Huddersfield 39 Titans 27

Rotherham Titans suffered a disappointing 39-27 defeat away at Huddersfield on a cold afternoon at Lockwood Park.

Titans scored three tries through Rupert Kay, Zak Poole and Callum Busting, with Lloyd Hayes adding 12 points from the tee.

Rotherham for the second season running left Lockwood Park disappointed as Huddersfield demonstrated once again they are not a team to be underestimated at home.

Titans actually started the game much the brighter and only a determined defensive display from the hosts kept their line intact as the first quarter elapsed without score.

Will Milner and Lloyd Hayes then traded penalties before winger Kian Stewart dotted down in the corner for the first try of the game for Huddersfield.

Milner stretched Field’s advantage before the break with a penalty, but in the final play of the half and despite being reduced to 14 men due to Charlie Capps receiving a yellow card, Rotherham’s Rupert Kay crashed over the whitewash with great determination. Hayes’ conversion sent Roth in at the break trailing 13-10.

Inside 6 minutes of the restart Rotherham went ahead after a Lloyd Hayes penalty and a quick thinking try from skipper Zak Poole, who had his wits about him from a rapidly taken penalty to go over next to the posts for a converted try to make it 20-13.

However, within a 10 minute spell it all went horribly wrong for Rotherham as Huddersfield winger Kian Stewart helped himself to a hat-trick.

Suddenly Roth trailed 32-20 in a game they had enjoyed the better moments and they looked shell-shocked.

Seven minutes from time though Titans gave themselves some hope of a recovery when Callum Busting barged his way over for a converted try to reduced his side’s arrears to 32-27.

However, those hopes were finally dashed late on when Field’s other winger Finlay Stewart – brother of Kian – galloped home to seal a deserved win.

Rotherham will now have to quickly put their disappointment behind them and prepare for a huge South Yorkshire derby against Sheffield at Clifton Lane this Saturday.

Speaking after the match a disappointed Titans Gary Pearce said:

“We played all the rugby in the first half, but we were just playing in the middle of the field. They didn’t play much rugby or many phases, but in the second half they score three tries from three kicks which came out of nothing.

“We just played dumb in certain situations; our lads worked hard, but we just kept on making error after error and that’s just not good enough at this level. We did play some good stuff at times, but we have to keep hold of the ball and we didn’t, we just gave the ball away too easily.

“I can’t express how disappointed we are; I told the lads we have to front-up and be better than we were today. We’re not a bad side but we aren’t showing that right now.

“They get the ball and score from nothing, they didn’t even have to work for their tries; it’s not as though they have pounded us and they’ve come at us for 6 or 8 phases; no, we just let them score from one phase and we really can’t let that happen and we made too many individual errors.

“The scoreboard shows they got 39 point’s, they’re not a 39 point side against us. We get down there and put on lots of pressure and we have to earn our points, they didn’t have to do that for their points and that’s not good enough.

“We need to get back on the training ground and work that bit harder to get better as a squad, because at the minute it’s not very good.

“You sometimes have to hold your hand up; you put a Rotherham shirt on and you’ve got to be accountable and at the minute they are not accountable for the errors and we need to help them improve so we can cut down on them.”

Referee: Llyr Apgeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 437

Yellow Card: Capps (Titans)

Titans: Kay (T), Poole (T), Busting (T), Hayes (3C, 2P)

Huddersfield: K. Stewart (4T), F. Stewart (T), Milner (4C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Sam Veall, 13 Tomasi Tanumi, 28 Callum Busting (Dunne 36), 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue (Richardson 36) (Sableman-Blue 45) (Ollivent 70), 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Richardson 75), 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 30), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Cambier 75), 6 Marcus Payne (Busting 53), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Cade Cambier, 19 Harry Dunne, 22 Corban Ollivent. 

Huddersfield: 15 Tom Hodson, 14 Kian Stewart (Law 72), 13 Lewis Workman, 12 Ed Barber, 11 Finlay Stewart, 10 Will Milner, 9 Joe Potter (Wilson 53), 1 Callum Thompson (Dawson 75), 2 Ethan Myers, 3 Andy Rollins, 4 Luke Pearson, 5 Eddie Brown, 6 Liam Parfitt (Stapley 70), 7 Lewis Bradley (Capt.), 8 Rob Jennings (Jones 48).

Replacements: 16 Alex Dawson, 19 Liam Stapley, 20 Matt Law, 21 Simon Wilson, 22 Tom Jones.

Titans 20 Sedgley Park 38

Rotherham Titans put in a big effort before unfortunately going down 38-20 to league leaders Sedgley Park on a blustery afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans scored two tries through Connor Dever and Luckas Sableman-Blue, with Lloyd Hayes adding 10 points from the tea.

To be fair the better team on the day won the game and they will likely go on to win the division and ply their trade in National 1 next season, but the scoreline slightly flattered the North West outfit.

Indeed Rotherham, with the elements in their favour in the first half, were the better side and took a deserved 13-5 lead in at the break.

Titans’ scrum half Connor Dever got the scoreboard ticking over as early as the fifth minute when he sniped over from close to the line following a period of forward pressure. Lloyd Hayes impressed in the difficult conditions with the conversion.

Connor James soon replied for the visitors down the left hand side to score in the corner, but fly half Steve Collins wasn’t able to add the extras.

Roth continued to have good periods throughout, but unfortunately for them they were unable to penetrate the whitewash, in no small part, this was due to some outstanding defensive sets from Park.

Nevertheless Roth did add to their tally with two nicely taken penalties from Lloyd Hayes.

Just before the break Sedgley Park back rower Connor James suffered a nasty lower leg injury which brought the half to a premature conclusion.

Fortunately Rotherham has an excellent medical department and Doctor Chris Myers and head physio David Swift were quickly on hand to assist Connor within seconds. All at Clifton Lane wish Connor a speedy recovery.

At the beginning of the second half there was some controversy when Rhys Henderson was deemed to have scored a try, which some suggested close to the play was indeed beyond the dead ball line.

Nevertheless, credit has to go to Henderson for his tenacious chase which led to the game-changing moment.

Rotherham appeared to be shaken by the outcome and Sedgley took heart and within 15 minutes they added another try from full back Andy Riley and two penalties from Collins to stretch their lead to 23-13.

Titans however never stopped putting in a shift and hopes of a fightback were raised when just after the hour mark winger Luckas Sableman-Blue dotted down in the corner following quick hands along the backline. Hayes mightily impressed from out wide with his conversion to reduce Titans arrears to 23-20.

Sedgley however are top of the league for a reason and before the end they scored two more tries through Dan Mayer and Rhys Henderson, with Collins adding a third penalty to round things off.

Park seemed to have improved a lot from earlier in the season and it’s difficult to see them not lifting the divisional honours this term.

Rotherham will now regroup and prepare for next week’s Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield at Lockwood Park.

Speaking afterwards Titans head coach, Gary Pearce, said:

“I think we are still a bit too naive about where we play the game; when you’ve got a day like today where the wind is so strong, you can’t play all your rugby on the halfway line. They gave us a lesson in the second half in how to play in those conditions and they made very few errors.

“The game changer was the try which was given at the start of the second half. I couldn’t see from where I was on halfway, but the people down at that end said it was over the dead ball line. If it was then that’s obviously very disappointing.

“It’s moments like that which can change the momentum of games and I think that happened today. However, what we can’t question is the lad’s effort and commitment.

“We know we’re a long way from being a top of the table side at this point and we have to give Sedgley a lot of credit. They are a good side and now they are 18 and 0 for the season. They are disciplined, well organised and well drilled and they have a lot of good players that have been together a long time.

“But we are still very disappointed because we thought we would really be in with a chance and we were for long periods; but crucially you have to put points on the board when you have your moments and we didn’t do that enough times today.”

Referee: Ben Rayner

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Dever (T), Sableman-Blue (T), Hayes (2C, 2P)

Sedgley Park: Henderson (2T), James (T), A. Riley (T), Mayer (T), Collins (2C, 3P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Taylor (Carlisle 51), 13 Tomasi Tanumi, 12 Callum Bustin, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Connor Dever (Boxhall 45), 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 74), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Richardson 77), 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 30) (Denman 53), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne (Allan 65), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Lewis Allan, 19 Joe Carlisle, 20 Sam Boxhall. 

Sedgley Park: 15 Andy Riley, 14 Rhys Henderson, 13 Oliver Glasse, 12 Matt Riley (Capt.), 11 Jamie Harrison, 10 Steve Collins, 9 Jacob Tansey (Bedlow 16), 1 John Blanchard, 2 Dan Mayer (Mallinson 74), 3 Beltus Nonleh (Black 35) (Nonleh 62), 4 Bob Birtwell, 5 Oscar Crowe (Chilvers 74), 6 Connor James (Bentley 37), 7 Mark Goodman, 8 Tom Ailes.

Replacements: 16 Cash Chilvers, 17 Adam Mallinson, 18 Ben Black, 19 Valu Tane Bentley, 20 Joe Bedlow.

Titans 52 Hull Ionians 25

Rotherham Titans put in a brilliant performance to overrun third-placed side Hull Ionians 52-25 on a bright afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Roth showed that on their day they can be a handful for any side in the division as they outscored their opponents by 8 tries to 3.

Rotherham’s tries came way of a brace on debut for Tomasi Tanumi, with one each for Callum Bustin, Gareth Denman, Matt Challinor, Danny Rylance, Lloyd Hayes, who also added 12 points from the tee and fittingly on his 100th appearance for the club, Zak Poole.

Titans raced out of the blocks and showed their intent from the start and their appetite for the contest was clear to see.

That intent was duly rewarded inside 16 minutes as Titans scored twice through driving mauls close to the line in “Plant’s Corner”. Callum Bustin and Gareth Denman were each on hand to dot down.

Hull Ionians are not third in the table for no reason and before the half hour mark they struck back through Lewis Minikin who knocked over a penalty, scored a try and then converted it to reduce his side’s arrears to 14-10.

However, undeterred Rotherham continued to show great energy and desire. This in turn led to a third try before the break when the ball was shipped on to Matt Challinor for him to clatter his way over. Hayes’ conversion ended the half with Roth 21-10 t the good.

An early Lewis Minikin penalty was soon surpassed as Titans secured one point with their fourth try. This came after I’s bundled a line out inside their 22, allowing Roth to poach and spread the ball quickly through the backs for Tomasi Tanumi to step back inside to score a fine try on debut.

Titans were now buoyant and look threatening every time they had possession and they didn’t have to wait too long before their next score.

On 53 minutes a quick-tap penalty from Connor Dever found prop forward Danny Rylance and he showed great determination to power over close to the sticks.

Ionians did register a second try on the hour mark through replacement forward Tyler Heelas, but within a minute Titans knocked any hopes of a late comeback on the head when Tomasi Tanumi scored his second in the corner following great work in the build-up from Lloyd Hayes.

Inside the final 10 minutes Rotherham added two further tries through Lloyd Hayes and fittingly Zak Poole on his 100th appearance for the club, before with the last play of the game Ionians got a consolation try through the talented Jack Townend.

All in all not too many from outside the Titans camp would have seen this result as possible, but inside the dressing room it was thought a corner had been turned and a win was definitely attainable against what is a very good Ionians side.

Titans will now get back to the training field and aim to improve further for when they take on top-of-the-league Sedgley Park on Saturday at Clifton Lane.

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

“We’re obviously delighted with the result; when we played Fylde the other week we were really good and we were very unlucky not to beat them that day. And we know our lads have plenty of heart and spirit and that we have some good players here.

“We scored 8 tries and were pretty dominant; we bashed them and across the park we were really good. We brought Tomasi Tanumi in this week and I thought he made a nice impact. He communicates well and that helps a lot with some of the younger lads.

“Our forwards were very dominant; they caused so much carnage out there which was great to watch; but we should be doing that because they are good players.

“We are at home and the expectation is that we win games and we should be winning games; so hopefully from here with a little bit of a fire inside them we can hopefully carry that on into the rest of the season.

“This is all down to the players, they are the ones that have to come out and do the business and that’s what they have done and full credit to them.”

Referee: Nathan Howarth

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Payne (Titans), Pocklington (Ionians)

Titans: Tanumi (2T), Bustin (T), Denman (T), Challinor (T), Rylance (T), Poole (T), Hayes (T, 6C)

Hull Ionians: Heelas (T), Townend (T), Minikin (T, 2P, 2C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall (Tucker 71), 14 Jack Taylor, 13 Tomasi Tanumi, 12 Callum Bustin, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Lloyd Hayes (Dever 77), 9 Connor Dever (Boxhall 66), 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 48), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Richardson 75), 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 30), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne (Allan 75), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Lewis Allan, 19 George Tucker, 20 Sam Boxhall.   

Hull Ionians: 15 Lewis Minikin, 14 Sam Wilson, 13 Cameron Burnhill, 12 Jack Townend, 11 Josh Britton (Celella 67), 10 Ben Smith, 9 Sam Pocklington, 1 Chris Morton, 2 Allan Hudson, 3 David Laverick (Westwood 33), 4 Joe Makin, 5 Alex Campbell (Heelas 51), 6 Callam Sanderson, 7 James Sanderson (Capt.) (Powell 67), 8 Declan Thompson.

Replacements: 16 Scott Westwood, 17 Lucas Powell, 18 Tyler Heelas, 19 Tom Bullough, 20 Alfredo Celella.

Titans 20 Wharfedale 27

Rotherham Titans were disappointingly beaten 27-20 by an energetic Wharfedale outfit on an overcast afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans did pick up the losing bonus point and scored three tries through Lloyd Hayes, Luckas Sableman-Blue and Aydan Godden, with Hayes also adding 5 points from the tee.

In truth Rotherham lost the game in the first half after an uninspiring performance saw them go in at the break trailing 13-5, after some indifferent moments on their part against a Wharfedale side that looked eager all afternoon.

Nevertheless, despite not having had much ball in the opening 15 minutes it was Rotherham who got on the board first.

A delightful cross-field kick from Connor Dever was perfectly weighted for Jack Taylor to collect on the right wing. He fed Sam Veall who made good ground before he slipped in Lloyd Hayes who showed tremendous strength to power over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Before the half hour mark however Wharfedale took a lead they would never relinquish with two penalties from fly half Tom Davidson.

Six minutes before the break Wharfedale scored their first try and from Titans point of view it was a disappointing one to concede.

Winger Oscar Canny took a quick-tap 10 metres from his own line and proceeded to gallop fifty metres down field before sending in flanker Joe Fawcett to score under the posts. Davidson tagged on the extras to send his side in at the break leading 13-5.

Rotherham improve and indeed won the second half and when Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty early on to reduce Titans arrears to 13-8, hopes were raised of a comeback.

However, just 5 minutes later and Wharfedale scored a second try; this too would have been a disappointing one to concede for Rotherham.

Scrum half Henry MacNab spotted a gap in the Roth defence just outside his own 22 and exploited this with a fifty-metre gallop downfield before interchanging passes with James Coulton. The pass back to him from Coulton looked forward, but MacNab didn’t hang around to find out and he raced in for a converted try.

Titans too showed they were up for the fight and bounced back quickly to score their second try through Luckas Sableman-Blue; he showed great power to get over the line following a good period of play from the Rotherham pack. Hayes nailed the extras to keep the game alive.

However, a Roth mistake soon afterwards resulted in Wharfedale’s third try.

Titans missed touch from a penalty which landed in-field 5 metres from the Wharfedale line. Credit to the Green Machine must be given, as following a number of phases they went the length of the field to allow scrum half MacNab to dot down for his second score. Davidson’s extras stretched his sides lead to 27-15.

Titans rallied late on and gave themselves some hope, when 5 minutes from time back rower Aydan Godden scored from the tail of a maul for an unconverted try.

Then Roth went in search of a score which would have levelled the game and given them two bonus points, but Wharfedale held out for a deserved win.

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

“We were down to the bare bones and it was an opportunity for lads to step up.

“The problem we have is that with us having one team, our lads who don’t play regularly haven’t played in a long time whereas the lads who stepped in for Wharfedale play every week in their second team.

“We can’t make excuses and to be fair the scoreline flattered us a bit. We made too many errors.

“I’d say we’re too individual at the minute, not a team, and I think that’s been in evidence while I’ve been here really.

“We’re not going to change that overnight and now we move on to next week.”

Referee: Michael Harris

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Canny (Wharfedale)

Titans: Sableman-Blue (T), Godden (T), Hayes (T, C, P)

Wharfedale: MacNab (2T), Fawcett (T), Davidson (3C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall (Parker 40), 14 Jack Taylor, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 21 George Tucker (Dever 75), 10 Connor Dever (Ramrattan 65), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 36) (Capps 63), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Richardson 63) (Bergmanas 78), 3 Danny Rylance, 4 Matt Challinor (Capt.), 5 Cade Cambier, 6 Marcus Payne, 24 Aydan Godden, 8 Rupert Kay.

Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Alastair Donkor, 22 Ollie Parker, 19 Kai Ramrattan, 20 Fraser Jones.  

Wharfedale: 15 Louis Verity, 14 Owen Bullock, 13 James Coulton, 12 Josh Walters, 11 Oscar Canny, 10 Tom Davidson, 9 Henry MacNab, 1 Joe Altham, 2 Jack Hirst, 3 Sam Dickinson, 4 Elliott Stockton, 5 Simon Borrill, 6 Joe Fawcett, 7 Rhys Green, 8 Rob Baldwin (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 James Meehan, 17 Jack Kitching, 18 Sam Smith, 19 Ryan Hodgson, 20 Josh Prell.

Fylde 30 Titans 23

Rotherham Titans put in a tremendous shift away at league leaders Fylde, before eventually coming up agonisingly short in a 30-23 defeat on a wet afternoon in the North West.

Titans crossed the whitewash twice through Charlie Capps and Callum Bustin, with Lloyd Hayes adding 13 points from the tee.

For Rotherham to be so disappointed at not getting what would have arguably been a deserved win, shows just how well they competed, particularly in the second half where most of the action took place in the Fylde half.

Additionally, had Titans not made a couple of late errors, alongside some unfortunate on-field calls which went against them, the South Yorkshire side could well have been celebrating at the end.

Equally and to be fair to Fylde, their first half attacking display coupled with their second half resilience in defence could also be argued they too deserved the spoils.

The game itself was played for large parts in a depressing drizzle, but the hosts brightened up the afternoon with at times some scintillating rugby from their backline; whilst Roth too played some decent rugby and once again showed their prowess up front.

Indeed it was Roth who scored first through a Lloyd Hayes penalty, before Fylde centre Sam Stott barged his way over for the first try, showing great strength on route. Greg Smith converted.

Roth narrowed the gap when Hayes added a second penalty soon after, but on 18 minutes Fylde full back Jordan Dorrington finished off a really nice backs move to dot down for an unconverted try.

Undeterred, Roth remained calm in their approach and worked the ball downfield, before loosehead prop Charlie Capps picked up from the base and dotted down to finish off an excellent period from the Rotherham pack. Lloyd Hayes tagged on the extras to give Roth a 13-12 lead.

Smith and Hayes then traded penalties before on the stroke of half time Titans Jack Taylor was yellow carded for being offside.

In the moments that followed Roth switched-off for a moment and Fylde took a quick-tap and fed the ball to Jordan Dorrington who darted over in the corner. Smith missed the conversion and the sides went in for the oranges with Fylde holding a 20-16 lead.

Misfortune for Rotherham led to the next score which came for Fylde on 54 minutes.

Firstly from a ruck the ball was spat out and fell kindly for the hosts who chipped on downfield. The ball then bounced awkwardly as Roth tried to gather; from there Fylde gathered and Connor Wilkinson went over for a converted try.

From this point on in the game it was pretty much all Rotherham and they enjoyed lots of territory and possession.

Just before the hour mark a powerful driving maul from Roth clattered the hosts backwards at pace for what appeared to be a nice try for the forwards. Unfortunately for them the referee deemed a technical infringement had occurred and the try wasn’t awarded.

Roth then set-up another opportunity with a 5-metre line out, but the throw was adjudged to not have been straight.

Finally Roth did get over for a try when another powerful driving maul went over from around 10 metres; Callum Bustin broke off just before the line to score. Hayes converted nicely to reduce the arrears to 27-23.

Close to the final whistle Smith added his second penalty for the hosts; however, as Roth tried to snatch a late draw they turned over possession inside the Fylde 22 and the ball was hurriedly kicked-off the field to end a pulsating contest.

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

“We can’t fault the lads for effort, they were absolutely tremendous and as we know it’s always a difficult place to come and play.

“I thought in the second half we were completely all over them and for whatever reason we seemed to fall foul on a few decisions.

“It was puzzling at times because we were so dominant in certain areas, but I am so proud of the lads because they have absolutely given everything and that’s all we can ask.

“Yes we can be better, we lost two or three line outs from 5 metres and that didn’t help, but at the end of the day the boys were outstanding.

“We are so frustrated though, we should have at least drawn the game and maybe even won it.

“At the end they took Gaz Denman off the ball under the sticks and it’s difficult to understand how no one sees that and that’s another opportunity to score that was denied us.

“However, we can take some positives and the lads deserve a lot of credit. Let’s face it, we’ve come to a side that’s top of the league and hoping to go into National 1 and we’ve come here and outplayed them.”

Referee: Llyr Ap Geraint-Roberts

Attendance: 525

Yellow Card: Taylor (Titans)

Titans: Capps (T), Bustin (T), Hayes (3P, 2C)

Fylde: Dorrington (2T), Stott (T), Wilkinson (T), Smith (2P, 2C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Taylor (Tucker 70), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Callum Bustin, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Connor Dever, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 70), 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 48), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 28) (Capps 66), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Allan (Cambier 72), 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Cade Cambier, 19 Kai Ramrattan, 20 George Tucker.

Fylde: 15 Jordan Dorrington, 14 Adam Lanigan, 13 Connor Wilkinson, 12 Sam Stott, 11 Tom Grimes (Rawlings 40), 10 Greg Smith, 9 Cole Potts, 1 Zach Barrow (Bell 50), 2 Ben Gregory (Capt.), 3 Corey Bowker (Higgins 66), 4 Olli Parkinson, 5 Matt Garrod (Corrie 33), 6 Toby Harrison (Garrod 72), 7 Henry Higginson, 8 David Fairbrother.

Replacements: 16 Patreece Bell, 17 Joe Higgins, 18 Harlan Corrie, 19 Ben Turner, 20 Scott Rawlings.

Tynedale 24 Titans 10

Rotherham Titans suffered a disappointing 24-10 defeat to Tynedale on a bitterly cold and blustery afternoon at Station Road.

The hosts played the conditions much the better and arguably won the game in the first half, when playing into a fierce wind they went in at half time trailing by just 3 points.

Titans only try of the game came from scrum half Sam Boxhall, with Lloyd Hayes adding 5 points from the tee.

The hosts took the lead on 14 minutes when a miss tackle in midfield resulted in Tynedale centre Will Miller dotting down under the sticks for fly half Jake Rodgers to convert.

Roth quickly put that disappointment behind them when two minutes later Lloyd Hayes broke through from 25 metres before popping a nice inside pass to Sam Boxhall to dive over close to the posts. Hayes converted to level matters.

With the conditions as they were and with a fierce wind at their backs, it was important Roth built a score to defend for the second half.

Unfortunately for them and despite making a number of breaks they were only able to add a solitary Lloyd Hayes penalty at the end of the half.

As expected, the second period saw the hosts make full use of the conditions as they pinned Roth back inside their own half for most of it and despite some resilient defending, the pressure inevitably told when lock forward Chris Wearmouth dove over from a pick-and-go for a converted try.

Ten minutes from time a Jake Rodgers penalty crucially gave Tynedale a 7 point lead which looked certain to at least guarantee them a draw.

To their credit Rotherham never stopped trying to save the game and they engineered multiple phases at the end as they tried to do so.

Unfortunately for them in the final play of the match a fumbled ball was hacked on from Jake Rodgers in his own half, before he won the foot race to score under the posts and then dust himself down to convert his try to give Tynedale a deserved win.

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

“It was a game of two halves with the strong wind; we didn’t use it well and we probably tried to overplay in the first half. We didn’t capitalise on our breaks; we made 5 or 6 clean breaks but we didn’t end up with points from them.

“They played the conditions better than we did and they were a bit more patient than we were; but the lads played with bags of effort and commitment.

“Right up until the death it was a one score game before on the whistle they get the breakaway try under the posts and all credit to them for that.

“But we are only at the beginning of the journey and we have to be positive; we have to roll up our sleeves and work harder and to be a bit smarter and that’s hopefully what we’ll be.”

Referee: Michael Harris

Attendance: 325

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Boxhall (T), Hayes (C, P)

Tynedale: Miller (T), Wearmouth (T), Rodgers (T, 3C, P)

Titans: 15 Jack Taylor (Bustin 77), 14 Jack Hedley (Ollivent 40), 13 Sam Veall, 12 Lloyd Hayes, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Connor Dever, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 59), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 35) (Capps 71), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Allan (Payne 59), 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 7 Callum Bustin (Cambier 71), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Cade Cambier, 19 Marcus Payne, 20 Corben Ollivent

Tynedale: 15 Rob Parker, 14 Seamus Hutton (Cooke 71), 13 Joe Lilley, 12 Will Miller, 11 Alex Dryden, 10 Jake Rodgers, 9 James Blackett, 1 Angus White (Batey 54) (White67), 2 Louis Frankland (Johnston 77), 3 Oscar Caudle, 4 Chris Wearmouth (Capt.), 5 Graeme Dunn (Nankivell 44), 6 Ben Bell, 7 Jonny Dodd, 8 Ben Blackburn (Cousin 40).  

Replacements: 16 Ralph Johnston, 17 David Batey, 18 Jonny Cousin, 19 Ross Cooke, 20 Will Nankivell.

Blaydon 19 Titans 47

Rotherham Titans got back to winning ways with a convincing 47-19 victory over an energetic Blaydon side on a bright afternoon at Crow Trees.

The South Yorkshire outfit ran in 7 tries to 3 with Jack Hedley scoring a hat trick, Sam Boxhall bagging a brace and one each for Jack Taylor and Callum Bustin. Lloyd Hayes added 12 points from the tee with 6 successful conversions.

The scoreline however masks the fact Blaydon were a very competitive outfit that made Rotherham work hard for everything they got.

Indeed after just 11 minutes Titans trailed 12-0 following two nice tries from Blaydon’s scrum half John Clarkson, who also converted his first dot down.

At this point the game had a Déjà vu feel to it, as in the corresponding fixture last term Titans trailed 17-0 after 17 minutes.

However, Rotherham began to settle into the game and they started to establish some sort of control in proceedings.

This in turn led to their first try on 25 minutes when following a period of forward dominance the ball arrived with Lloyd Hayes who offloaded to Connor Dever for him to quickly send in winger Jack Hedley in the corner.

Five minutes later and Hedley had his second score after a terrific break from Zak Poole took play inside the 22; from there the ball came out to Corban Ollivent who found Dever in the backfield, he threw a glorious miss-pass to Hedley who cut back inside to touch down.

As half time approached Roth added a third score when a lovely cross-field kick from Sam Veall was collected by Jack Taylor, from out wide on the left wing he proceeded to glide through for a nice try. Hayes narrowly missed his only conversion of the game and the sides went in with Roth 19-12 to the good.

Within 3 minutes of the restart Titans secured the bonus point.

Matt Challinor started things off with a powerful break in midfield before finding Sam Boxhall; he in turn fed Sam Veall who made a skilful offload as he was going to ground under pressure to Jack Hedley; the speedy winger wasted no time in racing through for his hat-trick.

However, if Roth had thought Blaydon were about to roll over and allow them to dictate, they would have been mistaken, as just 3 minutes later the home side had their third score when replacement back, Zac Thompson charged through close to the posts.

Despite Blaydon’s refusal to give up two tries from Roth’s scrum half Sam Boxhall effectively wrapped up the contest.

His first came after good work from Corban Ollivent down the right hand side, whilst his second was a more individual effort that saw him intercept a pass on his own line, before racing 95 metres downfield to dot down.

Then just before the end of what had been a good display of rugby from both teams, Titans Callum Bustin put the icing on the cake when he ran in following a dominant scrum from the visitors.

Speaking after the game, Titans forwards coach, Matt Smith, said:

“We’ve just had a month away from rugby and our last game against Preston was very disappointing, but today was far better. To get five points away from home on the back of a long trip is very pleasing and it’s just nice to get that winning feeling again.

“I thought the lads did some really good stuff today and to put 47 points on a team means you have to do a lot of things right.

“We are building, we are starting something new and we are trying to get that accountability in there because that was a big thing that was missing and I’m really happy for the boys.

“I was delighted with how the scrum went and that allowed us to get a foothold in the game and obviously control the territory.

“I thought when we did open up and when we got into our attack that we played some good stuff and with Connor Dever coming in at 10 that probably helped, as that freed us up a bit and allowed us to attack them and as a result we scored some great tries.”

Referee: Dave Charlton

Attendance: 225

Yellow Card: Bailey (Tynedale)

Titans: Hedley (3T), Boxhall (2T), Taylor (T), Bustin (T), Hayes (6C)

Blaydon: Clarkson (2T, C), Thompson (T, C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Jack Taylor, 12 Lloyd Hayes, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue (Ollivent 18) (Sableman-Blue 69), 10 Connor Dever, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 61), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 45) (Bergmanas 69), 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 31), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Allan (Bustin 72), 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Cambier 72), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Callum Bustin, 19 Cade Cambier, 20 Corben Ollivent.

Blaydon: 15 Nathan Bailey, 14 Jonny Ashman, 13 James Cooney, 12 Ewan Greenlaw, 11 Jack Appleton (Thompson 29), 10 Dan Marshall (Capt.), 9 John Clarkson (Douglas 45), 1 Ralph Appleby, 2 Charlie Smith (Sanderson 67), 3 Alex Dodds (Siddle 50), 4 Darren Barry, 5 Austin Phillips, 6 Liam Wright, 7 Cameron Roy (Turnbull 65), 8 Ethan Hall-Lyon (Roy 72).

Replacements: 16 Matt Siddle, 17 Dan Sanderson, 18 Adam Turnbull, 19 Ben Douglas, 20 Zac Thompson.

Preston Grasshoppers 21 Titans 16

Rotherham Titans were beaten 21-16 by Preston Grasshoppers on a bitterly cold afternoon at Lightfoot Green Lane.

Each team scored 2 tries with Titans dot downs coming from Marcus Payne and Callum Bustin.

Rotherham got off to a horrible start which saw them trail 15-0 inside 11 minutes. The gap would prove too big to overcome despite great effort from the South Yorkshire outfit.

Following Hoppers fly half Will Hunt knocking over a penalty on 5 minutes, the home side quickly extended their lead when Hunt put in a marvellous cross-field kick which was collected by winger Tyler Spence to run in from close range.

Two minutes later and Hunt was in the thick of it again when he ran back a Titans clearance kick, before finding centre Jacob Browne who in turn sent in Tyler Spence for his second try. Hunt added the extras to make it 15-0.

Rotherham found it difficult to get and then maintain possession for any length of time, but they eventually did and the game became a more even affair.

Corban Ollivent got Titans off the mark on 18 minutes with a penalty and from there Roth began to compete well; their scrum and line out performed well all afternoon.

Unfortunately for them however at crucial times their decision making and skills let them down, although to be fair it wasn’t easy for either side in the bitterly cold conditions with a liberal sprinkling of snow underfoot.

Hunt was having a good game as he pulled the strings for the home side and before the half hour he added to his tally with a nicely taken drop goal from just inside the 22.

Roth worked hard to try and reduce their arrears before the break but the home side managed to keep them at out.

Titans started the second period with good energy and Ollivent nibbled into the deficit on 46 minutes with a 3-pointer from in front of the sticks.

Just 8 minutes later and Roth’s hopes of a comeback took a boost, when from a five metre scrum the ball broke loose and flanker Marcus Payne was on hand to dot down for an unconverted try.

Back came the home side though and on the hour mark Edward Keohane knocked over a penalty after Hunt had left the field.

Roth’s pack had performed well all game and on 64 minutes they were rewarded; from a line out close to the line they powered over with Callum Bustin dotting down for an unconverted try.

With 15 minutes remaining there was plenty of time for Rotherham to kick-on and take the win. Unfortunately for them however they never really got into the right areas and Hoppers saw the game out without too many nervy moments and when the full time whistle went the Preston lads celebrated with great enthusiasm.

Speaking after the game a disappointed forwards coach, Matt Smith, said:

“We seem to find new ways of shooting ourselves in the foot; today we just made bad decisions and some of our skills were just not good enough for this level and we were made to pay.

“We constantly put pressure on them throughout, but then we’d make an error and release that pressure and that’s disappointing because there’s lots of effort there.

“I can see the players trying hard, but what we’ve got to do is make better decisions and execute our skills to a higher level than where they are at the moment.

“We all have to take a look back at this game and have an honest chat with ourselves about how and where we can improve, because at the moment we are performing below par. We know we have a good group of lads; it’s just about how we improve going forwards as a group.

“But as I’ve said, the one thing that can’t be questioned is the lad’s effort; it’s plain to see they are giving it everything, what we’ve got to do is put that effort into better quality and better decision making. If we can do that then we can start making progress going forwards.”

Referee: James O’Brien

Attendance: 247

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Payne (T), Bustin (T), Ollivent (2P)

Preston Grasshoppers: Spence (2T), Hunt (1P, 1C, 1D/G), Keohane (1P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Fraser Jones, 13 Jack Taylor, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ollie Parker, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 57), 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 32) (Capps 60), 2 Harry Newborn (Inman 75), 3 Gareth Denman (Donkor 40) (Denman 60), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Cambier 77), 6 Callum Bustin, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 28 Cade Cambier, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Preston Grasshoppers: 15 Ben Pearson, 14 Will Clapham, 13 Jacob Browne, 12 Edward Keohane, 11 Tyler Spence, 10 Will Hunt (Swarbrick 57), 9 Harry Moulding (Capt.) (Squirrell 75), 1 Oga Mabaya (Orry 66), 2 Chris Taylor, 3 Olli Trippier, 4 Will Riley (Jones 75), 5 Ally Murray, 6 Ben Dorrington (Thompson 77), 7 Josh Longson, 8 Scott Richardson.

Replacements: 16 Harry Thompson, 17 George Orry, 18 Josh Jones, 19 Jake Squirrell, 20 Harry Swarbrick.  

Titans 26 Chester 21

Rotherham Titans were made to graft hard for their 26-21 victory over a very resilient Chester side on a cool afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Both sides scored 2 tries apiece, with Roth’s two coming from prop Danny Rylance and winger Ollie Parker on debut. Lloyd Hayes added 16 points from the tee to give the South Yorkshire side a deserved and much-needed win.

On paper going into the game it looked like the teams were evenly matched and a close game was on the cards; and that’s just how it turned out, with the result not settled until referee Dave Charlton blew his final whistle.

Roth started brightly and got the scoreboard moving on 4 minutes when Lloyd Hayes slotted over a 3-pointer.

However, Chester soon bounced back on 7 minutes and following a powerful drive down the right hand side the ball was spread quickly across the field, before centre James Hampson sent in prop forward Tom Furnival in the left hand corner. Liam Reeve nailed a superb conversion from the touchline.

Chester continued to have the better of things as their pack at this stage matched the Titans and their backs looked lively and dangerous when in possession; and when Liam Reeve extended their advantage on 22 minutes with a penalty, it was no more than the visitors deserved.

Rotherham however showed lots of heart and commitment and just before the half hour mark they were rewarded for their endeavours when prop Danny Rylance crashed over from the tail of a maul. Hayes impressed with his conversion from out wide to level the scores at 10 apiece.

Rotherham were now in the ascendancy and enjoying passages of play which could have resulted in further tries as they got close to the line on several occasions. However, Chester defended manfully and the teams went in at the break all square.

This time it was Chester who started the half brighter and inside 10 minutes Liam Reeve tagged over two further penalties to make it 16-10 to the visitors.

Lloyd Hayes narrowed the deficit shortly after with his own 3-pointer before Roth took the lead for the first time since the 7th minute when on debut, winger Ollie Parker raced down the left wing to score in the corner, following a nice short pass from Jack Taylor which drew the defender.

With just over 10 minutes remaining Hayes extended Roth’s advantage to 7 points with a penalty, but again Chester bounced back when they scored a second try through George Baxter, following a series of pick and goes on the Titans line. Surprisingly Reeve missed the extras to leave his side trailing by 2 points.

Five minutes from time Hayes slotted his fourth penalty of the match and Rotherham managed the game out well to see them secure an important win.

Speaking afterwards on the pitch forwards coach Matt Smith said:

“The most important thing for us today on the back of a couple of losses was simply to get the win. Everyone knows nothing beats getting the win.

“We had to work hard for it, we had a couple of opportunities that went begging, but that can happen when a team is struggling with confidence. That win will help to give the lads belief and hopefully going forward we can build on that.

“You will always give away some penalties in a game, but I don’t think we had too many silly ones and I thought our discipline was a lot better too.

“Once again it’s a work in progress and we saw lots of good things out there from the lads and that’s what we’re going to focus on and build on.

“We know we beat a good team in Chester, but as I’ve said before, I really don’t think there’s a bad team in the league and on any given day anyone can beat anyone.

“It was nice to be at home in front of our own supporters, who follow us all over the country, to give them the win, because it’s as big for them as it is for the squad.”

Referee: Dave Charlton

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Rylance (T), Parker (T), Hayes (4P, 2C)

Chester: Furnival (T), Baxter (T), Reeve (3P, 1C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Fraser Jones, 13 Jack Taylor (Ollivent 59), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Ollie Parker, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Kai Ramrattan (Boxhall 40), 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 30) (Capps 52), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Danny Rylance, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne (Inman 70), 7 Rupert Kay (Nwosu-Hope 46), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Sam Boxhall.

Chester: 15 Sean Green, 14 Iwan Phillips, 13 James Hampson, 12 Jorge Lewtas, 11 Harrison Vare, 10 Liam Reeve, 9 Tom Holloway (Wynn 50), 1 Josh Woods (Croft 60), 2 Scott Robson (Williams 60), 3 Tom Furnival, 4 Mike Byrne (Baxter 59), 5 Jonny Charmley, 6 Harry Wilkinson (Capt.), 7 Kyle Joseph, 8 Luke Cox.

Replacements: 18 Wade Williams, 17 Alick Croft, 20 George Baxter, 21 Sean Callander, 22 Oliver Wynn.

Otley 39 Titans 26

Rotherham Titans were beaten 39-26 by a good Otley side on a cool afternoon at Cross Green.

Titans picked up a losing bonus point for scoring 4 tries through Jack Taylor, Zak Poole, Gareth Denman and Matt Challinor, with Lloyd Hayes adding 6 points from the tee.

On paper this fixture looked like being a difficult one for Rotherham and in truth that’s how it turned out as the better side on the day got the result.

Roth started the game in good fashion and despite going behind on 5 minutes when former Titan Callum Irvine slotted a penalty, they soon nosed ahead when Jack Taylor dotted down in the corner following a nice off-load under pressure from Harry Dunne.

Otley however had plenty of energy about their work and soon retook the lead when Irvine knocked over another 3-pointer; it was a lead the home side would never relinquish.

Before the half hour mark the West Yorkshire outfit stretched their advantage with tries from winger Duncan Darling and another former Titan, hooker Luke Cole.

Although coming off second best during this phase of the game, Roth did give themselves hope before the break when skipper Zak Poole showed great power to crash over following good ball retention in the build-up. Hayes’ conversion reduced his side’s arrears to 20-12.

An Otley penalty from Gavin Stead on the stroke of half time meant the home side went in for the oranges with a healthy 23-12 lead.

Realistically Roth needed to score first in the second half to stay competitive in the match.

However, following the home side’s fourth penalty of the game, this time from Irvine, centre Clark Wells effectively sealed the contest with Otley’s third try to make it 31-12.

To be fair to Rotherham they never stopped working and they too picked up their third try on 66 minutes, when prop forward Gareth Denman picked up from the base of a ruck and ran in under the sticks. Hayes’ conversion made it 31-19.

But any hopes of a miracle comeback were soon dashed when Irvine bagged his fourth penalty and Darling ran in for his second try.

Roth did pick-up the bonus point for four tries when in the last play of the game second rower Matt Challinor barged over to score.

Speaking on the pitch after the game, Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson said:

“This is a difficult place to come to, it might be the last time we come here with the situation with the ground and Otley are a difficult side to play against.

“It’s clear we are not in a good place at the moment, but we are sticking together, we are improving and we will get it together. We’ll get back on the training paddock next week and work at it until we start getting the results that we want.

“It was a definite improvement on our last performance against Sheffield Tigers; to get 4 tries and a bonus point away from home against a good side is to be commended.

“However, we are still not where we want to be and the boys are still not firing; sometimes it’s difficult to put your finger on why and we’ve got to make sure if there is such a thing as ‘the rub of the green’ that we get it, because at the moment we’re not.”

Referee: Michael Harris

Attendance: 200

Yellow Card: Capps (Titans)

Titans: Taylor (T), Poole (T), Denman (T), Challinor (T) Hayes (3C)

Otley: Darling (2T), Cole (T), Wells (T), Irvine (4P, 2C), Stead (1P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Jack Taylor (Ramrattan 67), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue (Rylance 62), 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 44) (Denman 77), 3 Gareth Denman (Sableman-Blue 71), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne (Nwosu-Hope 44), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).   

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Otley: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Duncan Darling, 13 Clark Wells, 12 Gavin Stead (77), 11 Elliot Morgan, 10 Eddie Crossland, 9 Joe Rowntree (Charles Morgan 77), 1 Ethan Thiart (Moss 71), 2 Luke Cole (Gibson 71), 3 Jason Moss (Nicholls 62), 4 Adam Malthouse (Capt.), 5 Brett Mitchell, 6 Ben Waddington, 7 Sam Hodge (Carpenter 67), 8 Brandon Staples (Hodge 78).

Replacements: 16 Ryan Gibson, 17 Billy Nicholls, 18 Ben Carpenter, 19 Charles Morgan, 20 Blake Morgan.

Titans 14 Sheffield Tigers 19

Rotherham Titans suffered a shock home defeat to local rivals Sheffield Tigers, crashing 19-14 on a sunny afternoon at Clifton Lane.

A lacklustre first half performance saw Rotherham go in at the break trailing 13-0 and whilst there was an improved display in the second half, they were unable to overturn the deficit.

Tigers got off the mark as early as the second minute when former Titan Jamie Broadley chipped over the top and collected to run in unopposed from 40 metres, setting a positive tone for his side.

Tigers added to their advantage 10 minutes later when fly half Mark Ireland nailed a 3-pointer after Roth had been penalised for not being 10 metres from a previous penalty.

Then, just after the 20-minute mark matters worsened for the home side when an exuberant Sheffield outfit scored a second try through former Roth back rower Josh Redfern. The number 8 powered over following a catch and drive close to the line.

Roth did try to get on the board before the break, but stout defending from the Dore Moor side ensured that wouldn’t be the case and off they went for the half time oranges with Tigers leading 13-0.

Rotherham came out for the second period a different side, as their work-rate and appetite for the task in hand was elevated.

Remarkably inside the opening 10 minutes they could have been in the lead!

However, a dropped ball over the try-line on 43 minutes and a knock-on close to the line on 49 minutes, both of which would have been converted, left the home side very frustrated.

Titans eventually got on the board in the 66th minute when loosehead prop Charlie Capps dotted down following a series of pick and goes close to the line, following a quick-tap from skipper Zak Poole. Lloyd Hayes converted to reduce his side’s arrears to 13-7.

Now in the ascendancy Rotherham looked much the sharper of the two sides. However, it was Tigers who scored next on a rare excursion into the home side’s 22 when Roth infringed at the breakdown. Ireland stepped up to tag over the penalty to increase Tigers lead to 16-7.

Rotherham bounced back two minutes from time when second rower Theo Nwosu-Hope scored from a powerful catch and drive close to the line. Hayes’ conversion made it 16-14 to set-up a thrilling finale.

However, the great escape was not to be and in injury time Mark Ireland scored his third penalty of the afternoon to give Sheffield a deserved win.

Speaking after the game Titans Adam Byron lamented:

“We are feeling frustrated and we have a problem to solve and that problem is we are playing in a cup final every Saturday. The game last week away at Abbeydale meant a lot to a lot of people and the boys were up for it and they performed.

“To do that week in and week out in these South Yorkshire derbies is a big challenge and it’s tough and at the moment we are not getting it right.

“It appeared, as we got onto the pitch with our first half performance; that would suggest we weren’t in the right frame of mind to start with and that’s something we have to look at and change.”

Referee: Gavin Jones

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Challinor & Bergmanas (Titans), Frewin (Tigers)

Titans: Capps (T), Nwosu-Hope (T), Hayes (2C)

Sheffield Tigers: Broadley (T), Redfern (T), Ireland (3P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Bustin 47), 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Callum Bustin (Inman 43) (Bergmanas 73), 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 28 Cade Cambier, 20 Fraser Jones.

Sheffield Tigers: 15 Greg Mellor, 14 Si Frewin, 13 Barney Goatley, 12 Jamie Broadley, 11 James Norman, 10 Mark Ireland, 9 Ryan Holmes (Capt,), 1 Will Bennett, 2 Will Archer, 3 Nick Bingham, 4 Joe Fitzsimons, 5 Kieran Wain (Townsend 64), 6 Connor Scott (Hughes 60), 7 Tom Calladine, 8 Josh Redfern.

Replacements: 16 Sim Meek, 17 Louis Townsend, 18 Angus Hughes, 19 Sam Wager, 20 Sammy Down.

Photo: Gareth Siddons

Sheffield 14 Titans 39

Rotherham Titans ran out worthy 39-14 winners as they outscored their South Yorkshire rivals, Sheffield RUFC, by 5 tries to 2 on a wet afternoon at Abbeydale Park.

Titans’ tries came from Sam Veall, Rupert Kay, Jack Hedley, Callum Bustin and Zak Poole, with a further 14 points coming from the boot of Lloyd Hayes.

The win maintains Roth’s interest at the top and sees them move up to fourth in the table, nine points behind joint leaders Sedgley Park and Fylde, with Hull Ionians in third place.

The game itself, Titans first league encounter against their near-neighbours, saw the away side open the scoring as early as the third minute, when a Lloyd Hayes kick from his own half was impressively finished off by full back Sam Veall. Hayes narrowly missed with the conversion, but it was his only miss of the afternoon.

As expected however the home side came back strongly as they looked to bloody the Rotherham nose.

On seven minutes an alert Christian Hooper showed good awareness around the breakdown to pick up and skip through unfettered to score under the sticks. Will Hodgson’s conversion put the home side 7-5 ahead.

The next 20 minutes Sheffield demonstrated what a good side they are as they enjoyed lots of possession and match Roth in most departments.

The Lane men did well to keep the hosts out during this period, but on the half hour mark they regained a lead they would never relinquish when back rower Rupert Kay dotted down after a brilliant 50 metre break from Theo Nwosu-Hope in the build-up.

The score seemed to lift Roth’s confidence levels and from this point on they looked a different team as they dominated much of what followed.

On 39 minutes Roth had their third try when a multi-phase period of play culminated in winger Jack Hedley collecting out wide before darting through the Sheffield defence to score near the posts. Hayes’ conversion sent his side in 19-7 to the good.

Both teams stayed out on the pitch for the half time oranges, but it was Roth who started the second period brighter and had the bonus point try secured inside three minutes, when Callum Bustin received a short pass from Zak Poole to dart through under the posts.

Just before the hour mark Roth’s skipper Zak Poole effectively wrapped up the game when he scored from a pick and go on the far side away from the stand in the fast approaching gloom.

Lloyd Hayes added a penalty on 68 minutes before a late rally from Sheffield saw replacement scrum half Elliot Fisher score a deserved try for his side’s efforts.

However, the last word went to Rotherham in injury time, when Lloyd Hayes put over a drop goal to finish things off nicely for his side.

Titans will now reset and prepare for another South Yorkshire derby on Saturday when the Tigers from Sheffield will be the visitors.

Speaking after the game Titans’ Adam Byron said:

Head coach Adam Byron, celebrating a victory against his old club, said: "The conditions were difficult and the ball was slippy. It took us a while to build but once we did we were very clinical with our ball in their area.

"Sheffield had some good possession but on a day like today you don't necessarily want to have the most possession and I'm pleased we kept them to the score that we did.

"I wish Sheffield all the best. I'm glad they're in the league they are. I think this is where they should be."

Referee: Ben Davis

Attendance: 495

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Veall (T), Kay (T), Hedley (T), Bustin (T), Poole (T), Hayes (4C, 1P, 1D/G)

Sheffield: Hooper (T), Fisher (T, 1C), Hodgson (1C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Jack Taylor (Dunne 73), 12 Harry Dunne (Ollivent 62), 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 66), 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 66), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 62), 3 Danny Rylance (Denman 23), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Callum Bustin, 7 Rupert Kay (Payne 40), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Marcus Payne, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Sheffield: 15 Ieuan Cooke (Kimpton 68), 14 Alfie Kimpton (Taylor 40), 13 Ed Vitta, 12 Will Smith, 16 Christian Hooper (Cooke 75), 10 Callum Posa, 9 Will Hodgson (Fisher 56), 22 Jake Hicklin, 2 Ianto Jones (Keeton 59), 3 Thomas Bagnall (Lonsdale 51), 4 Dave Clayden, 5 Dominic Parsons, 6 Robert Fawdry (Hignell 56), 7 Matthew Adcock, 8 Ryan Burrows.

Replacements: 23 Alex Keeton, 20 Aaron Lonsdale, 21 Jason Hignell, 18 Will Taylor, 17 Elliot Fisher.

Titans 27 Huddersfield 3

Rotherham Titans returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 27-3 win over Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield on a damp afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Tries from Danny Rylance, Harry Dunne, Jack Hedley, Luckas Sableman-Blue, Zak Poole and a conversion from Lloyd Hayes all contributed to a much-needed victory for the South Yorkshire side.

This encounter won’t be submitted to the classic collection due to the stop-start nature of the game and a heavy downpour before the match didn’t help matters, as it created a slippery surface and made handling challenging for both sides.

Nevertheless Rotherham got off to a flying start and took the lead after 5 minutes when prop forward Danny Rylance dotted down from the tail of a powerful  driving maul close to the line.

Shortly afterwards a quick-thinking, sharp-eyed Harry Dunne doubled his side’s advantage when he spotted a gap in the Huddersfield defence and picked up from the base of a ruck to dive over.

A highly competitive and aggressive Huddersfield side made Roth work hard for everything they got and it wasn’t until the half hour mark that the South Yorkshire outfit got their next score.

From a free-kick just outside the Huddersfield 22 on the stand side, the ball was shipped quickly from Zak Poole across the backline and eventually arrived with Sam Veall; the full back nicely ghosted through the defence before offloading to Jack Hedley to touch down in the corner.

Try as they may Rotherham couldn’t add to their tally before the break and they trooped off for the oranges with a 15-0 lead.

Indeed it was the visitors that came out for the second half much the brighter and they got off the mark inside 10 minutes when fly half Will Milner knocked over a 3-pointer from in front of the sticks.

The game then went through a scrappy stage with neither side able to put too many phases together before things broke down. Conditions and good defending from each team meant the next score wouldn’t arrive until 8 minutes from time.

However, when it did arrive Roth showed what they are capable of when they retain possession for a meaningful period.

From a line out in their own half Jack Taylor popped a short pass to the onrushing Callum Bustin who made 30 metres headway before being brought to ground by a gaggle of defenders. The recycled ball was then taken up nicely by Theo Nwosu-Hope before arriving with Veall who again broke the line to send in Luckas Sableman-Blue. Lloyd Hayes impressed with his touchline conversion.

In the final play of the game man-of-the-match Zak Poole somehow managed to wrestle the ball away from Huddersfield on the line to score, following a lovely chip through from Sam Veall down the right wing.

So whilst Roth will know they weren’t at their very best for this one, they will be pleased to get back to winning ways and know there is still plenty left in the tank moving forwards.

Speaking on the pitch afterwards Titans’ Adam Byron said:

“In terms of performance I think the scoreline is a bit flattering; I didn’t think we really got out of second gear. You can tell from the huddle we’ve just had, the chat with the boys was a little bit flat and they wanted more from the game and that just shows the standards that they are setting themselves. They want to be a team that can play with the ball and that’s something we’re working to, but it will come.

“Going into this game on the back of two defeats was never going to be easy, but we really did want to try and play some rugby and put some scores on the board. So as pleased as we are with the result and to have scored five tries, I know and the boys know there are another two or three gears still to come.

“There is lots of rugby left to be played and lots of points still available; we just want to concentrate on ourselves, on the type of rugby that we play and on our performances on the pitch. We can only focus on what we can control and we will aim to keep building as the season progresses.”

Referee: Jamie Parr

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Rylance (T), Dunne (T), Hedley (T), Sableman-Blue (T), Poole (T), Hayes (1C)

Huddersfield: Milner (1P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley (Boxhall 61), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Corben Ollivent (Taylor 50), 9 Kai Ramrattan, 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 70), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 66), 3 Danny Rylance (Denman 31), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne (Bustin 59), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Callum Bustin, 19 Jack Taylor, 20 Sam Boxhall. 

Huddersfield: 15 Tom Lee, 11 Lewis Workman, 13 Matt Law, 12 Ed Barber, 21 Finlay Stewart (Catleugh 65), 10 Will Milner (Potter 73), 9 Simon Wilson, 1 Callum Thompson (Rollins 65), 2 Liam Stapley, 3 Loz Sanderson (Rollins 33) (Sanderson 54) (Effiom 69), 4 Luke Pearson, 5 Eddie Brown, 6 Ethan Myers, 7 Lewis Bradley (Capt.), 8 Rob Jennings (Swift 69).

Replacements: 16 Andy Rollins, 17 Manny Effiom, 18 Callum Swift, 19 Joseph Potter, 20 Cameron Catleugh.  

Sedgley Park 25 Titans 17

Rotherham Titans suffered back-to-back defeats as they went down 25-17 to Sedgley Park on a mild afternoon in the North West.

Titans and Sedgley shared six tries apiece with Roth’s dot downs coming from Gareth Denman, Matt Challinor and Jack Taylor.

Rotherham did have opportunities to win the game, as they did last week against Fylde, but unfortunately for them they just weren’t clinical enough at crucial times in the game.

Whilst there’s no disgrace in losing to the top two teams in the division, it does mean however there is very little ‘wiggle-room’ left for more reversals this term, that is if Titans are going to be involved at the sharp end come April.

The game itself saw Roth take the lead on 9 minutes when tighthead prop Gareth Denman dotted down from the tail of a powerful drive close to the line.

However, for most of the first half it was the home side that had much the better of things, as their forwards competed well and their backs looked sharp and energetic.

Park’s fly half Steve Collins reduced his side’s deficit on 16 minutes with a penalty, before hooker Adam Mallinson and winger Rhys Henderson crossed the whitewash a minute either side of the half-hour mark to race 15-5 ahead.

Rotherham had rarely been inside Sedgley’s 22 during the first period, but when they managed to get there just before the break they had success when following a brief period of forward pressure second rower Matt Challinor grabbed the ball to power over. Sam Veall’s conversion sent Roth in at the break trailing by just 3 points.

The South Yorkshire side came out for the second period with good energy and on 45 minutes were rewarded for that energy when centre Jack Taylor scored an outstanding individual try.

From turnover ball around 65 metres from the Sedgley line Taylor hacked-on down the right wing and then proceeded to show terrific pace and skill to outstrip the defence and nudge the ball over the line before dotting down. Veall missed the conversion to leave Roth 17-15 ahead.

Shortly after however Collins nosed his side back in front following a penalty from in front of the sticks. He was then instrumental seven minutes from time in effectively wrapping up the game when he broke smartly and offloaded to replacement front rower Alex Brooks to score under the posts.

For the second week running Rotherham will reflect on the “what could have been” moments in the game and moving forward will no doubt look to be more clinical when those moments arrive.

Speaking immediately after the game a disappointed Adam Byron said:

“We knew Sedgley Park was a good team and they know how to play the pitch and to be fair they played some really good rugby at times. However, we’re just frustrated because we felt like our effort and our desire to be involved in the game was good, but we just weren’t clinical enough or accurate enough in the right places.

“You can defend for five minutes, you can make double hits, you can be dominant in all the contacts, but if in the sixth minute you give a penalty away, then obviously the outcome isn’t what you want.

“I think we will improve, and the more time we spend together the better we will be. We are a young side; if you look at the average age of our backline, it was around 22 today and even younger when Harry Dunne went off and we were inexperienced in certain areas of the game, but that will come with time.

“The effort is there from the boys, the contact in defence and the desire to defend is there and that’s what you want; we questioned that slightly after last week, but today the boys came out fighting and you cannot question that desire and passion for being in the game today.”

Referee: Ben Wood

Attendance: 350

Yellow Card: Birtwell (Sedgley Park)

Titans: Denman (T), Challinor (T), Taylor (T), Veall (1C)

Sedgley Park: Mallinson (T), Henderson (T), Brooks (T), Collins (2C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Fraser Jones, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Jack Taylor (Ramrattan 70), 12 Harry Dunne (Ollivent 40), 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Sam Veall, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 70), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 40), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Zak Poole (Capt.), 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Rupert Kay (Nwosu-Hope 45), 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Kai Ramrattan.  

Sedgley Park: 15 Andy Riley, 14 Rhys Henderson, 13 Ollie Glasse, 12 Matt Riley (Capt.), 11 Jacob Tansey, 10 Steve Collins, 9 Sam Stelmaszek, 1 John Blanchard (Nonleh 74), 2 Adam Mallinson (Chilvers 50), 3 Ben Black (Nonleh 32) (Brooks 60), 4 Bob Birtwell, 5 Connor James, 6 Mark Goodman, 7 Valu Tane Bentley (Crowe 63), 8 Tom Ailes.

Replacements: 16 Cash Chilvers, 17 Alex Brooks, 18 Beltus Nonleh, 19 Oscar Crowe, 20 Jake Maher.

Titans 16 Fylde 41

Rotherham Titans crashed to a disappointing 41-16 defeat at home to table-toppers Fylde on a blustery afternoon at Clifton Lane.

The defeat brings to an end a run of 17 consecutive victories on home soil and Titans will now need to regroup before travelling to second placed Sedgley Park this Saturday.

Fylde showed why they are currently top of the pile with an impressive overall performance and they thoroughly deserved their first win at Clifton Lane.

Indeed after just 6 minutes the visitors crossed the whitewash to take a lead they would never relinquish, when winger Adam Lanigan raced in at the corner. Fly half Greg Smith nailed a superb conversion from out wide in gusty conditions.

Roth reduced the arrears when Corben Ollivent knocked over a 3-pointer, but it wasn’t long before Fylde had their second try when centre Connor Wilkinson picked up a nice grubber close to the line to dot down. Smith added the extras to make it 14-3.

Roth did have their moments in the first half, but too often were unable to make them count.

However, on 25 minutes they did score when from a Fylde scrum the home side pushed them off the ball and Rupert Kay broke clear, before offloading to Sam Boxhall who went in near the corner. Ollivent impressed with his conversion.

Ollivent then reduced his side’s arrears to 13-14 with a well taken penalty, but that would be as close as Roth would get to the lead.

Smith added a penalty of his own to send Fylde in at the break 17-13 ahead, but what followed in the second half was disappointing for the home side.

The North West outfit showed their class and ability as they won the second period 24-3, running in a further 3 tries to collect the bonus point.

Tries from hooker and Captain Ben Gregory, replacement back Sam Stott and full back Jordan Dorrington all ensured the table-toppers remain at the summit and with this performance a marker has been laid down of their plan to stay there.

Speaking after the game a disappointed Adam Byron said:

“We are frustrated; I don’t mind being beaten, but we were well beaten today. You can probably see from all our faces we are not the happiest right now, but we need to take it on the chin.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve lost at home and whilst winning runs will inevitably come to an end, to be beaten by a score like that is very disappointing.

“We spoke at half time about certain things that needed to improve, but not only did they not improve in the second half, they got worst.

“Our precision in certain areas of the pitch, our attack just wasn’t what it has been and defensively we weren’t getting the two-man hits and throwing the ball down as we normally like to. So that is very tough to take today, but we’ll own it and look to improve from here.

“Losing Lloyd Hayes on the morning of the game wasn’t ideal, he’s a key player in a key position and he’s a player who normally excels in the big games. His leadership on the pitch and his defensive qualities are outstanding and we obviously missed that. So whilst that was one element that went against us today, it wasn’t the reason we lost the game.”

Referee: Ben Rayner

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Dunne (Titans)

Titans: Boxhall (T), Ollivent (1C, 3P)

Fylde: Lanigan (T), Wilkinson (T), Gregory (T), Stott (T), Dorrington (T), Smith (5C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 54), 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 31) (Rylance 52), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 69), 3 Gareth Denman (Donkor 63), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Matt Challinor, 6 Marcus Payne (Nwosu-Hope 49), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Fylde: 15 Jordan Dorrington, 14 Adam Lanigan (Rawlings 74), 13 Connor Wilkinson, 12 Scott Rawlings (Stott 34), 11 Tom Grimes, 10 Greg Smith, 9 Matt Sturgess, 1 Corey Bowker (Lewis 57), 2 Ben Gregory (Capt.), 3 Peter Altham (Ashcroft 40), 4 Olli Parkinson, 5 Harlan Corrie (Garrod 40), 6 Toby Harrison (Fairbrother 40), 7 Henry Higginson, 8 Tristan Woodman.

Replacements: 24 Adam Lewis, 16 Matt Ashcroft, 23 David Fairbrother, 18 Matt Garrod, 20 Sam Stott.

Wharfedale 23 Titans 29

Rotherham Titans grabbed a thrilling 29-23 win over Wharfedale with a try from Sam Veall in the last play of the game.

The win, which was fully deserved and also Titans first at The Avenue, was on full time boisterously celebrated by a large travelling support from South Yorkshire.

However, it looked as if Roth had missed their chance of a famous victory when with what was thought to be the last kick of the match, a Lloyd Hayes’ penalty hit the left hand post and bounced back into play.

All Wharfedale needed to do at that point to claim the win was boot the ball off the field.

Remarkably however, Titans Harry Dunne managed to grapple the ball back into Roth hands and following numerous phases in the 7th minute of injury time Sam Veall managed to glide through to score in the far corner.

The victory was vital for Rotherham, as following a week’s break from league action they take on the top two sides in the table with Fylde at home, followed by Sedgley Park away.

The game was played out in rain, wind and bright sunshine with neither side giving an inch all afternoon as true Yorkshire grit ensured no one took a backward step.

Wharfedale got the scoreboard moving first on 7 minutes when fly half Tom Mann knocked over a 3-pointer.

Rotherham soon responded however when Sam Boxhall turned over possession and the ball arrived with Harry Dunne who quickly slipped a lovely pass back inside to Jack Hedley; he then raced up to the line before offloading to Sam Veall to score a nice team try.

The next score didn’t arrive until just before the half hour mark when following a period of forward pressure from Rotherham the ball was collected by Sam Boxhall who threw a long miss-pass out to winger Jack Taylor who dived in at the corner to score. Hayes impressively nailed the extras from out wide to make it 12-3.

Hayes and Mann then traded penalties before in the last play of the first half Wharfedale scored a try through centre Josh Prell. Tom Mann converted to leave his side trailing 15-13.

There had been a momentum shift towards the end of the first half which saw the home side come more into the game and this continued in the opening exchanges of the second.

Nine minutes in and a catch and drive close to the line saw replacement back rower Matt Speres crash over to give Wharfedale the lead for the second time in the game.

Their lead didn’t last very long however as once again Roth bounced back and this time it was skipper Zak Poole who scored near the posts after receiving a short pass from Sam Boxhall. Hayes’ conversion put Roth 22-18 ahead.

In this most enthralling of contests the tension heightened with four minutes remaining when centre Josh Prell darted over for his second, and Wharfedale’s third try of the game to nose the home side back into the lead at 23-22.

With time running out The Avenue became a Cauldron of Noise, as each side put everything on the line in search of victory.

So when Sam Veall crossed the whitewash in the final play of the match, everyone connected with the Titans exploded with excitement and relief. Hayes added the cherry on top with an impressive conversion from out wide.

Roth may look back on this one in April as a turning point in their season, but before anyone gets carried way they have to face the best two teams in the division next up, starting with table-toppers Fylde in a fortnight at Clifton Lane.

Speaking on the pitch after the game a relieved, but delighted Adam Byron said:

“When we hit the post with what we thought was going to be the last kick of the game I was frustrated and disappointed in that I thought we’d lost another game that we really should have won. It was a difficult kick into the wind and my heart went out to the boys because they had grafted so hard for the win.

“We know it wasn’t our best performance of the season, but the boys worked so hard throughout and they fully deserved to get back on the bus with a win and I’m delighted for them.

“We did some good things today; in the first half when we got into their 22 we scored, but we struggled a bit to do that in the second half, but all credit to Wharfedale, their defensive sets in the second half were very good.

“I think the most frustrating thing is how we let them make territory and it was from our penalties, our simple mistakes, our kick-offs and the only way they made headway in the first half was from our mistakes.

“So going forwards we need to make sure we get our processes right and that we maintain our focus for the full 80 minutes.

However, I am so proud of all the boys for how they never gave up and for the character and desire they showed at the end to get the win.”

Referee: Daniel Woods

Attendance: 535

Yellow Card: Nwosu-Hope (Titans), Hedgley (Wharfedale

Titans: Veall (2T), Taylor (T), Poole (T), Hayes (3C, P)

Wharfedale: Prell (2T), Speres (T), Mann (C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor (Jones 64), 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 34) (Capps 61), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 34) (Denman 61), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Fraser Jones, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Wharfedale: 15 Harry Bullough, 14 Tom Darwin, 13 Josh Prell, 12 Oli Cicognini, 11 Robbie Davidson, 10 Tom Mann, 9 Omari Kaup-Samuels (Bell 71), 1 Matt Beesley (Altham 34), 2 Ben Wright (Stockton 68), 3 Sam Dickinson (Hirst 39) (Beesley 63), 4 Simon Borril, 5 George Hedgley, 6 Ryan Carlson, 7 Joe Fawcett (Speres 34), 8 Josh Burridge.

Replacements: 16 Joe Altham, 17 Elliott Stockton, 18 Matt Speres, 19 Jack Hirst, 20 Max Bell.

Titans 37 Tynedale 7

Rotherham Titans recorded back-to-back victories with a hard-fought 37-7 win over a tenacious Tynedale outfit on a windy afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans 4 tries came way of a brace from Callum Bustin and one each for Corben Ollivent and Fraser Jones on debut, whilst Lloyd Hayes added 17 points from the tee.

The final score probably doesn’t do justice to Tynedale’s dogged and determined effort, but Rotherham raced out of the blocks to effectively wrap-up the game after 20 minutes, having scored four tries and secured the bonus point.

The home side crossed the whitewash as early as the second minute when Sam Boxhall and Harry Dunne were involved in getting the ball out to Corben Ollivent who raced in to dot down in the corner.

Within five minutes Roth added to their tally when Lloyd Hayes popped a lovely pass back inside to Corben Ollivent on the 22, he then made good ground taking play up to the line, before offloading to Callum Bustin in support for a nice team try.

There was time for Lloyd Hayes to knock over a penalty before Titans had their third try on 16 minutes.

Following a period of forward pressure inside the Tynedale 22, the ball came out to Ollivent who quickly shipped on to Hayes who again slipped a neat pass back inside to Fraser Jones; the Australian showed good footwork and desire to scramble over the line for a try on debut.

Moments later a rampant Rotherham secured the bonus point when Tynedale spilled the ball on the edge of the 22, after some very effective in-your-face pressure. Callum Bustin collected quickly and then threw a dummy before darting through unopposed to score under the posts.

Lloyd Hayes’ conversion gave Titans a 31-0 lead and the script was set for a landslide victory.

However, the visitors chose not to follow the script and pretty much dominated the remainder of the half as they set camp inside the Titans 22. However, massive credit must go to the home side as time and again they repelled the pressure on their own line to keep Tynedale scoreless in the first half.

The second period was a more even affair; however, had Roth finished the numerous chances created the final score would have been much wider, but that was not the case.

An early Lloyd Hayes penalty extended Roth’s advantage on 43 minutes, but it was Tynedale who scored the next try just after the hour mark when James Telford took a quick penalty and fed flanker Ben Bell who charged through to score.

Remarkably the only other score of the match came at the end when Hayes slotted over his third penalty of the game.

So whilst there were lots of positives for the home side, they’ll need to be more clinical in their next outing away to Wharfedale if they are going to make it three on the trot.

Speaking after the game Titans Adam Byron said:

“We were delighted with our efforts in the opening 20 minutes, that’s exactly what we’d asked from the boys; we went at them and scored lots of points and we couldn’t have asked for any more.

“We understand at National Two there are a lot of good teams; so when you give them possession they’re going to play and come right at you. However, I was delighted with the boy’s commitment in defence to keep them out in the first half.

“I have to be honest and say I was disappointed to lose the second half 7-6. We did create lots of opportunities in the second half, may four or five, but we left them out there and when we look back at those we’ll probably put our hands up and say we should have scored.

“Our line outs were much better, Matt Smith and the boys have put a lot of work in that area this week and so it was pleasing to see the improvement there.

“But overall when you come away from a game with a 5-point win you have to be happy, especially when you haven’t been perfect because that shows you are going in the right direction.”

Referee: Llyr Apgeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Poole (Titans)

Titans: Bustin (2T), Ollivent (T), Jones (T), Hayes (4C, 3P)

Tynedale:  Bell (T), Roue (1C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Fraser Jones, 10 Corben Ollivent (Taylor 55), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Stout 40), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 51), 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 23) (Denman 65), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne (Kay 51), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin (Payne 65).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 27 Rikki Stout, 19 Rupert Kay, 20 Jack Taylor.

Tynedale: 15 Rob Parker (Batey 79), 14 Adam Todhunter (Forlow 55), 13 Ross Cooke, 12 Will Roue, 11 Seamus Hutton, 10 Jake Rodgers (Todhunter 58), 9 James Telford, 1 Angus White, 2 David Batey (Johnston53), 3 Oscar Caudle (Carmichael 52), 4 Chris Wearmouth (Capt.), 5 Graeme Dunn (Dodd 53), 6 Jonny Cousin (Nankivell 18), 7 Ben Bell, 8 Ben Blackburn.

Replacements: 16 Ralph Johnston, 17 Liam Carmichael, 18 Jonny Dodd, 19 Euan Forlow, 20 Will Nankivell.

Titans 50 Blaydon 3

Rotherham Titans got back to winning ways with an impressive 7-try performance to beat a spirited Blaydon side 50-3 on a sunny, but blustery afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans’ tries came way of a brace from Harry Dunne and one each for Sam Veall, Jack Bergmanas, Callum Bustin and another brace from Lloyd Hayes, who also added a further 15 point from the tee.

Titans raced into the lead as early as the 4th minutes as Lloyd Hayes interchanged passes with Jack Taylor before showing good strength and pace to dot down.

Blaydon’s only score of the game came on 12 minutes as scrum half John Clarkson knocked over a 3-pointer from close range.

After that it was pretty much all Rotherham as a minute later full back Sam Veall extended his sides lead with some quick thinking, as he picked up from the base of a ruck and then dived over for an opportunistic try.

Surprisingly, the home side for all their dominance had to wait until just before the half hour mark to add to their tally and surprisingly it was the first catch and drive try of the season for a pack renowned for scoring tries this way. On this occasion it was hooker Jack Bergmanas who dotted down near the corner.

There was just time before half time for Lloyd Hayes to add a penalty which sent the hosts in for the oranges with a 22-3 advantage.

The second half followed a similar pattern of Titans dominance; although at no stage did Blaydon allow the home side an easy ride.

Nine minutes in and centre Harry Dunne secured the bonus point when off first-phase play he received a pass from Kai Ramrattan, before eyeing a gap in the defence to crash through near the posts.

Five minutes later and that man Lloyd Hayes was in the thick of it again; following turnover ball Callum Bustin made good ground and then offloaded to Harry Dunne who in turn cut nicely back inside before sending in Hayes for his second try of the game in the corner.

Titans’ sixth try came 10 minutes later after good ground was made by Alastair Donkor and then Callum Bustin got his hands on the ball and showed great strength to power over.

The final try came way of an interception which saw Harry Dunne race in from 45 metres to put the cherry on top of an overall good performance.

Titans will look to build on their display ahead of next week’s visit of Tynedale to Clifton Lane. Of particular focus may be the line out, as it did not function as well as it could have done; but other than that the South Yorkshire outfit will have been delighted with their shift.

Speaking after the game head coach, Adam Byron said:

“We asked the boys to right some of the wrongs we had last week, do the basics well and try to keep the scoreboard ticking after being nilled in the second half last week and I was really pleased that they were able to do that.

“Lloyd Hayes was outstanding again today; if he’s playing well that means we are playing well as a team because we are creating space in that 13 channel. He’s getting his hands on the ball and he’s able to do what he does well and that’s open sides up.

“I was pleased with how our scrum went today and also the fact our pressure in defence caused the errors to stack up, which in turn led to some opportunities at scrum time.

“We are very aware our line out is not quite where we would like it to be right now, but that is something we will continue to work hard on going forwards; but all credit to the boys to score 50 points in a game is outstanding, especially when one of your set pieces hasn’t functioned as you would have liked.”

Referee: Alex Rose

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Clarkson (Tynedale)

Titans: Dunne (2T), Veall (T), Bergmanas (T), Bustin (T), Hayes (2T, 6C, P)

Blaydon: Clarkson (P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 21 George Tucker, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 47), 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 50), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 59), 27 Rikki Stout (Denman 50), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne (Bustin 50), 7 Rupert Kay (Payne 66), 8 Lewis Wilson.

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Alastair Donkor, 28 Callum Bustin, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Blaydon: 15 Nathan Bailey, 14 Zac Thompson, 13 Fergus Simpson, 12 Alex Clark (Richardson 63), 11 James Cooney, 10 Daniel Marshall (Capt.), 9 John Clarkson (Dube 67), 1 Matthew Siddle (Laidler 37), 16 Danny Gray (Duffy 71), 0 Ralph Appleby (Turnbull 53), 4 Darren Barry, 5 Jack Inglis, 6 Will Varley, 7 Liam Wright, 8 Alex Charlton (Siddle 79).

Replacements: 18 Sam Laidler, 2 Kieran Duffy, 17 Adam Turnbull, 19 Thabo Dube, 23 Andrew Richardson.

Hull Ionians 27 Titans 22

Rotherham Titans suffered a disappointing 27-22 loss away to Hull Ionians on a sunny afternoon at Brantingham Park.

Sam Veall, Harry Dunne and Corben Ollivent all crossed the whitewash for Rotherham, with Lloyd Hayes adding 7 points from the tee.

However, despite leading 22-21 at the break Titans were unable to add to their tally despite dominating for much of the second half.

Having three players yellow carded in the second forty didn’t help the South Yorkshire sides cause and ultimately finishing the game with 13 players proved a bit too much to overcome.

Rotherham will look back on this one and wonder how the win slipped from their grasp following such a dominant second half display.

In truth, a number of handling errors and at times an unreliable line-out in crucial field positions meant Roth would pay the price for a bad day at the office.

Credit must also go out to Ionians; their ability to weather the Titans storm for a full 30 minutes in the second half enabled them to stay in the game, before going on to secure their first ever competitive victory over Rotherham.

The first half of this absorbing contest resembled a basketball game as each team took it in turn to score.

Inside the opening 10 minutes following a Sam Wilson try for the hosts Titans hit back through Sam Veall. The full back showed great vision and pace as he collected a pass around 35 metres out before dancing his way through the Hull defence to dot down next to the sticks.

Ionians on their next visit into the Roth 22 came away with points again when former Titans’ scrum half Sam Pocklington sniped over from close range.

However, a Lloyd Hayes penalty was quickly followed by his partner in the centres Harry Dunne, he scored out wide after a period of possession sucked in the Hull defence to leave an overlap to give Rotherham a 15-14 lead.

The lead lasted only a few minutes as the home side added a third try through winger Sam Wilson; but as in true basketball fashion Titans went down the other end of the pitch and regained the advantage when fly half Corben Ollivent showed good awareness to thread his way through the defence to score next to the posts.

Lloyd Hayes’ conversion ended the first half scoring and Roth went in for the half time oranges with a slender 22-21 advantage.

The second half was a bizarre 40 minutes of rugby and the game should have been put to bed by Roth following all the territory and possession they enjoyed deep inside the Hull half.

However, the home side weathered the Titans storm and came back to win the game following two Lewis Minikin penalties on 78 minutes and then 3 minutes into added time.

Titans will now lick their wounds and then get back on the training field and work even harder to put things right, starting with next week’s home game against Blaydon.

Speaking immediately after the game a disappointed Adam Byron said:

“We are devastated to have lost that one; we went in at half time in front and we came out for the second half confident we would go on to get the win.

“We knew we’d made some errors in the first half and we corrected those defensive errors, but with the ball in hand we weren’t just up to it and we weren’t good enough today.

“The pleasing thing in the first half is we dealt with things that were happening in the game. You can’t rely on half time talks to sort things out; we struggled with certain aspects in the first half and we dealt with them on the pitch, our leaders stepped up and we dealt with it.

“The frustration is the same thing happened in the second half and our attack looked poor at times and we made too many errors.”

Referee: Tim Allatt

Attendance: 353

Yellow Card: Denman, Hayes, Dunne (Titans)

Titans: Veall (T), Dunne (T), Ollivent (T), Hayes (2C, P)

Hull Ionians: Wilson (2T), Pocklington (T), Minikin (3C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 21 George Tucker (Stout 46), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 28) (Capps 60), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 60), 3 Gareth Denman (Tucker 56) (Ramrattan 66), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Rupert Kay (Bustin 56), 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Callum Bustin (Payne 30). 

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 27 Rikki Stout, 18 Danny Rylance, 19 Marcus Payne, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Hull Ionians: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Sam Wilson, 13 Lewis Minikin, 12 Josh Britton, 11 Nathan Hill, 10 Ben Smith, 9 Sam Pocklington (Kirk 74), 1 Chris Morton (Bell 52), 2 Ben Stephenson, 3 Ben Bell (Laverick 35) (Morton 71), 4 Joe Makin, 5 Tyler Heelas (Campbell 52), 6 Allan Hudson (Thompson 55), 7 James Sanderson (Capt.) (Powell 69), 8 George Mewburn. 

Replacements: 16 Dave Laverick, 17 Alex Campbell, 18 Declan Thompson, 25 Lucas Powell, 20 Charlie Kirk.

Titans 67 Harrogate 15

Rotherham Titans ran out 67-15 winners over a spirited Harrogate side, as they started their Nat 2 North campaign in impressive fashion on a warm afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans outscored their county rivals by 9 tries to 2 with a brace of tries from Lloyd Hayes and one each for Jack Taylor, Jack Hedley, Gareth Denman, Zak Poole, Louis Inman, Sam Boxhall and Kai Ramrattan. Lloyd Hayes also added 22 points from the tee to cap off an outstanding individual performance.

Ahead of the game a minute's silence was impeccably observed as a mark of respect for William Barrack, Harrogate Club President, who sadly died last week.

Titans’ first half performance was outstanding; it was full of energy and dynamism and it saw them score 6 tries to a solitary penalty for the visitors.

Lloyd Hayes jinked back inside as early as the 3rd minutes to set the home side on their way and then dusted himself down to convert; he added a 3-pointer shortly after to race the Titans into a 10-0 lead after 8 minutes.

Within the next 10 minutes Rotherham’s wingers Jack Taylor and Jack Hedley both dotted down on debut. Corben Ollivent was instrumental in setting up the former with a nice break; then a quick tap from scrum half Sam Boxhall led to the latter. In between Rory MacNab sandwiched a 3-pointer in for the visitors.

Lloyd Hayes added a second penalty for Titans early into the second quarter, before a rampant home side scored a three further tries inside the final 7 minutes of the half.

Gareth Denman, on his return to his home club, was the next to cross the whitewash and although the tighthead may feel he went in from 40 metres, in actual fact it was more like 15 – it was still no mean feat from the local hero who showed great power to get over.

That man Hayes just wouldn’t go away and up he popped again shortly after to dot down for his second try. He and Sam Veall interchanged passes before the centre danced though for a nice score.

The final play of the half saw Titans score their only set piece try of the game. From a line out close to the line skipper Zak Poole broke off the maul to charge in near the corner.

The half time oranges would have tasted very sweet indeed.

It appeared as if Rotherham’s first half dominance would continue throughout the second, as replacement hooker Louis Inman showed a good appetite to crash over for a try on debut, following a nice switch in play from the backs.

However, credit must be afforded Harrogate, as they showed impressive spirit and determination to keep going and indeed take it to the Titans.

A 20-minute spell followed whereby the visitors scored two tries through hooker Jacob Garrett and fly half Tom Steene; the latter came via an interception, but they all count.

Rotherham did however manage to regroup late on and finish off with another couple of tries from Sam Boxhall and replacement scrum half Kai Ramrattan – another player enjoying his debut with a try.

So whilst Rotherham may face stiffer test this season, starting with an away trip to top side Hull Ionians next week, they will be overjoyed to kick-off their campaign with such an enterprising performance.

Speaking after the game Titans Adam Byron said:

"It is great to score nine tries in any game, but it’s how we created those tries that is the pleasing thing.

"We stuck to our process and made sure we finished things off when we got the opportunity.

"Lloyd Hayes was different class today with his footwork and his understanding of the game. He played really well.

"The new team has had some game time together and we will put our hands up and say the pre-season games were tough. We defended a lot and didn't get chance to play much, so it has been really pleasing to get the ball in hand and show what we can do."

Referee: Matt Sharpe

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Taylor (T), Hedley (T), Denman (T), Poole (T), Inman (T), Boxhall (T), Ramrattan (T), Hayes (2T, 8C, 2P)

Harrogate: Garrett (T), Steene (T), MacNab (1C, 1P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley (Bustin 77), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor (Ramrattan 17), 10 Corben Ollivent (Taylor 69), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 40), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 41), 3 Gareth Denman (Stout 40), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.) (Allan 45), 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Rupert Kay 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Callum Bustin (Poole 60). 

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 27 Rikki Stout, 18 Danny Rylance, 19 Lewis Allan, 20 Kai Ramrattan.   

Harrogate: 15 Rory MacNab, 14 Oliver Pearson, 13 Jack Kennell, 12 Jordan Cummings (Raubitschek 54), 11 Will Yates, 10 Tom Steene, 9 Alex Ibbotson (Fox 69), 1 Seifeldin Elsayed, 2 Jacob Garrett (Derbyshire 54) (Garrett 69), 3 Tom Baxter, 4 Tomas Phipps (Booth 50), 5 Sam Brady (Capt.), 6 Cameron Breen (Jones 35), 7 Will Hill, 8 Thomas Spencer-Jones.

Replacements: 18 Henry Derbyshire, 16 Gregory Jones, 19 Kurtis Booth, 21 Ben Raubitschek, 20 Sam Fox.

Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons