Rotherham Titans were disappointingly beaten 27-20 by an energetic Wharfedale outfit on an overcast afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans did pick up the losing bonus point and scored three tries through Lloyd Hayes, Luckas Sableman-Blue and Aydan Godden, with Hayes also adding 5 points from the tee.
In truth Rotherham lost the game in the first half after an uninspiring performance saw them go in at the break trailing 13-5, after some indifferent moments on their part against a Wharfedale side that looked eager all afternoon.
Nevertheless, despite not having had much ball in the opening 15 minutes it was Rotherham who got on the board first.
A delightful cross-field kick from Connor Dever was perfectly weighted for Jack Taylor to collect on the right wing. He fed Sam Veall who made good ground before he slipped in Lloyd Hayes who showed tremendous strength to power over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Before the half hour mark however Wharfedale took a lead they would never relinquish with two penalties from fly half Tom Davidson.
Six minutes before the break Wharfedale scored their first try and from Titans point of view it was a disappointing one to concede.
Winger Oscar Canny took a quick-tap 10 metres from his own line and proceeded to gallop fifty metres down field before sending in flanker Joe Fawcett to score under the posts. Davidson tagged on the extras to send his side in at the break leading 13-5.
Rotherham improve and indeed won the second half and when Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty early on to reduce Titans arrears to 13-8, hopes were raised of a comeback.
However, just 5 minutes later and Wharfedale scored a second try; this too would have been a disappointing one to concede for Rotherham.
Scrum half Henry MacNab spotted a gap in the Roth defence just outside his own 22 and exploited this with a fifty-metre gallop downfield before interchanging passes with James Coulton. The pass back to him from Coulton looked forward, but MacNab didn’t hang around to find out and he raced in for a converted try.
Titans too showed they were up for the fight and bounced back quickly to score their second try through Luckas Sableman-Blue; he showed great power to get over the line following a good period of play from the Rotherham pack. Hayes nailed the extras to keep the game alive.
However, a Roth mistake soon afterwards resulted in Wharfedale’s third try.
Titans missed touch from a penalty which landed in-field 5 metres from the Wharfedale line. Credit to the Green Machine must be given, as following a number of phases they went the length of the field to allow scrum half MacNab to dot down for his second score. Davidson’s extras stretched his sides lead to 27-15.
Titans rallied late on and gave themselves some hope, when 5 minutes from time back rower Aydan Godden scored from the tail of a maul for an unconverted try.
Then Roth went in search of a score which would have levelled the game and given them two bonus points, but Wharfedale held out for a deserved win.
Speaking after the match Titans head coach, Gary Pearce, said:
“We were down to the bare bones and it was an opportunity for lads to step up.
“The problem we have is that with us having one team, our lads who don’t play regularly haven’t played in a long time whereas the lads who stepped in for Wharfedale play every week in their second team.
“We can’t make excuses and to be fair the scoreline flattered us a bit. We made too many errors.
“I’d say we’re too individual at the minute, not a team, and I think that’s been in evidence while I’ve been here really.
“We’re not going to change that overnight and now we move on to next week.”
Referee: Michael Harris
Attendance: 250
Yellow Card: Canny (Wharfedale)
Titans: Sableman-Blue (T), Godden (T), Hayes (T, C, P)
Wharfedale: MacNab (2T), Fawcett (T), Davidson (3C, 2P)
Titans: 15 Sam Veall (Parker 40), 14 Jack Taylor, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 21 George Tucker (Dever 75), 10 Connor Dever (Ramrattan 65), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 36) (Capps 63), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Richardson 63) (Bergmanas 78), 3 Danny Rylance, 4 Matt Challinor (Capt.), 5 Cade Cambier, 6 Marcus Payne, 24 Aydan Godden, 8 Rupert Kay.
Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Alastair Donkor, 22 Ollie Parker, 19 Kai Ramrattan, 20 Fraser Jones.
Wharfedale: 15 Louis Verity, 14 Owen Bullock, 13 James Coulton, 12 Josh Walters, 11 Oscar Canny, 10 Tom Davidson, 9 Henry MacNab, 1 Joe Altham, 2 Jack Hirst, 3 Sam Dickinson, 4 Elliott Stockton, 5 Simon Borrill, 6 Joe Fawcett, 7 Rhys Green, 8 Rob Baldwin (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 James Meehan, 17 Jack Kitching, 18 Sam Smith, 19 Ryan Hodgson, 20 Josh Prell.
