Rotherham Titans continued their impressive form with a deserved 47-29 win over an accomplished Hull side, on a bright afternoon at the Ferens Ground.
Rotherham outscored their hosts by 7 tries to 4 with the dot downs coming via a brace from winger Jack Taylor and one each for JB Bruzulier, Harry Dunne, Loma Kivalu, Marcus Payne and Will Milner, with the latter also impressing with the boot as he added a further 12 points from the tee.
The victory was Titans eleventh on the trot and now all eyes will be on next week’s game at Clifton Lane where the visitors will be league leaders Leeds Tykes.
Hopefully a bumper crowd will turn out for what is expected to be a thriller between the best two sides in the division.
This game was also a thriller and a great advert for National 2 rugby as both sides showed brutal physicality with good pace and skill across the backline as 76 points were scored including 11 tries.
Despite the high score we had to wait until the fifteenth minute before the scoreboard operator had to put his cup of tea down.
When it arrived however it was for Rotherham when scrum half JB Bruzulier showed good awareness and strength to burrow over after picking up close to the line. Will Milner on kicking duty for the injured Lloyd Hayes knocked over the extras.
Titans knew Hull were a good side and they showed this with some slick play through their backs following some powerful work from the pack which kept the Titans honest in defence.
However that defence was breached shortly after when winger Duell Trueman dotted down for full back Reece Dean to convert and level matters. The latter nudged his side ahead a few moments later with a penalty.
Back came Rotherham though and they retook the lead when winger Jack Taylor nipped in to score a fine try after receiving a neat pass from John Okafor out wide on the right. Milner tagged over from near the posts.
Hull were to have the final say of the half however when number 8 Paulos Latu broke through and made significant ground before popping a pass to Tom Bairstow who charged in to score. Dean’s conversion made it 17-14 at the break.
As has often been the case this season Rotherham have shown their best work in the second half of games and they did so again here.
Inside the opening 20 minutes of the restart they scored 4 tries, 3 of which were converted to effectively wrap up the game.
Firstly Will Milner scored near the corner after some great work in the build up from prop forwards Charlie Capps and Gareth Denman.
Then centre Harry Dunne was on hand to barge over following a period of forward pressure.
And talking of barging over, no one does it better than loose head prop Loma Kivalu and he was on hand to grab the next score.
The four-try blitz was concluded when Jack Taylor grabbed his second when squeezing over in the corner after the ball was spread quickly across the park to create the opportunity.
Rotherham had to wait another ten minutes before adding a seventh try of the game.
This came when skipper Zak Poole ripped possession away and found John Okafor; the big man slipped a delicate inside pass to Marcus Payne who showed good pace from outside the 22 to dart over. Milner’s conversion made it 47-17.
With the job done Rotherham eased the pressure on the accelerator pedal and to Hull’s credit they never stopped battling. Their endeavours were rewarded inside the final 7 minutes when they scored two late tries through James Naylor and Josh Papa to secure a deserved bonus point.
Nevertheless, for Rotherham to score nearly 50 points away from home against a good side like Hull has to be pleasing.
Titans will now switch their focus and preparations for what is set to be a titanic tussle on Saturday, when table-toppers and free-scoring Leeds arrive at Clifton Lane.
Reflecting after the match Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“I’ve got to be honest, I think Hull showed some real physicality in the first half and although we matched that I think they deserved their scores.
“In the second half I thought we changed gear which was nice to see and we had a little bit more control and success which was good.
“However, we are still endeavouring to stay focused for the full 80 minutes and that’s where you have to give Hull credit because they never gave up and they deserved their bonus point.
“What we need to do now is keep our feet on the ground because that’s what we’ve been doing since we came in.
This game coming up on Saturday has almost crept up on us rather than us going to look for it and that’s what’s so exciting about it because we’ll continue trying to do what Rotherham Titans have been doing.”
Referee: Michael Harris
Attendance: 325
Yellow Card: None
Titans: Taylor (2T), Bruzulier (T), Dunne (T), Kivalu (T), Payne (T), Milner (6C)
Hull: Shaul (T), Bairstow (T), J. Naylor (T), Papa (T), Dean (3C, P)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Jack Taylor, 13 Tomasi Tanumi, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Cuchulain Livingstone (Metcalfe 35), 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 52), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 59), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Matt Smith (Kay 59), 19 John Okafor, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak (Payne 69), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Rupert Kay, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 23 Marcus Payne, 20 Will Metcalfe.
Hull: 15 Reece Dean, 14 Duell Trueman, 13 Alex Heard (Capt.), 12 Bureta Faraimo (Dawkins 72), 11 Jamie Shaul (Keane Naylor 56), 10 Harrison Astley, 9 Harvey Harding (Papa 59), 1 Jamie Major (Beech 41), 2 Mike Jobling, 3 Tomas Bairstow (Major 72), 4 Latu Makaafi (James Naylor 41), 5 Alec Renouf, 6 Evi Uriburu-Gray, 7 Will Hall 8 Paulos Latu.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Beech, 17 Josh Papa, 18 James Naylor, 19 Harry Dawkins, 20 Keane Naylor.
