Rotherham Titans made it nine wins on the spin as they beat a hard-working Huddersfield side 31-12 on a bog of a pitch at Lockwood Park.
Titans secured the bonus-point win with tries from Jack Townend, Harry Newborn, Jack Taylor and Lloyd Hayes, with the latter also adding 11 points from the tee.
The deserved win for Rotherham on a heavy pitch narrowed the gap at the top of the table to Leeds Tykes to 6 points.
The game itself was at times feisty, but in a Yorkshire derby it is to be expected and the home side wanted to give their visitors a warm welcome.
Indeed Huddersfield came out of the traps fired-up and their emotional energy prevailed as they opened the scoring inside 8 minutes, when skipper Ed Barber darted back inside to touch down; although he wasn’t able to convert his try.
Rotherham remained calm however and set about imposing themselves on the game.
Just 3 minutes later Rotherham levelled matters when full back Jack Townend received a long miss-pass from Lloyd Hayes to scoot over in the corner. Hayes’ superb conversion from the touchline gave Roth a lead they would not relinquish.
Hayes was soon back in the thick of it as he extended the lead on 22 minutes, when after a period of forward pressure the ball was spun out through the backs allowing him to cut through to score a converted try.
Before the half hour mark Titans had their third try when from a catch and drive back rower Harry Newborn peeled off from the tail to crash over. Hayes nailed the extras.
Incredibly before the break Rotherham secured the bonus point when a clever chip through from Harry Dunne was collected by winger Jack Taylor to pick up and dive over in the corner. Hayes impressed again with the touchline conversion.
Disappointingly for Rotherham they allowed Huddersfield to score in the final play of the half as replacement forward Lewis Quinn dotted down after a short period of forward pressure; Barber added the extras to end the half.
The second period turned out to be a low-scoring affair with the only points of the half coming two minutes in when Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty.
Then despite lots of endeavour from Rotherham and Huddersfield, a combination of a deteriorating pitch and a determined defensive effort from each side, meant the rest of the game would remain scoreless.
Nevertheless, Rotherham would have been delighted to have come away from a filthy day against a tenacious outfit with the full five points.
As always however the focus will switch quickly to the next task in hand; this comes in the shape of Hull Ionians to Clifton Lane this Saturday.
After the match Titans Harvey Biljon commented:
“I think this is a day I will remember; what an experience. To come here and see the conditions, but underpinned by a team that was motivated to play and we wanted to get out there and play too, that will stay with me for a long time.
“After an emotional five minutes from Huddersfield we found our stride and had the bonus point won by half time.
“Clearly the first half cut the pitch up even more and the conditions didn’t get better in the second half.
Although there was probably a couple of opportunities for us to take scores in the second half, I’m happy to come away having not allowed Huddersfield to have scored and for us to have played the game in the right areas of the field, albeit not a pretty game at all.
“We didn’t score as many points in the second half and I think the coaches have to take some ownership.
I’ve spoken with Gaz about it; there were lots of permutations on the field and we lost a bit of our direction, there were lots of changes and we need to make sure as coaches the players know their roles and responsibilities.
“There was lots going on and it was a great experience for me, not only just from the pitch, the conditions, the supporters, the opposition players, but everything and it’s definitely a game I will remember.
“But overall we are pleased to have got the bonus point win, especially with everything that was going off.”
Referee: James O'Brien
Attendance: 223
Yellow Card: Ed Barber (Huddersfield)
Titans: Townend (T), Newborn (T), Taylor (T), Hayes (T, P, 4C)
Huddersfield: Quinn (T), Barber (T, 1C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Jack Taylor, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne (Metcalfe 50), 11 Cuchulain Livingstone, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Capt.) (Kivalu 50), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 30 Reece Ward (Denman 39), 19 John Okafor, 26 Lewis Allan (Capps 60), 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak (Payne 53), 25 Harry Newborn (Kay 59), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Rupert Kay, 17 Loma Kivalu, 3 Gareth Denman, 24 Marcus Payne, 20 Will Metcalfe.
Huddersfield: 15 Lewis Workman, 14 Charlie Foreman, 13 Xander Nash, 12 Liam Parfitt, 11 Fin Stewart (Walker 64), 10 Ed Barber (Capt.), 9 Paul Harrison, 1 Callum Thompson (Neilly 57), 2 Harry Moore (Quinn 15) (Davis 47), 3 Andy Rollins (Sanderson 35), 4 Alex Dawson, 5 Thiu Barnard, 6 Francis Entressengle, 7 Tom Haywood (Rollins 52), 8 Luke Pearson.
Replacements: 16 Lewis Quinn, 17 Loz Sanderson, 20 Josh Walker, 18 Leighton Davis, 21 Darren Neilly.
Photo Credit: Mike Inkley