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.
Photo Credit: Rotherham Advertiser