Rotherham Titans mounted a stirring second half comeback to beat a spirited Tonbridge Juddians 38-28 on a windy afternoon at Clifton Lane.
Titans trailed 21-12 at the break against a lively Juddians outfit, but Rotherham’s power eventually took its toll as they overran the visitors 26-7 in the second half.
In this high scoring National 1 thriller the home side ran in 6 tries with a brace each for Jackson Barling and John Okafor, with Morgan Veness and Isaac Shaw also going over; Corben Ollivent added 8 points from the tee.
Rotherham had lots of possession and territory throughout the game, but several mistakes led to the visitors clinically punishing them with tries.
Indeed, the visitors were alert enough after just 6 minutes to pounced on a loose ball that saw flanker Archie White charged in for a try, converted by Connor Lloyd.
Titans worked their way back in and took the lead following a catch and drive try from hooker Morgan Veness and a dart over from Jackson Barling after the ball was spread nicely across the park, the latter was converted by Corben Ollivent.
Unfortunately for the Titans two more errors before the break cost them dearly as an intercept was punished by scrum half Connor Lloyd and a brief lapse in concentration was exploited and finished off by Tom Nicoll to send the visitors in at the break with a healthy advantage.
One thing this group of Rotherham players has repeatedly displayed is a huge amount of character and desire to get a result, especially when things don’t always go to plan - and this they did again.
Just two minutes after the restart Titans reduced their deficit when John Okafor charged down a clearance kick and then maintained his cool to collect and theatrically dive over for an important score.
Despite Tonbridge grabbing their second intercept try of the game through flying winger Curtis Barnes to extend their advantage to 28-17, you just felt Rotherham were starting to dominate again.
And that’s how it played out as the South Yorkshire side scored three converted tries in an 8-minute scintillating spell of rugby.
First up Jackson Barling grabbed his second try when receiving the ball close to the line before bludgeoning his way over.
Then full back Isaac Shaw raced through for a lovely score near the sticks after receiving a neat pass from Travis Gordon.
Finally, to end the scoring big John Okafor was on hand to receive a nice pass from Isaac Shaw before proceeding to gallop home to effectively seal the game.
Following this first block of 8 games Rotherham now have a week off to hopefully mend a few bruised bodies and come back fresh for the visit to Birmingham Mosely next month.
Speaking after the game Harvey Biljon reflected:
“I am immensely proud of the group; we’ve had a tough 8 weeks, there’s been numerous changes through selection during that period and as a whole squad and a group everyone that’s come in has been able to contribute.
“We gave them three scores in the first half and most of the time you can’t work your way back into a game. But what I thought was impressive was we stuck to task, we took on the half time messages, and I think that is the main reason why we came through in that second half.
“It’s really great to start and see young players come through and they have to be in those positions in order to grow, improve and get better.
“So, when we are playing again in a couple of weeks’ time and there will be other scenarios that are going to put them under pressure, at least they’ve worked their way through it and they’ve seen how by doing that they can get the reward.”
Titans: Barling (2T), Okafor (2T), Veness (T), Shaw (T), Ollivent (4C)
Tonbridge Juddians: White (T), Nicoll (T), Barnes (T), Lloyd (1T, 4C)
Yellow Card: None
Referee: Ben Rayner
Assistant Referees: Jack Moorhouse & Jason Garrick
Titans: 15 Isaac Shaw, 14 Jackson Barling, 13 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, 12 Travis Gordon, 11 Kieran O’Meara (Metcalfe 66), 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sinjin Broad, 1 Alastair Donkor (Toerien 61), 2 Morgan Veness (Cole 62), 3 Andrew Foster (Valentine 61), 4 Curran Maguire (Baldry 55), 5 Harry Gilson-Fox, 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn (Capt.), 8 Ellis Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Zach Toerien, 18 Xavier Valentine, 19 Jack Baldry, 20 Will Metcalfe.
Tonbridge Juddians: 15 Oscar Yandall, 14 Tom Kendrick, 13 Shadyn Osgood, 12 Lewis Gjaltema (cc), 11 Curtis Barnes, 10 Sam Evans (Mannix 61), 9 Connor Lloyd, 1 Luke Boon (Wheeler 67), 2 Will Holling (Pybus 74), 3 Bobby Bratton, 4 George Merrick (Scopes 29) (Merrick70), 5 Isaac Ridge, 6 Archie White, 7 Tom Nicoll (cc) (Everitt 49), 8 Oscar Waite.
Replacements: 16 Alex Pybus, 17 Max Wheeler, 18 Alfie Scopes, 19 Vince Everitt, 20 Tom Mannix.
Photo: Gareth Siddons