounce here and you could see what a good side they are.  

“It was a big ask for our boys today and as everyone knows we’ve been under the cosh a lot of this season. However, I thought the lads reacted well to score five tries and to keep coming back and to get a point.

“That is the sort of fight, the sort of dog and the sort of attitude we need if we are going to get out of trouble at the bottom of the table and I am immensely proud of all of them.

“We know there’s going to be some hard fights ahead, but we are improving week on week and to come here and get a point is a good effort and whilst we are always trying to win every game, we are content with the work the lads have put in today.

“Prior to this game we took seven points from our previous three games and we have said to the boys if we can take seven points every three games, then we should be ok at the end of the season and that’s our target.

“Obviously a lot will hinge on our home fixtures and we know when Chinnor come to Clifton Lane it will be very hard, but we will be going for the win just like we do in every game.”

Referee: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 855              

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Poole (2T), Robbins (2T), Frost (T), Hollingsworth (1C)

Darlington Mowden Park: Hodgson (2T), Mackenzie (T), Marshall (T), Cade (T), Seals (5C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Connor Dever, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield 35), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 60), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Ward 60), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Alfie North (Waddington 12), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Elliott Ward, 19 Ben Waddington, 20 George Castledine.

Darlington Mowden Park: 15 Paul Jarvis, 14 Brandon Asher-Wood, 13 Ben Frankland, 12 Ben Dixon, 11 Ollie Walker (McTurk 50), 10 Warren Seals (Law73), 9 Euan McKirdy, 1 Conrad Cade (Westwood 71), 2 Joe Duffy, 3 Jonas Humbert (Marshall 60), 4 Talite Vaioleti, 5 Joe Craggs, 6 George Stokes (Graham 70), 7 Callum Mackenzie, 8 Ollie Hodgson (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Scott Westwood, 17 Tom Marshall, 18 Guy Graham, 19 Garry Law, 20 Chris McTurk.

Titans 22 Birmingham Moseley 20

Rotherham Titans claimed a deserved 22-20 victory over a tenacious Birmingham Moseley side to narrow the gap at the bottom of National 1 to 8 points.

Each side scored three tries apiece, with the Titans scores coming from lock forward Dan Preston-Routledge and back rowers Zak Poole and Lewis Wilson, whilst fly half and former Moseley player, Sam Hollingsworth added 7 points from the tee.

The win was a crucial one for the South Yorkshire side, as a five point defeat to the West Midlands outfit would have put them 16 points adrift in the relegation zone.

Instead, on the back of their win, Rotherham can take confidence from their much-improved performances over the last 3 weeks, as they seek more victories in order to narrow the gap further as the season draws towards the business end.

However, Titans’ hearts would have sunk early on, when after a promising start they fell 7-0 behind after just 4 minutes.

From turnover ball deep inside the opposition’s half, Moseley winger Matt Dight broke through and hacked on to score from 60 metres out, with Titans’ ‘old boy’ Cliffie Hodgson adding the conversion from close to the touchline.

This ‘new’ Titans side however no longer rolls over when things don’t quite go their way and the players showed their character by storming back with an aggression and intensity that will stand them in good stead for the battle ahead in the final third of the season.

This aggression and intensity led to Titans levelling matters just after the 20 minute mark, when following a series of pick and goes close to the line, lock forward Dan Preston-Routledge showed great strength to barge his way through three Moseley defenders to score, with fly half Sam Hollingsworth adding the extras.

Back came the Midlanders though and following a short period of forward pressure inside the Rotherham 22, they nosed ahead from a Hodgson penalty in front of the sticks.

Just before the break however and Titans deservedly re-took the lead when skipper Zak Poole barged his way over in the corner following a good drive from a line-out inside the 22. Hollingsworth impressed again from the tee to send his side in at the interval with a 14-10 advantage.

Titans though, would have been disappointed with their opening efforts to the second period, as following a clearance kick from Moseley just outside their 22, winger Aquile Smith collected on halfway virtually unopposed and proceeded to gallop in from 50 metres to push his side 15-14 ahead.

Again Rotherham bounced back with good intensity in what was fast becoming a thriller of a game. This time flanker Lewis Wilson showed good awareness to spot a gap at the breakdown before pouncing through to score. Unfortunately for Rotherham, Hollingsworth’s conversion hit the left post as the wind started to increase.

Just after the hour mark, this topsy-turvy encounter took another twist, when, as is often the case, a former Titan scores against his old club. This time fly half, Cliffie Hodgson, joined the tail of a maul to dot down for an unconverted try to sneak his side one point ahead.

As time was running out it appeared as if Rotherham would be on the wrong side of another single-score defeat.

However, from a scrum 45 metres out Titans were rewarded for their dominant set-piece when referee Charlie Gayther - who is surely set for greater things in the game - awarded Titans a penalty.

Up stepped Sam Hollingsworth and with nerves of steel he calmly slotted the winning score to the elation of the home crowd.

Commenting post-match, Titans’ Martin Jenkinson explained, “We talk all the time about the performance and we’ve seen for three weeks now, after things were changed, in our games against Plymouth, Cambridge and Moseley the team making improvements.

“People forget there are so many single-score games and you’ve got to be able to get on the right side of these scores. Last week and the week before we weren’t able to do that; but this week we were and all credit to the lads for doing so.

“That Birmingham side is a good side and they did a very good job against Cinderford last week, but I think any independent observer would say we played all the good rugby today.

“They got that fortunate breakaway try early on, but they are a good outfit and that’s what good teams can do, but I have to say that we are a good outfit also and now we are starting to look like the team we thought we would be.

“We went behind three times in the game and if that had happened to us before Christmas we would probably at that stage collapsed.

“However, we are in a different place now and the boys proved that with the strength of character they had to dig in, trust the process and come back to ultimately win the game.

“We are improving week on week and that gives us the confidence that we can go anywhere in this league and beat any team on our day and whilst that’s the situation there is more than hope for us.

“I don’t think sides will relish coming here or will relish us going to their place. We’ve got Darlington Mowden Park next and we will go up there looking for a win.”

Referee: Charlie Gayther

Attendance: 543

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Preston-Routledge (T), Poole (T), Wilson (T), Hollingsworth (2C, P)

Birmingham Moseley: Dight (T), Smith (T), Hodgson (T, C, P)

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Jamie Cooke, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne (Dever 8), 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 67), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson (North 60), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka (Laxton 76). 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Alfie North, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Connor Dever.

Birmingham Moseley: 15 Louis Roach, 14 Matt Dight, 13 Kieran Joyce, 12 Ravai Fatiaki, 11 Aquile Smith, 10 Cliffie Hodgson (Palmer 8) (Hodgson 21), 9 Johnny Arr (Capt.), 1 Nathaniel Titchard-Jones (Foreman 60), 2 Will Biggs, 3 James Tideswell (Langley 27) (Tideswell 68), 4 Tony Worthington, 5 Aaron Crofts (Stephens 60), 6 Zac Xiourouppa, 7 Morgan Dawes, 8 Buster Lawrence.

Replacements: 16 Joe Foreman, 17 David Langley, 18 Michael Stephens, 19 Jack Jolly, 20 Ben Palmer.

Photo Credit: Blueline Photography

Cambridge 25 Titans 21

Rotherham Titans were gutted not to return home with a pocket full of points as they narrowly lost 25-21 to Cambridge at a windswept Grantchester Road.

Titans for much of the match were the better side; unfortunately for them, a series of unforced errors cost them what would have been a fully deserved victory.

Indeed, had the pack, which mustered over 20 phases on the Cambridge line in the last play of the game, got over the line, the South Yorkshire side would have returned to Clifton Lane with the full five points.

That didn’t look possible after just five minutes of this pulsating encounter, as centre Matthew Hema and winger James Martin both crossed to give the home side a perfect start.

Undeterred at the set-back Rotherham bounced back and enjoyed lots of possession as their pack bullied their way around Grantchester Road. On 14 minutes one such impressive charge resulted in winger Ben Robbins galloping around the defence to score near the corner.

Incredibly fly half Sam Hollingsworth nailed the conversion from out wide against the stiffest of winds.

Rotherham continued to impress as they controlled proceedings for the remainder of the half and with their set-scrum functioning exceptionally well, it appeared it would only be a matter of time before they added to their tally.

Unfortunately for Titans though they lost the ball and gave away possession just before half time. The resulting phases saw Titans former winger Andrew Henderson finish off in the corner to send his side in at the break with a 15-7 lead.

The second half saw Rotherham continue their fine work. However, it was not until just before the hour-mark that they manage to find a score.

From a Cambridge scrum just outside the Titans 22, the home pack desperately flung the ball out from the base as the pressure mounted. In stepped Titans’ scrum half Sam Boxhall to pick-off the pass and then gallop 70 metres downfield to score in the corner. Hollingsworth’s conversion from the touchline was expertly taken to leave the Titans trailing by a point.

Just 5 minutes later Rotherham took the lead for the first time.

From a line-out on the Cambridge 22 hooker Harry Newborn threw to Lewis Wilson at the front; he then popped the ball back for the hooker to race down the touchline to score. Hollingsworth was exceptional from out wide off the tee to give his side a 21-15 lead.

Disappointingly for Rotherham, inside the final 9 minutes of the match they conceded 2 late tries. The first stemmed from a bit of a mix-up with a grubber kick which allowed James Martin in for his second try and then from turnover ball prop Henry Peck popped over in the corner, despite a suspiciously-looking forward pass in the build-up.

Rotherham can however take some consolation from both the bonus point they picked up, but more importantly from a performance, if repeated, that will only lead to them winning lots of games of rugby.

Commenting on Titans’ performance post-match, Matt Smith explained, “It was heart-breaking for the lads not to win this one; at the end we had over 20 phases to get over the line but we just couldn’t manage it and that was the difference between five points and one.

“But again we saw the step-up in quality of our performance in the way we want to play; we’ve just got to get rid of those little mistakes which are costing us a lot. Some of their tries were too easy which yet again came off our errors.

“It was a strange game to lose; they didn’t have that much ball, particularly in the first half and three of their tries came off our errors and I would say overall we were the better team.

“However, points aren’t given out for being the better team if you don’t win the match. We need to be better when we have the ball and we need to show a bit more quality in finishing off the opportunities when they come our way.

“However, after the game you could that the boys were absolutely gutted, which means that they care and any group of lads that care that much and are willing to work hard to keep improving give you massive confidence that the next win is just around the corner.”

Referee: Sam Phillips

Attendance: 523

Yellow Card: Hollingsworth (Titans)

Titans: Robbins (T), Boxhall (T), Newborn (T), Hollingsworth (3C)

Cambridge: Martin (2T), Hema (T), Henderson (T), Peck (T),

Titans: 15 Sam Allan, 14 Jamie Cooke, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ben Robbins (Dever 20) (Robbins 35), 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 50), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (North 38), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson, 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka. 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Alfie North, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Connor Dever.

Cambridge: 15 Joseph Tarrant, 14 James Martin, 13 Matthew Hema, 12 Ned Brown (Rayner 61), 11 Andrew Henderson, 10 Benjamin Penfold, 9 Kieran Duffin (Creighton 50), 1 Matthew Meek (Ibrahim 64), 2 Michael Mayhew (Priestley 50), 3 Henry Peck, 4 Robert Conquest, 5 Gareth Baxter (Hutchinson 80), 6 Kailus Hutchinson (McCloud 40), 7 Matthew Dawson, 8 Benjamin Adams (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 William Priestley, 17 Ben Ibrahim, 18 Jake McCloud, 19 Finlay Creighton, 20 Lawrence Rayner.

Titans 32 Plymouth Albion 38

Rotherham Titans put in a much-improved performance, but were still unable to grab the win as they went down 38-32 to Plymouth Albion at Clifton Lane.

Titans collected two points for their efforts as they ended the game within seven points of the visitors and scored four tries.

Indeed, Titans first half performance was one of their best for quite some time as they played some tidy rugby and controlled much of the game.

Winger Dan Leake gave the hosts a perfect start when he majestically collected a high clearance kick from Sam Hollingsworth as early as the second minute and then proceeded to race in from 40 metres.

Hollingsworth added the conversion and then extended the Titans advantage further on 10 minutes with a well taken penalty.

The only real disappointment for the home side in the first half came on 25 minutes when after overthrowing at their own line-out, five metres from the Albion line, they found themselves conceding a driving maul try from prop Koree Britton a minute later!

Full back Connor Eastgate converted to add to his 14th minute penalty to level things up at 10 apiece.

Rotherham however responded quickly and with purpose about their work.

On the half hour mark Hollingsworth added his second penalty, before a minute later creating a super try as he dummied 40 metres out and broke the line. He took play inside the 22 before drawing the final defender to send in scrum half Sam Boxhall under the sticks.

Indeed, in first half injury time Rotherham could have extended their advantage further, when Anthony Maka broke inside the Albion 22. However, some last-gasp scramble defence from Albion kept their line intact and the sides went in at the break with Titans holding a healthy 20-10 lead.

Based on the first 40 minutes of a pulsating game, no one in the ground would have imagined what was about to occur in the opening quarter of the second half.

Inside a 19 minute spell between the 48th and 67th minute Plymouth ran in 4 unanswered tries through number 8 Ruis Tuima, second rower John Kelly, winger Shea Cornish and flanker George Mills.

Unfortunately for Rotherham Mills blatant dropping of the ball over the line was missed by all three officials and the try was awarded.

To their credit Titans bounced back with great urgency and scored two late tries through skipper Zak Poole and winger Jamie Cooke.

Oh how Rotherham wished the officials had a better view of the Albion knock-on over the line!

Commenting on the game afterwards, Titans’ Martin Jenkinson, explained, “If you look at how the game broke down; for 60 minutes we were the better team. However, they scored four unanswered tries in a 20 minutes spell after half time which was very disappointing.

“Having said that, we have just said to the boys it’s been a good training week, the first one we’ve had for some time and I believe that we’ve seen the start of the mending process – the process of putting things right.

“Hopefully we can get some more front row players back from injury and hopefully we can start managing these games for a full 80 minutes, because it was that game management immediately after half time that lets us down.

“We stopped exiting. When we start trying to play inside our own half we are inviting pressure on ourselves and you end up getting yourselves into situations where you are never out of the pressure cooker.

“You then cough ball up for whatever reason and it ends up in a try against you; whereas they should be a foot through it down the field to allow us to play in safer areas. We did it in the first half, but not when we came out after half time.

“We have just got to keep working, there’s no magic wand to wave, we have to keep working hard, we need to get some more boys fit and we have to stick our collective shoulders behind the wheel to make sure we get enough points to stay in the division.”

Referee: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 481

Yellow Card: Mills (Plymouth)

Titans: Leake (T), Boxhall (T), Poole (T), Cooke (T), Hollingsworth (3C, 2P)

Plymouth Albion: Britton (T), Tuima (T), Kelly (T), Cornish (T), Mills (T), Eastgate (5C, 1P) 

Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Jamie Cooke, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Dan Leake (Dever 33), 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 40), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Kieran Frost, 5 Elliott Ward (Preston-Routledge 53), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Anthony Maka. 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 James Armitage, 18 Dan Preston-Routledge, 19 Alfie North, 20 Connor Dever.

Plymouth Albion: 15 Connor Eastgate, 14 Shea Cornish (Ingoldsby74), 13 Dean Squire, 12 Javiah Pohe (Powell 78), 11 Alex Ducker, 10 Sam Morley, 9 Joe Snow, 1 Koree Britton, 2 James Salter, 3 Jack Higgins, 4 John Kelly, 5 Lewis Pearson, 6 Dan Swain (Collier 68), 7 George Mills, 8 Ruis Tuima.

Replacements: 16 Peter Ingoldsby, 17 Alex Smith, 18 Cameron Setter, 19 Dan Collier, 20 Dan Powell.

Sale FC 47 Titans 7

Rotherham Titans endured a bad day at the office, crashing to their heaviest defeat of the season as Sale FC ran in 7 tries to run away 47-7 winners on one of the heaviest pitches Titans are likely to play on this term.

The result leaves Rotherham 9 points adrift of safety and their nearest rivals Birmingham Moseley, who visit Clifton Lane next month, in what promises to be a vitally important game.

In the meantime, as the squad breaks up for the Christmas holidays, this final game of 2019 will be one they’ll want to forget about quickly.

Right from the start when Rotherham conceded in the second minute through former Titan Fergus Mulchrone, the writing was on the wall. Three further first half tries followed to send Titans in at the break 28-0 down.

The second half was better for the South Yorkshire side, but nothing to boast about as they conceded another three tries.

Titans only points of the game came at the end as centre Harry Dunne intercepted before running in to dot down under the sticks.

Commenting post game a visibly disappointed Matt Smith explained, “I thought we let ourselves down massively! Once again we’ve had a great training week and it’s come to the game and we’ve just not put anything on the pitch that we’ve done in the week.

“At times we just had brain explosions, people not sticking to what we want them to do and then just the amount of errors in numerous different positions.

“Whether that be a line out throw or a call, whether it’s being offside in midfield for no reason and under no pressure or whether it be in attack when we’ve actually got a bit of pressure on them and then we try doing it on our own and get turned over. We are just killing ourselves.

“In the first half all their tries came from everything that we did wrong; Sale didn’t have to do anything to get them and that’s where we are as a group at the moment.

“This is a good league and when you’re making as many errors as we are, you don’t deserve to win a game of rugby.”

Referee: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 729

Yellow Card: Chris Johnson (Sale FC)

Titans: Dunne (T), Dever (1C)

Sale FC: Brady (2T), Mulchrone (T), Bingham (T), Talaese (T), Longmore (T), Barron (T), Johnson (7C)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan, 14 Connor Field, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Morgan Bunting (Boxhall 49), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Jones 56), 3 Reece Ward (Dennis 30), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Frost h-t), 5 Will Hughes (North h-t), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Anthony Maka. 

Replacements: 16 Ianto Jones, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Kieran Frost, 19 Alfie North, 20 Sam Boxhall.

Sale FC: 15 Tom Brady, 14 Anthony Bingham, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Johnny Leota (Rawcliffe 51), 11 Patrick Ah Van (Bradley 64), 10 Chris Johnson, 9 Matt Bradley (Calle Rivas 50), 1 Dan Birchall (Pope 41), 2 Ollie Longmore (Birchall 66), 3 Matt Talaese (Matthews 32) (Talaese 66), 4 Rhys Davies (Gray 61), 5 Nick Gray (Priestley-Nangle 41), 6 Jake Barron, 7 Andrew Hughes (Capt.), 8 Jarad Williams.

Replacements: 16 Jake Pope, 17 Dan Matthews, 18 Stone Priestley-Nangle, 19 Jonty Rawcliffe, 20 Emiliano Calle Rivas.

Photo: Gareth Lyons

Titans 20 Canterbury 19

Rotherham Titans dramatically snatched victory in the 8th minute of injury time, as fly half Morgan Bunting kept his nerve to slot over a penalty kick to seal a 20-19 win over Canterbury, on a cold afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans’ points came way of two tries from number 8 Anthony Maka and one from full back Sam Allan; whilst Morgan Bunting added 5 points from the tee.

The victory was a crucial one for the South Yorkshire side as they reduced their arrears in the relegation zone from 12 to 8 points at the half way point of the season.

Titans’ victory will have boosted confidence within the ranks and they will now travel to Sale FC this weekend looking to build on their success as they attempt to move closer to safety in National 1.

The game itself was an evenly balanced affair with both sides enjoying periods of dominance; although it took until the end of the first quarter for the scoreboard to click into life.

When it did however it was in Canterbury’s favour as the visitor’s second rower Alex Thompson used his strength and power to barge his way over the line following a series of pick and goes.

Titans soon responded to level matters though, as their own powerhouse Anthony Maka dotted down from the tail of a maul following a powerful drive from the pack.

Buoyed by this Rotherham found another level and looked sharp and threatening with ball in hand; their reward for their speed of play came just after the half hour mark when the ball was spread right for Sam Allan to join the line and dive over for Titans second try.

Canterbury had lots of possession towards the end of the half, but Titans line speed and determination in defence meant they would go in at the break 12-7 to the good.

Rotherham extended their advantage to 17-7 early in the second half when from a line out close to the line Anthony Maka peeled off the back of the drive to bulldoze his way over for his second try and Titans third.

Shortly after Titans almost had the bonus point try when Connor Field broke from inside his own half and made good ground before finding Connor Dever.

The scrum half chipped over the top of the onrushing defence, but disappointingly for Rotherham the ball just ran out of play before full back Sam Allan could touch it down,

Incredibly however, within 10 minutes of this Canterbury crossed the line twice to score through half back Dan Smart and a second try for Alex Thompson to give the visitors a surprising 19-17 edge.

Much of the final quarter was controlled by Canterbury, with Rotherham having to work their socks off to keep them out – but this they did.

As the game went deep into injury time and with the visitors pressing on the edge of Titans 22, Kieran Frost spotted the ball loose at the back of the ruck.

The tall second rower pounced quickly to collect and make his way downfield. The ensuing phases of play resulted in Rotherham being awarded a penalty in front of the sticks.

With the final kick of the match Morgan Bunting calmly slotted over to give his side a much needed victory.

Commenting post-game a relieved Martin Jenkinson explained, “Games turn on the bounce of the ball and seasons can turn on small margins and small issues, but today was all about the result first and foremost.

“The run we’ve been on hasn’t been great and confidence has been low, but all that really mattered today was to get the win and we didn’t care how we got it.

“When you are losing week on week and you’ve not got enough players to do what you want to do in training it’s hard.

“We’ve got that win now and we’ve crossed the line; now we’ve got to use the win as a springboard to get back up that table.

“They say losing is habitual but winning is habitual as well and hopefully we can now go on a run.

“Today, mercifully, at the end we got the kick to get the win. Up until the mid-point in the second half we were the better team and then it went from us.

“The TMO would say their first try was dropped over the line. Their second try was soft; we were setting up the ruck and they realised the ball was on the line and they scored.

“With those soft tries we could have given the game away; fortunately we clawed back into it and got the win.”

Referee: Tim Allatt

Attendance: 512

Yellow Card: Thompson (Canterbury), Bunting (Titans)

Titans: Maka (2T), Allan (T), Bunting (C, P)

Canterbury: Thompson (2T), Smart (T), Best (2C)

Titans: 15 Sam Allan (Field 78), 14 Dan Leake, 13 Connor Field (Cooke 72), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Morgan Bunting, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Reece Ward (Nearchou 68), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Will Hughes (Frost 40), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton (North 63), 8 Anthony Maka. 

Replacements: 16 Zac Nearchou, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Kieran Frost, 19 Alfie North, 20 Jamie Cooke.

Canterbury: 15 Will Waddington, 14 Ricky Mackintosh (Capt.) (Corcoran 70), 13 Sam Sterling, 12 Tom Best, 11 Jonathan Murray, 10 Charlie Kingsman, 9 Dan Smart, 1 Jamie Dever, 2 Gene Syminton (King 35), 3 Alex Wake-Smith (Young 70), 4 Royce Cadman, 5 Alex Thompson, 6 Jamie Stephens, 7 Jack Rouse, 8 Tyler Oliver.

Replacements: 16 Dwayne Corcoran, 17 Tristan King, 18 Will Young, 19 Tom Williams, 20 Matt Corker.