Rotherham Titans were made to work hard for their deserved 37-17 win over Sheffield on a wet and windy afternoon at Abbeydale Park.
Titans outscored the hosts by 4 tries to 3 and secured the bonus point with dot downs from Dan Rundle, Loma Kivalu, Kareem Eissa and John Okafor, with Lloyd Hayes adding 17 points from the tee.
The win keeps Titans in second place behind Leeds Tykes as the league now goes into a 2-week break, before the resumption with the home game against Otley at Clifton Lane on the 4th of November.
The match itself was a fiercely contested derby with both sides giving everything in what were at times difficult conditions, particularly in the second half when the heavens opened and handling became tricky.
Nevertheless in an entertaining clash it was the Titans who got the scoreboard ticking first when Lloyd Hayes knocked over an early penalty.
Moments later however the home side stormed into the lead when the ball was spun across the backline for centre Charlie Davies to cut through for a try which former Titan Jonny West converted.
Hayes reduced his sides arears on 12 minutes with another 3-pointer, before midway through the half Dan Rundle put Roth ahead with a score in the corner following a sharp pass from Kareem Eissa. It was a lead Rotherham would not relinquish.
Surprisingly for all the attacking intent from both teams there would be no further scores in the half. Indeed it wasn’t until the 56th minute that the scoreboard needed an update when Hayes tagged over his third penalty of the game.
Immediately Sheffield struck back with a fine try that saw the ball move through plenty of hands with some nice offloads for full back Cameron Catleugh to go over. The missed conversion by Elliot Fisher left the game delicately poised at 16-12 to Roth.
Any nerves the Clifton Lane outfit may have had were quickly dispelled as they scored 3 tries in a 12 minute blitz.
Firstly front row forward Loma Kivalu bulldozed his way over from close range, then scrum half Kareem Eissa showed some nifty footwork to dart back inside for a nice score, before John Okafor dived over spectacularly to wrap up the game and secure the bonus point after some impressive work in the build up from Tomasi Tanumi.
Sheffield did have the last word when former Titan Ryan Burrows crashed over in the final play, but ultimately Rotherham deservedly came out on top after putting in a hard-working and resolute performance.
More of these performances will likely be needed throughout the long winter months if Titans are to stay in touch with high-flyers Leeds Tykes.
Speaking after the game Rotherham head coach, Gary Pearce said:
“We are delighted to get the win; I thought the lads were outstanding in the second half and were very dominant. The first half was a bit of a start-stop affair which didn’t allow us to get much momentum, but that changed in the second half.
“We left some scores out there in the first half, but we didn’t panic at half time and we controlled the game in the second half as our pack got on top and we scored a couple of nice tries.”
Referee: George Ounsley
Attendance: 397
Yellow Card: Smith (Titans)
Titans: Rundle (T), Kivalu (T), Eissa (T), Okafor (T), Hayes (4C, 3P)
Sheffield: Davies (T), Catleugh (T), Burrows (T), West (1C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Dan Rundle, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 27 Callum Bustin (Tanumi 61), 11 Lewis Winterbottom, 10 Will Milner (Bustin 75), 9 Kareem Eissa, 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 34) (Capps 71), 2 Luke Cole (Bergmanas 47), 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 34) (Denman 71), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 19 John Okafor, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak (Payne 68), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 18 Marcus Payne, 20 Tomasi Tanumi.
Sheffield: 15 Cameron Catleugh (West 53), 14 James Flint (Adcock 33) (Flint 40), 13 Charlie Davies, 12 Will Smith, 16 Christian Hooper, 20 Jonny West (Posa 52), 9 Elliot Fisher, 1 Aaron Lonsdale, 2 Rhodri Campbell (Bartlett 40), 22 Jake Hicklin (Rogers 52), 4 Archie Crapper (Adcock 52), 5 Dom Parsons (Capt.), 6 Alex Fawdry (Crapper 75), 7 Jason Hignell (Flinders 52), 8 Ryan Burrows.
Replacements: 23 Reece Bartlett, 3 George Rogers, 24 Charlie Flinders, 21 Matt Adcock, 17 Callum Posa.
