Rotherham Titans maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a dominant 34-19 win over top side Fylde on a warm afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans’ tries came from Matt Challinor, Tomasi Tanumi, Zak Poole and in the final play of the game a penalty try; with Lloyd Hayes adding 12 points from the tee.
The win keeps Titans in second spot in the table, just 2 points behind leaders Leeds Tykes.
Roth’s performance was their best of the season, particularly in the opening 30 minutes in which they outplayed and outmuscled their illustrious opponents.
Indeed the South Yorkshire men raced into a 14-0 lead inside the opening 7 minutes after a blistering start shook their opponents to their boots.
First up Matt Challinor was on hand to dot down under the sticks following some powerful work from the pack, before Tomasi Tanumi showed good strength to touch down near the corner after some slick handling by the Roth backline.
Titans continued to totally dominate and were probably disappointed that their next score didn’t arrive until 2 minutes before the break.
The third score can be attributed the pack, as from a 5 metre scrum they powerfully marched the Fylde forwards into reverse, allowing skipper and number 8 Zak Poole to finish off.
Fylde are a class side and they were always going to provide a response; this came in the final play of the half when winger Adam Lanigan cut back inside to score after receiving a long miss-pass from Greg Smith.
The second half was a more even affair, but surprisingly the next score didn’t arrive until just before the hour mark when Titans Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty.
Fylde looked bright and lively with ball in hand and they picked up their second try when centre Jordan Dorrington went over after two zippy passes sent him in.
Roth nibbled further ahead through a second Lloyd Hayes penalty after which in the final minutes Fylde picked up a third try.
This came through dual-registered Premiership prop forward Tye Raymont, who powered his way over from close range to reduce his sides arrears to 27-19 with Smith’s conversion.
However, if the final play of the match Rotherham secured the bonus point when aptly the pack were awarded a penalty try after a maul was deliberately collapsed on the line. Fylde’s Corey Bowker was yellow carded for his part in the misdemeanour.
The result was an impressive and fully deserved one against a class side and Rotherham can take confidence in the knowledge they can compete and beat the best sides in the division.
The challenges as always come thick and fast; the next game sees a South Yorkshire derby against Sheffield at Abbeydale and again Roth will need to be at their best if they are to give themselves an opportunity to get a result.
Speaking after the match Titans head coach, Gary Pearce, said:
“We knew it was going to be a competitive game; Fylde finished runners-up last year and they are a good side who play good rugby. They’re always there at the end and we knew it was going to be a big game and we prepared accordingly.
“We were on fire in the first half and if we had gone in at half time 50 points up I don’t think anyone could have complained; we just didn’t take our chances and we had so many of them.
“We were dominant, we were powerful and we are progressing as a team. We talk every week about improving, but we let ourselves down a little bit sometimes because we are not clinical enough.
“However, if we can put a performance like that together for longer periods and take the chances we create, then we are going to blow sides away and we will be a very difficult side to beat.
“Defensively we did really well and we were excellent in the first half, but they are always going to have their 10 minutes because of how they play the game and because they have good players, there is no doubt about that. They’ve probably got 4 of the best players in the league in their side and we respect that.”
Referee: Henry Pearson
Attendance: 250
Yellow Card: Bustin (Titans), Bowker (Fylde)
Titans: Challinor (T), Tanumi (T), Poole (T), Pen Try, Hayes (3C, 2P)
Fylde: Lanigan (T), Dorrington (T), Raymont (T), Smith (2C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Jack Render, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne (Bustin 37), 11 Tomasi Tanumi, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 27) (Capps 75), 2 Jack Bergmanas (38), 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 27) (Denman 70), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith (Okafor 63), 6 Rupert Kay (Smith 70), 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 19 John Okafor, 27 Callum Bustin.
Fylde: 15 Sam Carleton, 14 Ben Turner, 13 Jordan Dorrington, 12 Tom Carleton, 11 Adam Lanigan, 10 Greg Smith, 9 Ben Gould (Wootton 62), 1 Corey Bowker (Brookes 33) (Bowker 70), 2 Ben Gregory (Capt.), 3 Peter Altham (Raymont 23), 4 Matt Ashcroft, 5 Ethan Hall-Lyon, 6 Toby Harrison, 7 Tane Bentley (Garrod 48), 20 David Fairbrother (Parker 4).
Replacements: 16 Alex Brookes, 18 Tye Raymont, 23 Matt Garrod, 17 Sam Parker, 19 Will Wootton.
