Rotherham Titans were made to work hard for their bonus point 34-13 win over a tenacious Otley side on a bright afternoon at Cross Green.
Titans outscored the West Yorkshire outfit by five tries to one, with scores coming from Will Milner, Callum Bustin, Harry Newborn, Will Metcalfe and Lloyd Hayes, with the latter also adding 9 points from the tee.
On an energy-draining, heavy pitch, Rotherham deserved their eighth victory on the spin and eighteenth of the season, which leaves them in second place in the division.
That’s not to say Otley didn’t play their part in this bruising battle and you could argue the final score flattered Rotherham somewhat; nevertheless the better team on the day came away with the spoils.
Indeed it was the South Yorkshire side that got the scoreboard moving first when on 6 minutes fly half Will Milner showed good strength to power over following a pass from JB Bruzulier, after good work in the build up from the Titans pack.
Lloyd Hayes narrowly missed the extras, but he and the Otley full back Joe Rowntree then traded penalties either side of the half hour mark.
Titans at this point were enjoying the better of the exchanges and increased their advantage when Callum Bustin powered over following more effective work from the pack. Hayes tagged over the extras to make it 15-3.
Late on in the half a lapse of concentration from Rotherham saw Otley regain possession and spread the ball quickly across the pitch to allow winger Sam Taylor to score in the corner.
Joe Rowntree impressed with the extras from the touchline and with the last kick of the half he knocked over a penalty to leave the game poised at 15-13.
Fuelled by their late success of the first half Otley came out with a spring in their step and they enjoyed long periods of possession and territory in the Titans half of the field.
Unfortunately for them Rowntree missed a couple of penalty efforts during this spell and they weren’t able to convert any of that pressure into points. Indeed Otley would remain scoreless in the second half.
Just after the hour mark Rotherham made the hosts pay when they grabbed a third try through Harry Newborn, who was on hand to dot down from a pick-and-go close to the line. Hayes’ conversion made it 22-13.
As the game wore on and the clock ticked down it looked as if Rotherham may not secure the bonus point.
However, three minutes from time the ball was moved from the base of a ruck quickly by Will Metcalfe on to Harry Dunne and then to Will Milner who sent in Lloyd Hayes for a fine try.
Deep into injury time Will Metcalfe picked off an interception and galloped in from 40 metres to score in the corner and wrap up the game.
Rotherham would have been relieved to have secured the bonus point win against a tricky side on their own patch; but it was pleasing for them that they found a way to get there in the end.
As always the focus quickly switches to the next game which is another short trip to Huddersfield on Saturday and having been beaten there on the last two visits, Titans will prepare well for another tough challenge.
Speaking after the match Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:
“Otley came out and they gave us a big game and there were some crucial moments through the 80 minutes for them.
“We began to control the game in the first 30 minutes, even though the scores weren’t coming, we were 15-3 up and for them to come back in that last 10 minutes meant they had a bit more energy and emotion at the start of the second half.
“I’m proud of our players for sticking to task and I’m proud of our players for adapting during the game to what Otley were doing, which meant the messages at half time came through.
“And then when a team like Otley is not giving anything away it’s not going to just happen for you; for us to come away in the last 15 minutes with those 3 scores, that’s the sign of a team that’s probably getting a little bit more maturity, a little bit more understanding and to come away with five points I’m pretty proud of that.
“We’ve been working hard on our defence; I’m probably a bit greedy and I didn’t want to give that try away, but on the whole I was really pleased with our defensive display.
“I was happy that we once again got on the right side of the referee; I think our penalty count is going in the right direction and that’s important to us.”
Referee: Henry Pearson
Attendance: 339
Yellow Card: None
Titans: Milner (T), Bustin (T), Newborn (T), Metcalfe (T), Hayes (T, 3C, P)
Otley: Taylor (T), Rowntree (C, 2P)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Cuchulain Livingstone, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier (Metcalfe 58), 1 Charlie Capps (Capt.), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 54), 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 29) (Denman 54), 4 John Okafor, 5 Lewis Allan (Kivalu 56), 6 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 7 Harry Newborn (Payne 75), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Reece Ward, 19 Marcus Payne, 20 Will Metcalfe.
Otley: 15 Joe Rowntree (Stead 75), 14 Sam Taylor, 13 Gavin Stead (Graham 68), 12 Jacob Holmes, 11 Ben Dinsdale, 10 Eddie Crossland, 9 Rory Gaffney, 1 Tom Baxter (Nichols 24) (Baxter 55) (Moss 68), 2 Ryan Gibson (Mudd 28), 3 Jason Moss (Gibson 61), 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Chris Jackson (Fontaine 33) (Johnson 61), 6 Ben Waddington (Fontaine 79), 7 Sam Hodge, 8 Adam Malthouse (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Billy Nichols, 17 Leon Mudd, 18 Nick Fontaine, 19 Alex Johnson, 20 Michael Graham.
Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons