Rotherham Titans were made to work hard for their bonus-point 29-14 win over a tenacious Darlington side on a gloomy afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans outscored Park by 4 tries to 2 with JB Bruzulier grabbing a brace and Tomasi Tanumi and Lloyd Hayes both dotting down, the latter also added 9 points from the tee.
The victory keeps Titans third in the league, just four points behind leaders Richmond and three behind second placed side Rams.
In this highly competitive and keenly-fount affair it was Rotherham that got the scoreboard moving when after 10 minutes JB Bruzulier found the onrushing Lloyd Hayes who collected nicely before crashing though to score next to the posts. Once he’d dusted himself down he knocked over the extras.
Although Rotherham continued to have good moments it was Mowden Park that scored next when following a period of forward dominance inside the home 22, second rower Oscar Usher collected a metre out to barge over for a converted try.
Rotherham for some reason lacked their usual spark and despite good periods of possession and territory close to the line, Mowden Park were able to keep them out.
Indeed, as the half drew to a close it was Park that looked more likely to take a lead going into the break. However, it was now Rotherham that displayed a stubborn resistance to keep their defence intact to end the half level at 7 apiece.
Titans came out for the second forty looking sharper and with more energy than before, but it wasn’t until the hour mark that they managed to add to their tally.
Following some good forward pressure Rotherham took play up to the Darlington line, before scrum half JB Bruzulier collected and threw a lovely miss-pass out to winger Tomasi Tanumi for the easiest of dot downs. Hayes made the conversion.
With just over 10 minutes remaining Park stunned the home side when from a catch and drive hooker Max Fraine dotted down from the tail and Harry Read’s superb conversion from the touchline levelled the match.
Lloyd Hayes calmed the Titans nerves somewhat when his penalty kick a few minutes later restored his sides lead.
Then in the final minutes of the game Rotherham broke the visitor’s resistance when man-of-the-match JB Bruzulier scored two tries through his awareness close to the line to sneak over for both.
Whilst Rotherham fully deserved their win, it was tough on a Darlington side to go away empty handed having put so much into the game.
The Titans will now enjoy a few days off over Christmas before pressing the reset button in the New Year.
Speaking afterwards Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:
“We knew this was going to be a tricky fixture; in our preview we showed the table and where we were and where they were and everyone always looks at the table and just assumes and we didn’t want to do that.
“DMP came here and gave us everything they could, they gave us a battle, they scrapped for absolutely everything and we had to work hard for it.
“We are a team that is growing, a team that’s got confidence and a team that finds a way to get that bonus-point win and right now at the end of a long year that five points is a big one for us.”
Titans: JB Bruzulier (2T), Tanumi (T), Hayes (T, 3C, P)
Darlington Mowden Park: Usher (T), Fraine (T), Read (2C)
Yellow Card: None
Attendance: 250
Referee: Tim Allatt
Assistant Referees: Dave Charlton & Matt Daubney
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps © (Toerien 57), 2 Luke Cole (Bergmanas 52), 3 Andrew Foster (Stout 76), 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor, 7 Travis Gordon, 8 Zak Poole ©.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Zach Toerien, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Callum Russell, 20 James Naylor.
Darlington Mowden Park: 15 Harry Read, 14 Ratu Katalau, 13 Callum Mackenzie, 12 Ewan Greenlaw, 11 Callum Trees, 10 Garry Law (Newton 66), 9 Ben Douglas, 1 Sam Kyle-Clay (Murphy 43), 2 Max Fraine, 3 Eoin Harrison (Turnill 60), 4 Oscar Usher (Vaioleti 76), 5 Talite Vaioleti (Parsons 35), 6 Joe Craggs, 7 Will Jones (Capt.), 8 Yaree Fantini (Heathman 60).
Replacements: 16 Cam Murphy, 17 Sam Turnill, 18 Max Heathman, 19 Reuben Parsons, 20 Junior Newton.
Photo: Gareth Siddons