Rotherham Titans rampaged their way to an eleven try 71-12 victory over an enthusiastic Bishop’s Stortford side on a cool afternoon at Clifton Lane.
The victory, Titans fourth bonus point win on the trot, maintains their perfect stat to the season and keeps them at the business end of the table.
Rotherham’s scores came via braces from JB Bruzulier, Jackson Barling, Mitchell Lacey-Babalola and Callum Bustin, with one each for Travis Gordon, Morgan Veness and Lloyd Hayes, the latter also added 16 points from the tee.
An exciting performance from the home side was built on strong foundations laid down by their pack, but it was flourishing moves from their backs that kept the scoreboard relentlessly ticking over.
Titans galloped out of the blocks to shock Stortford, racing into a 28-0 lead inside the opening half hour to secure the bonus point.
JB Bruzulier started things of as he sniped over from close range before Jackson Barling raced in for a bullish score. Travis Gordon showed good intensity and desire to drive over for the next before Mitchell Lacey-Babalola streaked home for the try-bonus.
Stortford’s hopes may have been lifted when scrum half Chris Bolton darted over just before the break, but Titans bounced back through JB Bruzulier in injury time to quickly subdue them again.
If the first half had been pretty much all Rotherham, the second period was even more one sided as the hosts added a further 6 tries, four of which came inside the opening 15 minutes.
Lloyd Hayes danced his way through the defence for the first, Callum Bustin bulldozed over as usual for the next, before hooker Morgan Veness finished off a catch and drive and Jackson Barling showed good pace for his second.
A shellshocked Bishop’s to their credit continued to put in a shift, but all to no avail as a further two tries followed with Mitchell Lacey-Babalola grabbing his second and Callum Bustin equalling Rotherham’s all time second on the list try scorer, John Dudley, as he powered over for his 50th Titans score.
Bishop’s went in search of a consolation and this came late on when winger Jake Morris sneaked over in the corner.
Nevertheless, that didn’t take the shine off what was an excellent performance from the South Yorkshire side.
Reflecting after the match Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“I was impressed with our players with the way they set out the whole week. Our performance on a Saturday comes from our preparation during the week with how our squad comes together to prepare the team.
“We knew coming into the game Bishop’s was a team that had beaten Birmingham Moseley, run Blackheath close and pushed Plymouth Albion and we knew they had ability and I think our players were up for that challenge.
“One of the things that stood out was we stuck at it for 80 minutes; we didn’t go through those patches of maybe losing our concentration and that came through right at the end where we were defending on our line although the game was over.
“I was impressed with the attitude of the players, and they worked hard. I think we are finding that balance where we share that responsibility in attack, but we were lucky today because we had a day where we could go out and play.
“We set the tone up front, but we have to make sure we put the ball in front of the pack and the backs are playing their part in that.
“It’s not perfect yet, we have a game plan depending on who we are playing, but I think we got the balance right today.”
Titans: Bruzulier (2T), Barling (2T), Lacey-Babalola (2T), Bustin (2T), Gordon (T), Veness (T), Hayes (T, 8C)
Bishop’s Stortford: Morris (T), Bolton (T, C)
Yellow Card: None
Attendance: 250
Referee: Ben Rayner
Assistant Referees: Simon Williams & Jason Garrick
Titans: 15 Isaac Shaw, 14 Jackson Barling, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Travis Gordon, 11 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier (Broad 44), 1 Alastair Donkor (Mitchell 48), 2 Morgan Veness (Cole 51), 3 Andrew Foster (Valentine 48), 4 Frankie Gascoigne (Newborn 58), 5 Harry Gilson-Fox, 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn (Capt.) (Thomas 51), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Calvin Mitchell, 18 Xavier Valentine, 19 Ellis Thomas, 20 Sinjin Broad.
Bishop’s Stortford: 15 David Hayes, 14 Tom Mills, 13 Aman Johal (Cole 22), 12 Austin Pope, 11 Jake Morris, 10 Finn Keylock, 9 Chris Bolton (Stuart-Harris 49), 1 Tristan Smith (Peck 67), 2 Harry Clarke (Bell 49), 3 Henry Peck (Meechan 31), 4 Fraizer Kiff, 5 Ollie Jones, 6 James Rhydderch-Roberts, 7 Alex Rayment, 8 Will Rogers (Capt.) (Ducci 56).
Replacements: 16 Isaac Bell, 17 Cameron Meechan, 18 Damien Ducci, 19 Dan Cole, 20 Asa Stuart-Harris.
