Rotherham Titans raised their level from recent performances, but unfortunately came up against a very good side in Rams Rugby, as they crashed to a 28-16 defeat at Clifton Lane.
Titans were outscored by four tries to one, with the hosts sole touch down coming in the final play of the game from number 8 Anthony Maka, via a catch and drive close to the Rams line.
Sam Hollingsworth added three penalty kicks and Morgan Bunting impressed with a conversion from the touchline at the death.
On a very heavy Clifton Lane surface, due to the torrential rain suffered in South Yorkshire during the previous 48 hours, it was the hosts who started the brighter.
Indeed Titans’ fly half Sam Hollingsworth nudged his side ahead on 2 minutes with the first of his three first half penalties.
However, the visitors, who came into the game sitting fourth in the table, looked to be a class act from early on.
Full back, Will Partington, dual-registered from Premiership side London Irish and former London Scottish centre Connor Hayhow in particular looked dangerous every time they had ball in hand.
Indeed, the latter got Rams on the board on 13 minutes with the first of his three tries, whilst the former expertly converted the first of what would be four conversions.
On 20 minutes a rampant Rams side extended their advantage when winger Conor Corrigan ran through to score.
Titans were made to work extremely hard in defence and to their credit this they did to great effect. Time and again Rams battered the gain line and time and again the Rotherham defence not only held firm, but drove the opposition backwards.
Coming out for the second half trailing 14-9 and attacking the clubhouse end of the ground, Rotherham had high hopes they could cause an upset against a top-end side.
However, either side of the hour mark, man-of-the-match centre Connor Hayhow ruthlessly finished off moves to add two further tries to wrap up the game.
Rotherham to their credit never stopped grafting and in the final play of the match picked up a consolation try, when number 8 Anthony Maka dotted down from a catch and drive close to the line.
Whilst naturally disappointed with the loss, Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, saw some green shoots of encouragement, “I hate losing, but it was a bit easier to take today as I was really impressed with Rams. They demonstrated in clinical fashion that our sport is a team game.
“They did the simple things right, they made very few mistakes and all their scores came after they calmly waited for us to make mistakes, which gave them field position, which in turn led to them scoring four tries.
“With regards to our performance; I think we made a step up on where we have been of late and our efforts today would have beaten some sides which we have lost to this season.
“Our performance was undoubtedly better than it has been in recent weeks; unfortunately we came up against a very good Rams side. I thought our scrum and line out performed better, but I thought we just looked a bit blunt at times in the final third.
“But we are hopeful that we have turned a corner and from here on in we aim to continue with our improvements.
“However, no side is going to roll over for you and we as a group have to keep working hard and keep battling so we gain enough wins to stay in this division.”
Referee: Joe James
Attendance: 483
Yellow Card: Frost (Titans)
Titans: Maka (T), Hollingsworth (3P), Bunting (1C)
Rams: Hayhow (3T), Corrigan (T), Partington (4C)
Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Dan Leake (Ward 52), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Tom Bullough, 11 Ben Robbins, 10 Sam Hollingsworth (Leake 73), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Toby Williams (Whitfield h-t), 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 65), 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost (Bunting 65), 6 Lewis Wilson (Laxton 65), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Harry Whitfield, 18 Elliott Ward, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Morgan Bunting.
Rams: 15 Will Partington, 14 Henry Bird (Rossiter 34), 13 Keiran Leicester, 12 Connor Hayhow, 11 Conor Corrigan, 10 Andrew Humberstone, 9 Ollie Cole (Moates 65), 1 Niall Kidd, 2 Ben Henderson (Moffitt 69), 3 James Baker (Zeiss 65), 4 Oliver Taylor, 5 Jamie Guttridge, 6 Louis Wolf (Collis 54), 7 Tom Vooght, 8 Robbie Stapley (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Ollie Moffitt, 17 Cameron Zeiss, 18 Josh Collis, 19 Jack Rossiter, 20 Jack Moates.
