Rotherham Titans put in an attritional performance to wear down Hull Ionians in tough conditions, as they ran out worthy 26-10 winners at a wet and very blustery Clifton Lane.
The victory saw the South Yorkshire side secure what could be at the end of the season a vital bonus point for scoring four tries, although the fourth dot down didn’t arrive until the 80th minute.
The game was never going to be a high-scoring affair as the rain lashed down and gusts of winds in excess of 60 km/h whipped across Clifton Lane.
Indeed, playing into the conditions in the first half Rotherham put in an awesome display to go in at the break actually leading 7-3.
Titans’ points came via winger Ben Robbins who hacked on from a wayward pass from Ionians fly half Tom Stephenson 60 metres out, he then won the foot race to touch down under the sticks. Hollingsworth tagged over the extras from in front.
Ionians sole success in the opening period came from the tee when full back Max Titchener slotted over a penalty to reduce his side’s gap to 4 points.
Titans came out for the second half full of confidence with the elements now in their favour. However, it took them up until just before the hour mark before their next score.
This came following a period of forward dominance, when finally the ball was flung out to the backs, before ultimately arriving with Tom Bacon who drew the last defender to send in Ben Robbins for his and Titans second try.
Unexpectedly however, Ionians bounced back shortly after when scrum half Sam Crane picked up a loose ball around halfway and made ground right up to the Titans line, before second rower Joe Makin collected to crash over from close range. Titchener’s conversion reduced the visitor’s deficit to 12-10 with fifteen minutes remaining.
Titans however held their nerve to score two late tries through skipper Zak Poole on 71 minutes from a pick and go and then on 80 minutes from replacement loose head prop Toby Williams, when he used his significant power to bulldoze his way over for the crucial bonus point try.
With Birmingham Moseley’s game against Sale FC lost to the weather, Rotherham are now just 6 points adrift of the Midlanders in the relegation race and they will look forward to a weekend off now before they go again in two weeks-time.
Speaking after the game Titans Martin Jenkinson said, “We said today with the weather conditions and it being a Yorkshire derby, everything was about doing the job and getting the result. Pre-match we talked about how it didn’t matter how we got there, as long as we got there and that’s what happened today.
“Some people may look at it as a foregone conclusion that Rotherham should have won the game; nothing could have been further from the truth. Ionians are a good team and there are no easy games in this league and the boys went out there and did a good job.
“We would have preferred better conditions and we would have backed our boys to have played the better rugby had there not been the wind and the wet conditions, but it’s the same for both teams and you have to play whatever it is and by and large I thought the boys played the right sort of game in those conditions.
“The game was probably won in the first half; to go in at the break in front in those conditions was a very good effort. Yes we had a breakaway try, but I thought we deserved that reward for causing that mistake from the pressure that we applied.
“Overall we are delighted to get the bonus point and that’s been a recurring theme during our recent renaissance in that we are taking points out of every game and we are taking all the points that we can get at times in certain games. Today could have been a four point day, but the lads made sure it was a five point day.”
Referee: James O'Brien
Attendance: 491
Yellow Card: Dunne (Titans)
Titans: Robbins (2T), Poole (T), Williams (T), Hollingsworth (3C)
Hull Ionians: Makin (T), Titchener (1C, 1P)
Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Tom Benjamin, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield (Williams 49), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 62), 3 Will Dennis (Stout 49), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge (Maka 49), 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Kieran Curran (Preston-Routledge 69).
Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Toby Williams, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Anthony Maka, 20 Sam Boxhall.
Hull Ionians: 15 Max Titchener, 14 Alfie Beadle, 13 Lewis Minikin (Kirk 24), 12 Duell Trueman, 11 Callum Smith, 10 Tom Stephenson (Whyte 69), 9 Sam Crane, 1 Dave Laverick (Capt.), 2 Ben Stephenson, 3 Ben Bell (Peace 57), 4 Joe Makin, 5 Tyler Heelas, 6 George Mewburn, 7 James Sanderson (Choudhury 17) (Sanderson 20) (Choudhury 36), 8 Ed Brown (Sanderson 46).
Replacements: 16 Josh Peace, 17 Harry Butler, 18 Ben Whyte, 19 Rahat Choudhury, 20 Charlie Kirk.
