Rotherham Titans overcame a poor first half display to storm back in the second half to pick-up a well-deserved bonus point, in their 52-20 defeat to league leaders Richmond at the Athletic Ground.
Titans collected the point for scoring four tries, although at the break it was difficult to envisage that such a feat could be achieved after a lacklustre first half on their part and a rampant effort from the hosts.
Indeed, Richmond ran in six tries during the opening 40 minutes, which in effect wrapped-up the game.
The only highlight in that opening period for the South Yorkshire side came on 23 minutes when winger Ben Robbins finished off nicely in the corner, after Tom Bacon made an excellent break down the right hand side.
However, as well as Richmond played, a high number of errors from the Titans certainly made the home side’s task easier than it should have been. Their line-out in particular caused them distress and a number of one-up missed tackles also hurt them badly.
So for the transformation which took place in the second half, the Rotherham players should be given a massive amount of credit as they outscored the league leaders by three tries to one.
Following Titans’ ‘old boy’ Charlie Mulchrone adding to the hosts tally on 47 minutes, Rotherham pretty much dominated events from there on in.
On 68 minutes Ben Robbins scored his and Titans second try when he just managed to squeeze through in the corner following a huge amount of pressure from the pack.
Then, as the game went into injury time Titans added their third try after two significant breaks in the build-up. Firstly Connor Dever made 30 metres in midfield with an arching run, then number 8 Anthony Maka showed good footwork and hand skills to pop a pass to Jamie Cooke for him to dot down in the far corner.
The crucial fourth try was secured in the final play of the match. From the base of a ruck inside the Richmond 22, the ball was flung across the backline from Dever to Bacon, who in turn fed replacement full back Sam Allan for a well-worked score.
From what had appeared a desolate position at the break, the fight Rotherham displayed in the second half not only secured a crucial bonus point, but offered realistic hope that they could yet clamber out of the relegation spot come the end of April.
Speaking after the game, an upbeat Titans Director of Rugby, Martin Jenkinson, explained, “The boys showed massive heart and massive courage in those final few minutes; we asked the boys for a reaction at half time and we got that.
“To come down here - and it is a long way to travel - against the league leaders in the first half was a washout. But at half time we sat in the dressing room and we said as a group “let’s take a look at ourselves,” and we asked “what do we want to achieve?”
“I just said to the boys in the post-match huddle, the second half could have gone one of two ways; it could have been an absolute disaster or it was what we got, which was a response with all heart and character and to score the final try at the end feels like we’ve won the game.
“The boys were absolutely fantastic and the reaction they gave in the second half was fantastic and I’m massively proud of them.
“It’s important now that we win our home games and keep picking up at least the bonus points away from home.
“Since the turn of the year we seen a massive improvement and we have to keep building on that to get us out of the relegation tussle. It’s a dogfight at the bottom and we will continue to fight right up until the end.”
Referee: Veryan Boscawen
Attendance: 545
Yellow Card: Dever & Ward (Titans), Parker (Richmond)
Titans: Robbins (2T), Cooke (T), Allan (T)
Richmond: Lynagh (2T), Mitchell (T), Mclean (T), Graham (T), Grimstone (T), Mulchrone (T), Hodgson (6C, P), Dennett (1C)
Titans: 15 George Castledine (Allan 75), 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Tom Bacon, 10 Morgan Bunting (Boxhall 75), 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield, 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 55), 3 Rikki Stout (Dennis 40), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Elliott Ward (Waddington 53), 6 Ben Waddington (Frost 40), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Anthony Maka.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Kieran Frost, 19 Sam Boxhall, 20 Sam Allan.
Richmond: 15 Louis Lynagh, 14 Dan Kelly, 13 Cameron Mitchell (Capt), 12 Ronnie Mclean, 11 Hamish Graham, 10 Tom Hodgson (Mulchrone 40), 9 Jamie Gibbs (Dennett 40), 1 Timmy Walford (Litchfield 69), 2 Ross Grimstone (Torpey 52), 3 Jimmy Litchfield (Banfield 52), 4 Byron Hodge, 5 Chris Allman (Bibic 40), 6 Tom Pashley, 7 Andrew Boyce, 8 Jake Parker.
Replacement: 16 Alex Bibic, 17 David Banfield, 18 Callum Torpey, 19 Lewis Dennett, 20 Charlie Mulchrone.
