Rotherham Titans maintained their interest at the top end of the division by beating a good Hull Ionians side 42-17 on a cool afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Rotherham outscored their opponents by 6 tries to two with Loma Kivalu grabbing a brace and one each for John Okafor, Charlie Capps, Jack Townend and Callum Bustin, with Lloyd Hayes adding 10 points from the tee and Will Milner knocking over a late conversion.
Despite the healthy winning margin Rotherham were made to work hard for their victory, especially in the first half where the visitors made life difficult for the home side.
Indeed, Ionians took the lead after just 5 minutes when hooker Sam Edwards dotted down from the tail of a maul. Lewis Minikin added the extras and then stretched his side’s advantage to 10-0 with a penalty on 25 minutes.
Rotherham struggled to make inroads as a combination of too many penalties and poor accuracy cost them vital field position.
However, they did eventually get on the board late in the first half when second rower John Okafor showed good strength and desire to get over after picking up from the base of a ruck. Lloyd Hayes converted to narrow the deficit.
With the momentum now shifting to Rotherham they took the lead in injury time when loose head prop Charlie Capps powered over next to the posts. Hayes converted with the final kick of the half to send his side in 14-10 ahead.
The second half continued as the first had ended with the home side in control; and whilst it took a little time for the next score to arrive, when it did we saw 3 tries in an 8-minute spell which effectively wrapped up the game.
Firstly Rotherham full back and former Ionians player Jack Townend cut back inside after collecting a pass from Zak Poole to score.
Then front row replacement Loma Kivalu dotted down after scrum half JB Bruzulier slipped him a nice pass, after earlier good work from Harry Dunne who made some important yards.
And finally Callum Bustin broke off a driving maul close to the line to score near the corner. Hayes superbly converted all three scores.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes and to the credit of Ionians for their willingness to keep on battling, replacement hooker Ally Forth dotted down from the tail of a maul for Minikin to convert.
However the final score of the game saw Titans Loma Kivalu get his second try, when he grabbed the ball from the base of a ruck to dive over and place the cherry on the top of an impressive performance for Rotherham. Will Milner converted.
The South Yorkshire side can be pleased with their efforts against a very decent Ionians team, but will now switch focus to the next challenge which arrives on Saturday with a visit to the Ferens Ground to take on Hull.
Following the match Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“I don’t know how Ionians are where they are in the league because they look an organised outfit and they made us work for it.
“For whatever reason it took us time to get into our rhythm and into our stride, but what we spoke about at the beginning of the week and before the game was to just stay on task and back up moments in the game.
“When the sun came out we almost thought we could just play and play; we had to remind ourselves that if we keep possession we will get our reward.
“We did well at the back end of the first half and then it was just waiting for our moments and I think they showed why they are making the improvements they are. They looked a team that was composed, they showed control and they took scores.
“The final score was I thought a pretty fair reflection of the game.”
Referee: Peter Connor
Attendance: 250
Yellow Card: None
Titans: Kivalu (2T), Okafor (T), Capps (T), Townend (T), Bustin (T), Hayes (5C), Milner (1C)
Hull Ionians: Edwards (T), Forth (T), Minikin (2C, P)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes (Finn 64), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Cuchulain Livingstone, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier (Metcalfe 64), 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 57), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Denman 77), 30 Reece Ward (Denman 23) (Ward 59), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 19 John Okafor, 6 Laurence Cowen-Leak (Allan 1) (Cowen-Leak 45), 26 Rupert Kay, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Lewis Allan, 17 Loma Kivalu, 3 Gareth Denman, 22 Tainne Finn, 20 Will Metcalfe.
Hull Ionians: 15 Lewis Minikin, 14 Sam Wilson, 13 Will Yates, 12 Josh Britton (Celella 75), 11 Alfie Celella (Stowe 64), 10 Charlie Kirk (Hassard 64), 9 Sam Pocklington, 1 Calvin Mitchell, 2 Sam Edwards (Forth 52), 3 Euan Walker (Morton 40), 4 Joe Makin (Hellas 45), 5 Frankie Gascoigne, 6 Lucas Powell, 7 James Sanderson (Capt.), 8 Callum Sanderson.
Replacements: 16 Chris Morton, 18 Ally Forth, 21 Tyler Hellas, 19 Will Stowe, 20 Sam Hassard.
