Rotherham Titans put in a brilliant display to overcome a determined Rams outfit 21-14 on a sodden afternoon at Clifton Lane.
With running rugby almost impossible both teams defence came to the fore as the sides shared 4 tries with Titans dot downs coming from Rob Povey and Aidan Shortall whilst Lloyd Hayes added 11 points from the tee.
At times Rotherham’s defence was forced to graft hard to keep the league leaders out and it was a task they almost always succeeded in.
Rams had the better of the early exchanges, but the saturated conditions made handling difficult, and errors were almost inevitable from both sides.
In a fiercely competitive first half it wasn’t until the 21st minute that the deadlock was broken when following a period of forward pressure, Rams centre Solodrau Radianirova broke through to score under the posts for Fraser Honey to convert.
Titans Curran Maguire was sent to the bin for 10 minutes at this point for his sides repeat offending in trying to keep Rams out.
Credit to Rotherham though, whilst a man down they actually won the next 10 minutes with a Lloyd Hayes penalty!
Indeed, as the half wore on Rotherham became more threatening and began to impose themselves on the game.
Their endeavours were rewarded late in the half when Hayes knocked over another penalty to send his side in at the break trailing 7-6.
With the elements now in Titans favour they wasted little time in making them count as fly half Rob Povey skated through the Rams defence to dot down for a converted try.
Rotherham had the better of things for much of the second half, but Rams aren’t top of the league for no reason.
Just after the hour mark and following more pressure from the Rams pack, blindside flanker James McRae, with a little help from his friends, dotted down for a converted try to put his side back ahead at 14-13.
Undeterred, Titans work rate remained high as they kept Rams under pressure which in turn forced the visitors into errors.
Ten minutes from time one such error saw Lloyd Hayes knock over his third penalty to put Roth back ahead 16-14.
Just two minutes later Rotherham pushed further ahead when winger Aidan Shortall finished off in the corner after receiving a pass from Hayes; the latter narrowly missed the extras from the touchline.
Rams went in search of a score that would potentially give them a share of the spoils with a converted try.
However, the Titans defence was majestic as they repeatedly repelled the marauding Rams and when referee Owen Taylor blew for time, Rotherham rightly celebrated their deserved victory.
Commenting after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“Firstly, I’d like to say a big thanks to the ground staff for getting the game on. In terms of the match you can see why Rams are the league leaders, they really took it to us, particularly in the first half, but actually throughout the entire game.
“The squad had quite a bit of adversity this week in terms of being able to train; we couldn’t train because of the snow and ice and we couldn’t do live mauls or any live scrummaging and we had very little opportunity to do much.
“So, we really do have to give credit to the boys for the character, the resilience and determination that they put in. They came together as a squad and they really did deserve their victory today.”
Titans: Povey (T), Shortall (T), Hayes (1C, 3P)
Rams: Radianirova (T), McRae (T), Honey (2C)
Yellow Card: Maguire (Titans)
Attendance: 250
Referee: Owen Taylor
Assistant Referees: Ben Rayner & Jason Garrick
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Aidan Shortall, 10 Rob Povey (Ollivent 73), 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps © (Kivalu 61), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 63), 3 Andrew Foster (Donkor 61), 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Zak Poole ©, 7 Ellis Thomas, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Alastair Donkor, 26 John Okafor, 20 Corben Ollivent.
Rams: 15 Zach Clow (Lamb 54), 14 Axel Kalling-Smith, 13 Solodrau Radianirova, 12 Rowan Grundy, 11 Tomasz Pozniak, 10 Fraser Honey, 9 Ollie Cole (Murray 54), 1 Antony Marris (Harris 40), 2 Max Hayman ©, 3 Ryan Lomas (Baker 40), 4 Nile Dacres, 5 Dan Swain, 6 James McRae, 7 Tom Vooght, 8 Robbie Stapley (MacRae 46).
Replacements: 17 Patrick Harris, 18 James Baker, 19 Morgan MacRae, 20 Jake Murray, 21 Andrew Lamb.
