Rotherham Titans put in an outstanding effort to beat Otley 28-21 and secure the bonus point on a blustery afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans’ four tries came from Danny Rylance, Zak Poole, Jack Taylor and Tomasi Tanumi, with Lloyd Hayes adding 8 points from the tee.
As the old cliché goes it was a game of two halves, with the wind playing a huge part in what went on throughout the match. Titans went in at the break with a 17-0 lead and then it was a case of holding on as the expected comeback from Otley was mounted.
Rotherham took their time to get the scoreboard moving, as the visitors defended with all their might in the early exchanges. However on 18 minutes a powerful catch and drive close to the line saw tight head prop Danny Rylance crash over. Hayes narrowly missed the extras from out wide.
Ten minutes later and Roth’s inspirational skipper Zak Poole took a quick tap-penalty and proceed to bundle his way over with two Otley defenders hanging off him. Hayes added the extras.
As half time drew near Rotherham knew they would need at least one more score if they were to have any chance of protecting their lead in the second half, as the blustery wind picked up its pace.
Titans had created a number of opportunities prior to this, but for various reasons were unable to add to their tally.
However in the final play of the half scrum half Kai Ramrattan cleverly chipped a lovely ball through the Otley defence for winger Jack Taylor to collect in his stride, before stepping back inside to score for an unconverted try.
Following the half time oranges Rotherham made a bright and crucial start to the second half when centre Tomasi Tanumi touched down in the corner after good work in the build up from Zak Poole and Lloyd Hayes, although the latter narrowly missed the extras from out wide.
The expected comeback from Otley began before the hour mark when they scored two tries in three minutes through centres Clark Wells and Gavin Stead, with the latter converting both from in front of the posts.
On 64 minutes Lloyd Hayes settled the Titans nerves with a penalty, but the relief lasted only 3 minutes before the impressive Ben Waddington touched down for the visitors to narrow his side’s deficit to 25-21.
You could feel the nerviness around the ground as Otley went in search of a late score that would seal a dramatic comeback for them.
However, four minutes from time Lloyd Hayes knocked over another penalty and Rotherham held out for a deserved win over their Yorkshire rivals.
Speaking after the game Titans head coach, Gary Pearce said:
"We haven't played for three weeks and we were ring rusty. We scored a lot of points in the first half, but we should have scored a lot more; we probably left 15 or 20 points out there, and that always makes a game of it.
“Otley are fourth in the league for a reason. They're a decent side and have plenty of confidence, but our defence got better through the second half.
"It's just good to get a game in, and I'm sure we'll be better for it.
"To mark centenary week with a win is also good for the club. It's onwards and upwards for us now, that's what we're looking for."
Referee: Dave Charlton
Attendance: 250
Yellow Card: None
Titans: Rylance (T), Poole (T), Taylor (T), Tanumi (T), Hayes (C, 2P)
Otley: Wells (T), Waddington (T), Stead (T, 3C)
Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Tomasi Tanumi (Veall 45), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor (Sableman-Blue 60), 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Kai Ramrattan, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Danny Rylance (Donkor 29) (Rylance 60), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Lewis Allan, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Alastair Donkor, 18 Cade Cambier, 19 Sam Veall, 20 Luckas Sableman-Blue.
Otley: 15 Charles Morgan, 14 Duncan Darling, 13 Clark Wells, 12 Gavin Stead, 11 Elliot Morgan, 10 Edward Crossland, 9 Rory Gaffney (Wickham 53), 1 Ethan Thiart (Nicholls 63), 2 Luke Cole, 3 Reece Ward (Moss 31) (Ward 72), 4 Adam Malthouse (Capt.), 5 Simon Willet (Gibson 53), 6 Dan Preston-Routledge, 7 Sam Hodge, 8 Sam Waddington.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Gibson, 17 Billy Nicholls, 18 Jason Moss, 19 Alex Johnson, 20 Philip Wickham.
Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons