Rotherham Titans were made to work for the full 80 minutes to carve out a narrow but deserved 23-17 win over a good Sale FC side on a bright, but cool afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans outscored their opponents by three tries to two with dot downs coming from JB Bruzulier, Charlie Capps and Jamie Cooke, with Lloyd Hayes adding 8 points from the tee.
In a competitive first forty it was Sale who got the scoreboard moving midway through the half when James Robins knocked over a penalty.
Titans would have been disappointed to fall behind having had multiple opportunities to score themselves and had spent long periods inside the Sale 22.
Nevertheless, Rotherham were on the board shortly after and took the lead when scrum half JB Bruzulier picked up from the base of a ruck to dive over for a converted try.
The final 10 minutes of the half saw Sale enjoy their best period of the match with winger Mark Dixon helping himself to a brace of tries.
The first saw him employ some neat footwork to step back inside following some strong forward pressure inside the Titans 22, whilst his second came after James Robins intercepted and went 60 metres before being brought down close to the line, but Dixon was on hand to grab the ball and go over.
A Lloyd Hayes penalty was sandwiched in-between Dixon’s tries, but Rotherham went in at the break trailing 17-10 and with a bit of work to do.
Titans came out for the second half with a renewed intensity which led to a Charlie Capps catch-and-drive try inside the opening 10 minutes.
Shortly after Rotherham regained the lead when Jamie Cooke showed great composure to glide through and keep his nerve before crashing over for a lovely try.
The lead was extended just after the hour mark when Lloyd Hayes added his second penalty and then the assignment for Rotherham was to try and secure a bonus-point try.
This they thought they had done in the final play of the match when Jack Townend made a nice break before finding John Okafor in support. The powerful back rower was tackled just short of the line, but he quickly released the ball before regathering to dive over.
Unfortunately for him and Rotherham the referee had seen an infringement and he disallowed the try, before blowing his whistle for full time.
Despite that disappointment Rotherham would have been delighted to have secured an impressive win over a very good Sale outfit.
Titans will now reset and focus on their next game away at Dings Crusaders on Saturday.
Commenting after the match Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“I was really impressed the way the team went about getting that victory, you can’t underestimate how tough that game was. I think Sale came here really motivated and you have to give them credit.
“I think there was a fair bit that didn’t go our way today and I don’t think that’s the fault of the referee or the opposition or us; you sometimes get those days where the ball just doesn’t bounce your way.
“The fact that we could stick to task and come from behind to nil the opposition in the second half and go and get a result is huge, especially when you consider we’ve been out of rugby for 4 weeks.”
Titans: Bruzulier (T), Capps (T), Cooke (T), Hayes (1C, 2P)
Sale FC: Dixon (2T), Robbins (2C, 1P)
Yellow Card: Townend (Titans), Mintern (Sale FC)
Attendance: 250
Referee: Matt Sharpe
Assistant Referees: Simon Williams & Kieron Henry
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Ronnie Du Randt, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Cuchulain Livingstone, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps © (Kivalu 65), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 50), 3 Andrew Foster (Donkor 65) (Foster 71), 4 Zak Poole ©, 5 Curran Maguire (Newborn 57), 6 John Okafor, 7 Travis Gordon, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Alastair Donkor, 25 Harry Newborn, 21 James Naylor.
Sale FC: 15 Tom Brady, 14 Obi Ene, 24 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Sam Clarke, 11 Mark Dixon, 10 James Robins, 9 Joe Green (Street 76), 1 Ben Carlisle (Birchall 69), 2 Josh Brown, 3 Ciaran Parker (Ford 63), 4 Nick Gray (Davies 55), 5 Evan Mintern, 6 Pete Vickers (Pope 63), 7 Andrew Hughes (Capt.), 8 Stone Priestley-Nangle.
Replacements: 25 Jake Pope, 16 Dan Birchall, 18 Callum Ford, 22 Huw Davies, 20 Sean Street.
Photo: Gareth Siddons