Rotherham Titans ran in 10 tries to beat a determined Preston Grasshoppers side 67-20 on a breezy afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans’ dot down came via a brace from Jack Townend, with one each coming for John Okafor, Charlie Capps, Zak Poole, Jack Taylor, Luke Cole, Cuchulain Livingstone, Callum Bustin and Lloyd Hayes, with the latter also adding 15 points from the tee and Will Milner also chipped in with 2 points.
The win was Titans biggest of the season and the supporters celebrated accordingly in the clubhouse afterwards.
Those celebrations hit new heights as news of Leeds Tykes defeat at Fylde came filtering through.
The Tykes defeat means if Rotherham wins their final two games they will be promoted to National One and this would be a fitting reward for them in their Centenary season.
This game saw Rotherham start brightly as they took the lead inside two minutes when John Okafor dotted down following a tremendous break from Lloyd Hayes.
Preston’s Ed Keohane and Titans’ Hayes then traded penalties before the next try came just before the half hour when Roth’s Harry Dunne fed full back Jack Townend who showed great desire to get over.
The momentum was now with the home side and the lead was extended when a nice offload from John Okafor close to the line was finished off by prop forward Charlie Capps.
The second half saw Titans increase the intensity as they looked to go all season at home undefeated.
The bonus point was wrapped up within four minutes when skipper Zak Poole touched down after collecting a sharp pass from Harry Dunne.
From the restart Rotherham scored immediately; Zak Poole made good ground before finding John Okafor who threw a sumptuous long-pass out to winger Jack Taylor for him to coast home for a lovely try.
To be fair Preston never stopped trying and on 50 minutes they were rewarded when a loose ball was hacked on by back rower Rob Willetts who won the foot race to collect and go in next to the posts.
Titans however responded quickly and effectively as they ran in another two scores.
Jack Townend grabbed his second of the game when he barged over in the corner having collected a pass on the edge of the 22 and then hooker Luke Cole finished off after more good work in the build up from Lloyd Hayes to make it 48-10.
Despite the points mounting up against them Grasshoppers continued to work hard and they scored a second try when hooker Harry Holden dotted down from the tail of a maul from a line out.
Once again however Rotherham hit back with a brace of tries.
It was Lloyd Hayes who this time finished off near the corner as the ball was spread the full width of the pitch; this was followed by Cuchulain Livingstone grabbing his first try for the club as he showed good ambition to get over following a lovely long pass from Hayes.
Five minutes from time Preston grabbed a third try through second rower Ally Murray, before in the final play of the game Titans’ Callum Bustin dotted down from the back of a powerful scrum.
Speaking afterwards Titans Harvey Biljon reflected:
“We spoke before the game about putting in a performance that would support having an unbeaten season at home and I think that’s what they went out and did from minute one.
“It was great to see John Okafor score early and then we battled through the first half and in the second half I thought we saw the best that Rotherham have played since I got here.
“We’ve been operating in fits and starts through the season, whereas today we’ve stuck to task and played really well and that was reflected in the score.
“The team has improved a lot as the season has progressed and today’s performance was a big step in the right direction.
“We still have two tough games to go and the aim is to maintain our progression to the end of the season.”
Referee: Michael Harris
Attendance: 250
Yellow Card: Hayes (Titans)
Titans: Townend (2T), Okafor (T), Capps (T), Poole (T), Taylor (T), Cole (T), Livingstone (T), Bustin (T) Hayes (T, P, 6C), Milner (1C)
Preston Grasshoppers: Willetts (T), Holden (T), Murray (T), Keohane (1P, 1C)
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi (Livingstone 63), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier (Metcalfe 45), 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 57), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 35), 3 Gareth Denman (Kivalu 30), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 19 John Okafor, 25 Harry Newborn (Kay 47), 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 26 Rupert Kay, 20 Cuchulain Livingstone, 22 Will Metcalfe.
Preston Grasshoppers: 15 Jacob Browne, 14 Craig Procter, 13 Jack Lightowler, 12 Cameron Brown, 11 Tyler Spence, 10 Ed Keohane, 9 Joe Harrison (O’Donnell 40), 1 Will Parkinson, 2 Harry Holden, 3 Mike Ashdown (Trippier 40), 4 Ewan Naylor (Richardson 50), 5 Ally Murray, 6 Declan Norrington, 7 Rob Willetts (Luke Procter 53), 8 Josh Longson (Capt.).
Replacements: 25 Olli Trippier, 17 Luke Procter, 18 Scott Richardson, 19 Ciaran O’Donnell, 20 Rory Brand.
Photo Credit: Gareth Lyons