Rotherham Titans were made to work hard for their 33-19 win over Tynedale on a drizzly afternoon at Station Road.
The win keeps Titans unbeaten start to the season in tact as they shared 6 tries in a competitive clash in the North East.
Roth’s 3 tries came from skipper Zak Poole, winger Dan Rundle and hooker Luke Cole, with Lloyd Hayes adding 18 points from the tee.
Hayes’s match tally saw him go past 500 points for the club; it’s a notable achievement and he’s to be congratulated for his outstanding effort.
The match itself saw Roth charge out of the blocks and race into a 13-0 lead inside the opening 15 minutes, following a sniping try up the blindside from Zak Poole and two penalties from the reliable boot of Lloyd Hayes.
Indeed the first 30 minutes saw the South Yorkshire side totally dominate and had they taken all the opportunities created, the game would have been done and dusted by that point.
However, credit to Tynedale, as after keeping Roth out in what must have felt like the Alamo at times, their reward came when the momentum of the game shifted in the final 10 minutes of the half.
Two tries from lively winger Ben Riley, one converted by Josh Leslie reduced the home side’s deficit to 13-12.
However, during the half time interval Rotherham reset and regathered focus on the job in hand.
The second 40 minutes saw them again dominate throughout, particularly with their pack holding the upper hand.
Following two more penalties from Hayes, Roth’s Dan Rundle, a former Tynedale player, stretched the lead further when he collected on the left wing and raced through for a nice score.
Five minutes from time Rotherham sealed the game when hooker Luke Cole dotted down from the tail of a driving maul.
Disappointingly for Roth however, a lapse of concentration from the restart allowed centre Joe Lilley to go over for a smart try.
And whilst Rotherham did go in search for the bonus point Tynedale managed to keep them at bay.
Nevertheless, five wins from 5 games see Roth sit nicely in second place just 2 points behind league leaders Leeds Tykes.
Attention will now turn to the weekend and the challenge that top-end side Fylde will bring to Clifton Lane.
Speaking after the match Titans head coach, Gary Pearce, said:
“It’s always tough up here; they brought a couple of quality players back in this week and we are delighted to have got the win.
“I thought our lads came out really strong in the first 25 minutes and then we got on the wrong side of the referee and he gave them a few decisions which led to good field position for them and they took advantage of that.
“We addressed that at half time and to be fair to our lads we dominated the second half and we are a bit disappointed to have not come away with the bonus point.
“We left a few points out there, but overall I’m really pleased to come away from home and remain unbeaten and we now move on.”
Referee: Nathan Howarth
Attendance: 385
Yellow Card: Milner & Challinor (Titans), Milner (Tynedale)
Titans: Poole (T), Rundle (T), Cole (T), Hayes (3C, 4P)
Tynedale: Riley (2T), Lilley (T), Leslie (1C), Rodgers (1C)
Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Dan Rundle, 13 Tomasi Tanumi (Townend 44), 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor (Tanumi 68), 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Kivalu 30) (Capps 66), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 44), 3 Gareth Denman (Ward 30) (Denman 66), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Rupert Kay (Okafor 39), 7 Laurence Cowen-leak (Kay 68), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 19 John Okafor, 20 Jack Townend.
Tynedale: 15 Rob Parker, 14 Ben Riley, 13 Joe Lilley, 12 Will Milner, 11 Seamus Hutton, 10 Josh Leslie (Rodgers 59), 9 James Telford (Douglas 54), 1 Angus White (Rewcastle 56), 2 Louis Frankland (Oliver 70), 3 Oscar Caudle (Haigh 39) (Caudle 63), 4 Chris Wearmouth (Capt.), 5 Will Nankivell, 6 Graeme Dunn, 7 Jacob Oliver (Wainwright 51), 8 Joe Hanning.
Replacements: 16 Micky Rewcastle, 17 Ben Haigh, 18 Henry Wainwright, 22 Ben Douglas, 20 Jake Rodgers.
