Rotherham Titans massively impressed as they beat Chester 38-28 on bright but cool afternoon at Hare Lane.
Rotherham outscored the home side by 6 tries to 3, with tries from Danny Rylance, Jack Taylor, Tomasi Tanumi, Callum Bustin, Zak Poole and Jack Hedley, with Lloyd Hayes adding 8 points from the tee.
The win moves Rotherham on to 65 points alongside Chester in the league, although Roth have played a game less and a strong finish to the season could see them end up in fifth spot, which after a mid-season slump would give everyone at the club some optimism for next season.
The game itself was an entertaining affair which saw the home side take the lead as early as the third minute when centre James Hampson raced through to dot down for Liam Reeve to convert.
Shortly afterwards however Rotherham levelled matters when a powerful drive from a line out was finished off by tighthead prop Danny Rylance; Lloyd Hayes maintained his push to become the league’s leading points scorer with the conversion.
The game wasn’t ten minutes old when Chester retook the lead after Liam Reeve’s accurate cross-field kick was expertly gathered by winger Ben Ivory who dotted down in the corner for an unconverted try.
Relative calmness followed as the next score didn’t arrive until the 23rd minute when a lovely chip over the top from Titans Lloyd Hayes was neatly collected by winger Jack Taylor to score a nice try.
The final score of the first 40 came before the half hour mark when Roth switched the direction of play in midfield before an interchange of passes between Tomasi Tanumi and Jack Taylor saw the former gallop through to score near the post for Hayes to convert and send Roth in at the break with a 19-12 lead.
The second period saw the hosts start much the brighter and a succession of penalties were conceded by Titans which resulted in Liam Reeve adding three kicks from the tee to give his side a 21-19 advantage.
Another flurry of scores was set to follow; on the hour mark Titans regained the lead when Callum Bustin collected and found a gap in the defence to charge through for a converted try, before 3 minutes later Chester back rower Kyle Joseph dotted down following a catch and drive close to the line.
However, five minutes later Rotherham retook the lead for the third time when skipper Zak Poole showed amazing strength to score following a break-off from a scrum close to the line. Lloyd Hayes converted to make it 33-28.
The game was finally wrapped up for Roth in the final play of the match when Chester coughed-up the ball whilst looking to snatch the game at the death. The lost ball was gathered and eventually found its way into the hands of winger Jack Hedley who showed good pace to score in the corner to seal an impressive and entertaining win for the South Yorkshire side.
Titans now have a week off for Ester before they welcome Preston Grasshoppers to Clifton Lane for their final home game of the season, before two away games at Harrogate and Sheffield Tigers, with the latter now being confirmed for the 29th of April.
Speaking after the match Titans head coach, Gary Pearce, said:
“I was really pleased with the lads, they showed a lot of effort and commitment and they played really well in parts. We know we have a lot of things to work on, but to come to Chester with their home record as it is and to get a bonus point win is an outstanding result.
“Chester are a good side, they battled very hard and they are a difficult team to beat on their own patch and I’m proud of the lads for the shift they have put in. We asked the lads to work hard and to put in a committed performance and that’s what they did and they can be very proud of themselves.
“We carried the ball really well when we got into the danger zones and we were powerful when we needed to be. I thought everyone played their part; I thought Danny Rylance had a great game, as did Zak Poole and Matt Challinor and I thought Sam Veall cleared up well at times and both the Jack’s on the wings looked quick when their turned on the gas.
“We know we’re not a bad side; we just have to make sure we put it together when it matters and that’s what the lads did today. We just have to keep it going now so we can finish off the season with some good performances for our supporters.”
Referee: George Ounsley
Attendance: 480
Yellow Card: Challinor (Titans), Lewtas & Long (Chester)
Titans: Rylance (T), Taylor (T), Tanumi (T), Bustin (T), Poole (T), Hedley (T), Hayes (4C)
Chester: Hampson (T), Ivory (T), Joseph (T), Reeve (2C, 3P)
Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Tomasi Tanumi, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Joe Carlisle (Veall 14), 9 Kai Ramrattan (Allan 65), 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 20), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Danny Rylance, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne (Bustin 49), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 23 Aydan Godden, 17 Alastair Donkor, 16 Lewis Allan, 27 Callum Bustin, 20 Sam Veall.
Chester: 15 Gethin Long, 14 Ben Ivory, 13 Jorge Lewtas, 12 James Hampson, 11 Sean Green (Craven 65), 10 Liam Reeve, 9 Tom Holloway, 1 Josh Woods (Croft 67), 2 Scott Robson (Woods 75), 3 Tom Furnival (Williams 67), 4 Harry Wilkinson (Capt.), 5 Mike Byrne (Freschini 66), 6 Kyle Joseph, 7 Shaun Owen (Lloyd 66), 8 Luke Cox.
Replacements: 17 Alick Croft, 18 Wade Williams, 19 Jimmy Lloyd, 20 Leo Freschini, 21 Charlie Craven.
