Rotherham Titans were made to graft hard for the full 80 minutes on an awful wet and windy afternoon at Clifton Lane, before ultimately sealing a deserved 26-12 win over their Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield RUFC.
Titans secured the much-needed bonus point to maintain their push for a top-end finish, with tries coming from Sam Boxhall, Matt Smith, Zak Poole and Callum Bustin, with Matt Minogue adding 6 points from the tee.
On a truly terrible afternoon weather-wise, the wind and rain dictated little rugby would be played and each team found it difficult to escape their own half when playing against the elements.
Rotherham had the benefit in the first period and made the most when after just 6 minutes scrum half Sam Boxhall sniped over near the posts, after good work from the pack took Roth up to the try line. Matt Minogue added the extras.
Despite being camped in their opponents half for much of the time, Roth had to wait until the 24th minute before adding to their tally, when second rower Matt Smith spotted a gap at the breakdown and proceeded to gallop in from around 20 metres to dot down under the posts for Minogue to nail the extras.
Eight minutes before the break and Roth had their third try when skipper Zak Poole touched down following a powerful drive from a line out. Minogue impressed with his conversion in the difficult conditions to give his side a 21-0 lead which they took into half time.
Roth expected a tough second half and Huddersfield ensured they wouldn’t be disappointed. Indeed the third quarter of the game saw Titans penned inside their own 22 for much of that period.
By the hour mark and whilst Roth had two men in the sin bin for various misdemeanours, the visitors crossed the whitewash twice through back rower Lewis Bradley and full back Tom Hodson, with Will Milner converting the latter to reduce his side’s arrears to 21-12.
It was time for steady nerves and for the experience Titans have in the squad to keep things calm and for clear thinking to take hold.
This was evident to see as Roth’s calm and patient approach manoeuvred them into great field position, which in effect allowed them to settle the game with 13 minutes remaining, when from a line out Callum Bustin dotted down in the far corner following another powerful drive from the pack.
Minogue missed the difficult conversion from out wide, but it mattered not as Roth secured the 26-12 bonus point win and maintained their unbeaten status after 11 games.
Post-match and speaking from the sanctuary of indoors, a soaked Adam Byron said:
“The weather was always going to have a heavy impact on the game; the wind was a little bit on and off in the first half when it was behind us, but it really turned against us in the second half when we had it in our faces.
“Coming away with a 21-0 lead and three tries at half time was important; but they certainly put us to task in the second half and they kept us down in our own 22 and put us under pressure for long periods and we had to put in some really good defensive sets and work hard to get out of there.
“We were really pleased that we came through and we managed to get the bonus point win with that fourth try in the second half and that’s what is all comes down to, getting the win and the bonus point is what really counts.
“I think what we have to accept is we’re going to get games like we did last week at Loughborough on an artificial surface where the game is free-running, but we are going to get games like this one, when the weather is against rugby, not just us and we have to adapt and play according to the conditions.
“Our defensive sets were outstanding; it was a little frustrating at times that we would put the hard yards in but the penalty count was starting to build up against us, but the fact that we kept putting those defensive sets in and the 2-man hits was really important to the outcome.
“Huddersfield to be fair kept on us, but at times I think they ran out of ideas of how to break us down; they had the possession but we stayed strong in defence and kept them out for the majority of the time.
“That’s our ninth win in a row now and that’s something that we’d obviously like to keep building on. We are still undefeated, but as I’ve said before, on this run up to Christmas our main goal is to pick up the 5-point wins. So when the conditions are like that, it is a bit of a leveller; a lot of teams would have been happy with a 4-point win, but we really wanted that 5-pointer and we are delighted to have got that.”
Referee: Daniel Woods
Attendance: 487
Yellow Card: Stout & Smith (Titans)
Titans: Boxhall (T), Smith (T), Poole (T), Bustin (T), Minogue (3C)
Huddersfield: Bradley (T), Hodson (T), Milner (1C)
Titans: 15 Tom Lewis, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Matt Minogue, 9 Sam Boxhall (West 76), 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 74), 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 67), 3 Rikki Stout (Laxton 65), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Marcus Payne (Quigley 68), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Keifer Laxton, 20 Jonny West.
Huddersfield: 15 Tom Hodson, 14 Kian Stewart, 13 Lewis Workman, 12 Will Milner, 11 Elliot Knight (Catleugh 67), 10 Joe Potter (Thornton 56), 9 Jonny Mason, 1 Callum Thompson, 2 Liam Stapley (Parkin 69), 3 Andy Rollins (Morgan-McDermott 69), 4 Luke Pearson, 5 Nick Sharpe, 6 Ethan Myers, 7 Lewis Bradley (Capt.) (Davis 61), 8 Eddie Brown.
Replacements: 16 Callum Morgan-McDermott, 17 Ross Thornton, 18 Leighton Davis, 19 Cameron Catleugh, 20 Tom Parkin.
Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons