Rotherham Titans put in a colossal effort before eventually suffering a narrow 26-20 defeat to Leeds Tykes on a cold afternoon at The Sycamores.
Titans were outscored by four tries to two with John Okafor dotting down twice for Roth and Lloyd Hayes adding 10 points from the tee.
Titans’ first defeat of the season was a difficult one to take after such an effort, but they will take heart with over half the season remaining and Leeds having yet come to Clifton Lane, everything is still up for grabs.
The first half of the match saw Rotherham forced to defend for long periods; but this they did with huge intensity as they drove the home side backwards on numerous occasions.
As expected beforehand Rotherham held the upper hand in the forwards, but Leeds always looked threatening with ball in hand.
Titans thought they’d gone in front when winger Dan Rundle ran the length of the field to dot down under the sticks.
However, disappointment struck when the try was disallowed and play brought back 80 metres after the assistant referee adjudged Rotherham had been offside.
The scoreboard finally got a nudge on the half hour mark when Leeds went ahead after Jacob Mounsey ran a kick back from 70 metres and popped an inside pass to Harry Jukes to go in. Peter Lucock added the extras from in front of the posts.
Five minutes before the break Titans went down to 14 men after Gareth Denman was sin-binned for an offence at the breakdown.
Roth tried to ride out the storm until half time, but 2 minutes into injury time Leeds full back Kieran Davies spotted a gap in the line to cut through and run around to score under the posts. Lucock completed the formality of the conversion.
Rotherham came out for the second half rejuvenated and inside 2 minutes got on the board with a Lloyd Hayes penalty.
Shortly after Hayes thought he’d scored in the corner, but unfortunately for him another assistant referee’s decision deemed that he had been held up.
Rotherham finally converted their pressure into points just before the hour mark when John Okafor collected out wide and proceeded to power his way over the line. Hayes converted nicely.
Hayes then narrowed the gap to 14-13 a few minutes later with a penalty kick.
The momentum was now with Rotherham and they went in search of a famous victory.
However that was not meant to be.
Firstly Kieran Davies impressed with his pace as he spotted a gap in the Roth defence and darted through; then Harry Jukes used his pace to race down the line to score under the sticks for the bonus point.
Late on John Okafor scored what could be an important try as he dotted down and Hayes converted for a bonus point.
It was a surprise the game didn’t restart after less than 2 minutes of injury time, but Rotherham can take heart from their performance.
Roth will also know as the long winter months are about to set in, there is a long way to go in the season and importantly Leeds are yet to visit Clifton Lane.
It is expected there will be more twists and turns in the road before the outcome of this league is settled.
Rotherham will now switch their attention to the huge challenge South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Tigers will pose when they visit Clifton Lane on Saturday.
Speaking after the match Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:
“It was a hell of a battle and you have to give Leeds credit, they stuck to what they’ve been all season in the way they play. I think the amount of pressure that Rotherham withstood today without the ball and the effort they put in was exceptional.
“There were some key moments in the game where the outcome swings either way. At 13-14 and then after we scored late on; I thought they may have been time to have restarted the game, but that’s the way it goes.
“To come away from home, put that amount of effort in and to pick up the bonus point, the players can be very proud of themselves.
“We still have things to learn and we are seeing at training the players are stepping up and learning and improving and I’m seeing that each week.
“I’ve said to the players this game won’t define our season. We can’t wait to get back to training and build on today. The performances keep coming and I’m proud of them; let’s see what the coming weeks bring.”
Referee: Daniel Woods
Attendance: 991
Yellow Card: Denman (Titans)
Titans: Okafor (2T), Hayes (2C, 2P)
Leeds Tykes: Jukes (2T), Davies (2T), Lucock (2C), Turagabeci (1C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Dan Rundle, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Harry Dunne, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier (Metcalfe 72), 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 35) (Capps 58), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 25) (Bergmanas 60), 3 Gareth Denman (Cowen-Leak 43), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 19 John Okafor, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak (Ward 35) (Denman 58), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 18 Callum Bustin, 20 Will Metcalfe.
Leeds Tykes: 15 Kieran Davies, 14 Jacob Mounsey (Jukes 74), 13 Ben Dixon, 12 Tom Williams (Turagabeci 63), 11 Harry Jukes (Macnab 63), 20 Peter Lucock, 9 Will Hardwick, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Adam Brown (Capt.), 3 Jordan Cordice (Dennis 30), 4 Charlie Friend, 5 Tom Collins, 6 Eddie Brown (Ademakin 30) (Brown 57), 7 Lucas Walsh (Yorke 78), 8 Junior Nu’u (Ademakin 66).
Replacements: 16 Aarin Yorke, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Tobi Ademakin, 19 Henry Macnab, 10 Seremaia Turagabeci.
Photo Credit: Mike Inkley