Sedgley Park 25 Titans 17

Rotherham Titans suffered back-to-back defeats as they went down 25-17 to Sedgley Park on a mild afternoon in the North West.

Titans and Sedgley shared six tries apiece with Roth’s dot downs coming from Gareth Denman, Matt Challinor and Jack Taylor.

Rotherham did have opportunities to win the game, as they did last week against Fylde, but unfortunately for them they just weren’t clinical enough at crucial times in the game.

Whilst there’s no disgrace in losing to the top two teams in the division, it does mean however there is very little ‘wiggle-room’ left for more reversals this term, that is if Titans are going to be involved at the sharp end come April.

The game itself saw Roth take the lead on 9 minutes when tighthead prop Gareth Denman dotted down from the tail of a powerful drive close to the line.

However, for most of the first half it was the home side that had much the better of things, as their forwards competed well and their backs looked sharp and energetic.

Park’s fly half Steve Collins reduced his side’s deficit on 16 minutes with a penalty, before hooker Adam Mallinson and winger Rhys Henderson crossed the whitewash a minute either side of the half-hour mark to race 15-5 ahead.

Rotherham had rarely been inside Sedgley’s 22 during the first period, but when they managed to get there just before the break they had success when following a brief period of forward pressure second rower Matt Challinor grabbed the ball to power over. Sam Veall’s conversion sent Roth in at the break trailing by just 3 points.

The South Yorkshire side came out for the second period with good energy and on 45 minutes were rewarded for that energy when centre Jack Taylor scored an outstanding individual try.

From turnover ball around 65 metres from the Sedgley line Taylor hacked-on down the right wing and then proceeded to show terrific pace and skill to outstrip the defence and nudge the ball over the line before dotting down. Veall missed the conversion to leave Roth 17-15 ahead.

Shortly after however Collins nosed his side back in front following a penalty from in front of the sticks. He was then instrumental seven minutes from time in effectively wrapping up the game when he broke smartly and offloaded to replacement front rower Alex Brooks to score under the posts.

For the second week running Rotherham will reflect on the “what could have been” moments in the game and moving forward will no doubt look to be more clinical when those moments arrive.

Speaking immediately after the game a disappointed Adam Byron said:

“We knew Sedgley Park was a good team and they know how to play the pitch and to be fair they played some really good rugby at times. However, we’re just frustrated because we felt like our effort and our desire to be involved in the game was good, but we just weren’t clinical enough or accurate enough in the right places.

“You can defend for five minutes, you can make double hits, you can be dominant in all the contacts, but if in the sixth minute you give a penalty away, then obviously the outcome isn’t what you want.

“I think we will improve, and the more time we spend together the better we will be. We are a young side; if you look at the average age of our backline, it was around 22 today and even younger when Harry Dunne went off and we were inexperienced in certain areas of the game, but that will come with time.

“The effort is there from the boys, the contact in defence and the desire to defend is there and that’s what you want; we questioned that slightly after last week, but today the boys came out fighting and you cannot question that desire and passion for being in the game today.”

Referee: Ben Wood

Attendance: 350

Yellow Card: Birtwell (Sedgley Park)

Titans: Denman (T), Challinor (T), Taylor (T), Veall (1C)

Sedgley Park: Mallinson (T), Henderson (T), Brooks (T), Collins (2C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Fraser Jones, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Jack Taylor (Ramrattan 70), 12 Harry Dunne (Ollivent 40), 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Sam Veall, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Denman 70), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 40), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Zak Poole (Capt.), 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Rupert Kay (Nwosu-Hope 45), 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Kai Ramrattan.  

Sedgley Park: 15 Andy Riley, 14 Rhys Henderson, 13 Ollie Glasse, 12 Matt Riley (Capt.), 11 Jacob Tansey, 10 Steve Collins, 9 Sam Stelmaszek, 1 John Blanchard (Nonleh 74), 2 Adam Mallinson (Chilvers 50), 3 Ben Black (Nonleh 32) (Brooks 60), 4 Bob Birtwell, 5 Connor James, 6 Mark Goodman, 7 Valu Tane Bentley (Crowe 63), 8 Tom Ailes.

Replacements: 16 Cash Chilvers, 17 Alex Brooks, 18 Beltus Nonleh, 19 Oscar Crowe, 20 Jake Maher.

Titans 16 Fylde 41

Rotherham Titans crashed to a disappointing 41-16 defeat at home to table-toppers Fylde on a blustery afternoon at Clifton Lane.

The defeat brings to an end a run of 17 consecutive victories on home soil and Titans will now need to regroup before travelling to second placed Sedgley Park this Saturday.

Fylde showed why they are currently top of the pile with an impressive overall performance and they thoroughly deserved their first win at Clifton Lane.

Indeed after just 6 minutes the visitors crossed the whitewash to take a lead they would never relinquish, when winger Adam Lanigan raced in at the corner. Fly half Greg Smith nailed a superb conversion from out wide in gusty conditions.

Roth reduced the arrears when Corben Ollivent knocked over a 3-pointer, but it wasn’t long before Fylde had their second try when centre Connor Wilkinson picked up a nice grubber close to the line to dot down. Smith added the extras to make it 14-3.

Roth did have their moments in the first half, but too often were unable to make them count.

However, on 25 minutes they did score when from a Fylde scrum the home side pushed them off the ball and Rupert Kay broke clear, before offloading to Sam Boxhall who went in near the corner. Ollivent impressed with his conversion.

Ollivent then reduced his side’s arrears to 13-14 with a well taken penalty, but that would be as close as Roth would get to the lead.

Smith added a penalty of his own to send Fylde in at the break 17-13 ahead, but what followed in the second half was disappointing for the home side.

The North West outfit showed their class and ability as they won the second period 24-3, running in a further 3 tries to collect the bonus point.

Tries from hooker and Captain Ben Gregory, replacement back Sam Stott and full back Jordan Dorrington all ensured the table-toppers remain at the summit and with this performance a marker has been laid down of their plan to stay there.

Speaking after the game a disappointed Adam Byron said:

“We are frustrated; I don’t mind being beaten, but we were well beaten today. You can probably see from all our faces we are not the happiest right now, but we need to take it on the chin.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve lost at home and whilst winning runs will inevitably come to an end, to be beaten by a score like that is very disappointing.

“We spoke at half time about certain things that needed to improve, but not only did they not improve in the second half, they got worst.

“Our precision in certain areas of the pitch, our attack just wasn’t what it has been and defensively we weren’t getting the two-man hits and throwing the ball down as we normally like to. So that is very tough to take today, but we’ll own it and look to improve from here.

“Losing Lloyd Hayes on the morning of the game wasn’t ideal, he’s a key player in a key position and he’s a player who normally excels in the big games. His leadership on the pitch and his defensive qualities are outstanding and we obviously missed that. So whilst that was one element that went against us today, it wasn’t the reason we lost the game.”

Referee: Ben Rayner

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Dunne (Titans)

Titans: Boxhall (T), Ollivent (1C, 3P)

Fylde: Lanigan (T), Wilkinson (T), Gregory (T), Stott (T), Dorrington (T), Smith (5C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 54), 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 31) (Rylance 52), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 69), 3 Gareth Denman (Donkor 63), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Matt Challinor, 6 Marcus Payne (Nwosu-Hope 49), 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Fylde: 15 Jordan Dorrington, 14 Adam Lanigan (Rawlings 74), 13 Connor Wilkinson, 12 Scott Rawlings (Stott 34), 11 Tom Grimes, 10 Greg Smith, 9 Matt Sturgess, 1 Corey Bowker (Lewis 57), 2 Ben Gregory (Capt.), 3 Peter Altham (Ashcroft 40), 4 Olli Parkinson, 5 Harlan Corrie (Garrod 40), 6 Toby Harrison (Fairbrother 40), 7 Henry Higginson, 8 Tristan Woodman.

Replacements: 24 Adam Lewis, 16 Matt Ashcroft, 23 David Fairbrother, 18 Matt Garrod, 20 Sam Stott.

Wharfedale 23 Titans 29

Rotherham Titans grabbed a thrilling 29-23 win over Wharfedale with a try from Sam Veall in the last play of the game.

The win, which was fully deserved and also Titans first at The Avenue, was on full time boisterously celebrated by a large travelling support from South Yorkshire.

However, it looked as if Roth had missed their chance of a famous victory when with what was thought to be the last kick of the match, a Lloyd Hayes’ penalty hit the left hand post and bounced back into play.

All Wharfedale needed to do at that point to claim the win was boot the ball off the field.

Remarkably however, Titans Harry Dunne managed to grapple the ball back into Roth hands and following numerous phases in the 7th minute of injury time Sam Veall managed to glide through to score in the far corner.

The victory was vital for Rotherham, as following a week’s break from league action they take on the top two sides in the table with Fylde at home, followed by Sedgley Park away.

The game was played out in rain, wind and bright sunshine with neither side giving an inch all afternoon as true Yorkshire grit ensured no one took a backward step.

Wharfedale got the scoreboard moving first on 7 minutes when fly half Tom Mann knocked over a 3-pointer.

Rotherham soon responded however when Sam Boxhall turned over possession and the ball arrived with Harry Dunne who quickly slipped a lovely pass back inside to Jack Hedley; he then raced up to the line before offloading to Sam Veall to score a nice team try.

The next score didn’t arrive until just before the half hour mark when following a period of forward pressure from Rotherham the ball was collected by Sam Boxhall who threw a long miss-pass out to winger Jack Taylor who dived in at the corner to score. Hayes impressively nailed the extras from out wide to make it 12-3.

Hayes and Mann then traded penalties before in the last play of the first half Wharfedale scored a try through centre Josh Prell. Tom Mann converted to leave his side trailing 15-13.

There had been a momentum shift towards the end of the first half which saw the home side come more into the game and this continued in the opening exchanges of the second.

Nine minutes in and a catch and drive close to the line saw replacement back rower Matt Speres crash over to give Wharfedale the lead for the second time in the game.

Their lead didn’t last very long however as once again Roth bounced back and this time it was skipper Zak Poole who scored near the posts after receiving a short pass from Sam Boxhall. Hayes’ conversion put Roth 22-18 ahead.

In this most enthralling of contests the tension heightened with four minutes remaining when centre Josh Prell darted over for his second, and Wharfedale’s third try of the game to nose the home side back into the lead at 23-22.

With time running out The Avenue became a Cauldron of Noise, as each side put everything on the line in search of victory.

So when Sam Veall crossed the whitewash in the final play of the match, everyone connected with the Titans exploded with excitement and relief. Hayes added the cherry on top with an impressive conversion from out wide.

Roth may look back on this one in April as a turning point in their season, but before anyone gets carried way they have to face the best two teams in the division next up, starting with table-toppers Fylde in a fortnight at Clifton Lane.

Speaking on the pitch after the game a relieved, but delighted Adam Byron said:

“When we hit the post with what we thought was going to be the last kick of the game I was frustrated and disappointed in that I thought we’d lost another game that we really should have won. It was a difficult kick into the wind and my heart went out to the boys because they had grafted so hard for the win.

“We know it wasn’t our best performance of the season, but the boys worked so hard throughout and they fully deserved to get back on the bus with a win and I’m delighted for them.

“We did some good things today; in the first half when we got into their 22 we scored, but we struggled a bit to do that in the second half, but all credit to Wharfedale, their defensive sets in the second half were very good.

“I think the most frustrating thing is how we let them make territory and it was from our penalties, our simple mistakes, our kick-offs and the only way they made headway in the first half was from our mistakes.

“So going forwards we need to make sure we get our processes right and that we maintain our focus for the full 80 minutes.

However, I am so proud of all the boys for how they never gave up and for the character and desire they showed at the end to get the win.”

Referee: Daniel Woods

Attendance: 535

Yellow Card: Nwosu-Hope (Titans), Hedgley (Wharfedale

Titans: Veall (2T), Taylor (T), Poole (T), Hayes (3C, P)

Wharfedale: Prell (2T), Speres (T), Mann (C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor (Jones 64), 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 34) (Capps 61), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 34) (Denman 61), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin.  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Fraser Jones, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Wharfedale: 15 Harry Bullough, 14 Tom Darwin, 13 Josh Prell, 12 Oli Cicognini, 11 Robbie Davidson, 10 Tom Mann, 9 Omari Kaup-Samuels (Bell 71), 1 Matt Beesley (Altham 34), 2 Ben Wright (Stockton 68), 3 Sam Dickinson (Hirst 39) (Beesley 63), 4 Simon Borril, 5 George Hedgley, 6 Ryan Carlson, 7 Joe Fawcett (Speres 34), 8 Josh Burridge.

Replacements: 16 Joe Altham, 17 Elliott Stockton, 18 Matt Speres, 19 Jack Hirst, 20 Max Bell.

Titans 37 Tynedale 7

Rotherham Titans recorded back-to-back victories with a hard-fought 37-7 win over a tenacious Tynedale outfit on a windy afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans 4 tries came way of a brace from Callum Bustin and one each for Corben Ollivent and Fraser Jones on debut, whilst Lloyd Hayes added 17 points from the tee.

The final score probably doesn’t do justice to Tynedale’s dogged and determined effort, but Rotherham raced out of the blocks to effectively wrap-up the game after 20 minutes, having scored four tries and secured the bonus point.

The home side crossed the whitewash as early as the second minute when Sam Boxhall and Harry Dunne were involved in getting the ball out to Corben Ollivent who raced in to dot down in the corner.

Within five minutes Roth added to their tally when Lloyd Hayes popped a lovely pass back inside to Corben Ollivent on the 22, he then made good ground taking play up to the line, before offloading to Callum Bustin in support for a nice team try.

There was time for Lloyd Hayes to knock over a penalty before Titans had their third try on 16 minutes.

Following a period of forward pressure inside the Tynedale 22, the ball came out to Ollivent who quickly shipped on to Hayes who again slipped a neat pass back inside to Fraser Jones; the Australian showed good footwork and desire to scramble over the line for a try on debut.

Moments later a rampant Rotherham secured the bonus point when Tynedale spilled the ball on the edge of the 22, after some very effective in-your-face pressure. Callum Bustin collected quickly and then threw a dummy before darting through unopposed to score under the posts.

Lloyd Hayes’ conversion gave Titans a 31-0 lead and the script was set for a landslide victory.

However, the visitors chose not to follow the script and pretty much dominated the remainder of the half as they set camp inside the Titans 22. However, massive credit must go to the home side as time and again they repelled the pressure on their own line to keep Tynedale scoreless in the first half.

The second period was a more even affair; however, had Roth finished the numerous chances created the final score would have been much wider, but that was not the case.

An early Lloyd Hayes penalty extended Roth’s advantage on 43 minutes, but it was Tynedale who scored the next try just after the hour mark when James Telford took a quick penalty and fed flanker Ben Bell who charged through to score.

Remarkably the only other score of the match came at the end when Hayes slotted over his third penalty of the game.

So whilst there were lots of positives for the home side, they’ll need to be more clinical in their next outing away to Wharfedale if they are going to make it three on the trot.

Speaking after the game Titans Adam Byron said:

“We were delighted with our efforts in the opening 20 minutes, that’s exactly what we’d asked from the boys; we went at them and scored lots of points and we couldn’t have asked for any more.

“We understand at National Two there are a lot of good teams; so when you give them possession they’re going to play and come right at you. However, I was delighted with the boy’s commitment in defence to keep them out in the first half.

“I have to be honest and say I was disappointed to lose the second half 7-6. We did create lots of opportunities in the second half, may four or five, but we left them out there and when we look back at those we’ll probably put our hands up and say we should have scored.

“Our line outs were much better, Matt Smith and the boys have put a lot of work in that area this week and so it was pleasing to see the improvement there.

“But overall when you come away from a game with a 5-point win you have to be happy, especially when you haven’t been perfect because that shows you are going in the right direction.”

Referee: Llyr Apgeraint-Roberts

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Poole (Titans)

Titans: Bustin (2T), Ollivent (T), Jones (T), Hayes (4C, 3P)

Tynedale:  Bell (T), Roue (1C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Fraser Jones, 10 Corben Ollivent (Taylor 55), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Stout 40), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 51), 3 Gareth Denman (Rylance 23) (Denman 65), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne (Kay 51), 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin (Payne 65).  

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 27 Rikki Stout, 19 Rupert Kay, 20 Jack Taylor.

Tynedale: 15 Rob Parker (Batey 79), 14 Adam Todhunter (Forlow 55), 13 Ross Cooke, 12 Will Roue, 11 Seamus Hutton, 10 Jake Rodgers (Todhunter 58), 9 James Telford, 1 Angus White, 2 David Batey (Johnston53), 3 Oscar Caudle (Carmichael 52), 4 Chris Wearmouth (Capt.), 5 Graeme Dunn (Dodd 53), 6 Jonny Cousin (Nankivell 18), 7 Ben Bell, 8 Ben Blackburn.

Replacements: 16 Ralph Johnston, 17 Liam Carmichael, 18 Jonny Dodd, 19 Euan Forlow, 20 Will Nankivell.

Titans 50 Blaydon 3

Rotherham Titans got back to winning ways with an impressive 7-try performance to beat a spirited Blaydon side 50-3 on a sunny, but blustery afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans’ tries came way of a brace from Harry Dunne and one each for Sam Veall, Jack Bergmanas, Callum Bustin and another brace from Lloyd Hayes, who also added a further 15 point from the tee.

Titans raced into the lead as early as the 4th minutes as Lloyd Hayes interchanged passes with Jack Taylor before showing good strength and pace to dot down.

Blaydon’s only score of the game came on 12 minutes as scrum half John Clarkson knocked over a 3-pointer from close range.

After that it was pretty much all Rotherham as a minute later full back Sam Veall extended his sides lead with some quick thinking, as he picked up from the base of a ruck and then dived over for an opportunistic try.

Surprisingly, the home side for all their dominance had to wait until just before the half hour mark to add to their tally and surprisingly it was the first catch and drive try of the season for a pack renowned for scoring tries this way. On this occasion it was hooker Jack Bergmanas who dotted down near the corner.

There was just time before half time for Lloyd Hayes to add a penalty which sent the hosts in for the oranges with a 22-3 advantage.

The second half followed a similar pattern of Titans dominance; although at no stage did Blaydon allow the home side an easy ride.

Nine minutes in and centre Harry Dunne secured the bonus point when off first-phase play he received a pass from Kai Ramrattan, before eyeing a gap in the defence to crash through near the posts.

Five minutes later and that man Lloyd Hayes was in the thick of it again; following turnover ball Callum Bustin made good ground and then offloaded to Harry Dunne who in turn cut nicely back inside before sending in Hayes for his second try of the game in the corner.

Titans’ sixth try came 10 minutes later after good ground was made by Alastair Donkor and then Callum Bustin got his hands on the ball and showed great strength to power over.

The final try came way of an interception which saw Harry Dunne race in from 45 metres to put the cherry on top of an overall good performance.

Titans will look to build on their display ahead of next week’s visit of Tynedale to Clifton Lane. Of particular focus may be the line out, as it did not function as well as it could have done; but other than that the South Yorkshire outfit will have been delighted with their shift.

Speaking after the game head coach, Adam Byron said:

“We asked the boys to right some of the wrongs we had last week, do the basics well and try to keep the scoreboard ticking after being nilled in the second half last week and I was really pleased that they were able to do that.

“Lloyd Hayes was outstanding again today; if he’s playing well that means we are playing well as a team because we are creating space in that 13 channel. He’s getting his hands on the ball and he’s able to do what he does well and that’s open sides up.

“I was pleased with how our scrum went today and also the fact our pressure in defence caused the errors to stack up, which in turn led to some opportunities at scrum time.

“We are very aware our line out is not quite where we would like it to be right now, but that is something we will continue to work hard on going forwards; but all credit to the boys to score 50 points in a game is outstanding, especially when one of your set pieces hasn’t functioned as you would have liked.”

Referee: Alex Rose

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: Clarkson (Tynedale)

Titans: Dunne (2T), Veall (T), Bergmanas (T), Bustin (T), Hayes (2T, 6C, P)

Blaydon: Clarkson (P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 21 George Tucker, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall (Ramrattan 47), 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 50), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 59), 27 Rikki Stout (Denman 50), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne (Bustin 50), 7 Rupert Kay (Payne 66), 8 Lewis Wilson.

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Alastair Donkor, 28 Callum Bustin, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Blaydon: 15 Nathan Bailey, 14 Zac Thompson, 13 Fergus Simpson, 12 Alex Clark (Richardson 63), 11 James Cooney, 10 Daniel Marshall (Capt.), 9 John Clarkson (Dube 67), 1 Matthew Siddle (Laidler 37), 16 Danny Gray (Duffy 71), 0 Ralph Appleby (Turnbull 53), 4 Darren Barry, 5 Jack Inglis, 6 Will Varley, 7 Liam Wright, 8 Alex Charlton (Siddle 79).

Replacements: 18 Sam Laidler, 2 Kieran Duffy, 17 Adam Turnbull, 19 Thabo Dube, 23 Andrew Richardson.

Hull Ionians 27 Titans 22

Rotherham Titans suffered a disappointing 27-22 loss away to Hull Ionians on a sunny afternoon at Brantingham Park.

Sam Veall, Harry Dunne and Corben Ollivent all crossed the whitewash for Rotherham, with Lloyd Hayes adding 7 points from the tee.

However, despite leading 22-21 at the break Titans were unable to add to their tally despite dominating for much of the second half.

Having three players yellow carded in the second forty didn’t help the South Yorkshire sides cause and ultimately finishing the game with 13 players proved a bit too much to overcome.

Rotherham will look back on this one and wonder how the win slipped from their grasp following such a dominant second half display.

In truth, a number of handling errors and at times an unreliable line-out in crucial field positions meant Roth would pay the price for a bad day at the office.

Credit must also go out to Ionians; their ability to weather the Titans storm for a full 30 minutes in the second half enabled them to stay in the game, before going on to secure their first ever competitive victory over Rotherham.

The first half of this absorbing contest resembled a basketball game as each team took it in turn to score.

Inside the opening 10 minutes following a Sam Wilson try for the hosts Titans hit back through Sam Veall. The full back showed great vision and pace as he collected a pass around 35 metres out before dancing his way through the Hull defence to dot down next to the sticks.

Ionians on their next visit into the Roth 22 came away with points again when former Titans’ scrum half Sam Pocklington sniped over from close range.

However, a Lloyd Hayes penalty was quickly followed by his partner in the centres Harry Dunne, he scored out wide after a period of possession sucked in the Hull defence to leave an overlap to give Rotherham a 15-14 lead.

The lead lasted only a few minutes as the home side added a third try through winger Sam Wilson; but as in true basketball fashion Titans went down the other end of the pitch and regained the advantage when fly half Corben Ollivent showed good awareness to thread his way through the defence to score next to the posts.

Lloyd Hayes’ conversion ended the first half scoring and Roth went in for the half time oranges with a slender 22-21 advantage.

The second half was a bizarre 40 minutes of rugby and the game should have been put to bed by Roth following all the territory and possession they enjoyed deep inside the Hull half.

However, the home side weathered the Titans storm and came back to win the game following two Lewis Minikin penalties on 78 minutes and then 3 minutes into added time.

Titans will now lick their wounds and then get back on the training field and work even harder to put things right, starting with next week’s home game against Blaydon.

Speaking immediately after the game a disappointed Adam Byron said:

“We are devastated to have lost that one; we went in at half time in front and we came out for the second half confident we would go on to get the win.

“We knew we’d made some errors in the first half and we corrected those defensive errors, but with the ball in hand we weren’t just up to it and we weren’t good enough today.

“The pleasing thing in the first half is we dealt with things that were happening in the game. You can’t rely on half time talks to sort things out; we struggled with certain aspects in the first half and we dealt with them on the pitch, our leaders stepped up and we dealt with it.

“The frustration is the same thing happened in the second half and our attack looked poor at times and we made too many errors.”

Referee: Tim Allatt

Attendance: 353

Yellow Card: Denman, Hayes, Dunne (Titans)

Titans: Veall (T), Dunne (T), Ollivent (T), Hayes (2C, P)

Hull Ionians: Wilson (2T), Pocklington (T), Minikin (3C, 2P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 21 George Tucker (Stout 46), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 28) (Capps 60), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 60), 3 Gareth Denman (Tucker 56) (Ramrattan 66), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Rupert Kay (Bustin 56), 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Callum Bustin (Payne 30). 

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 27 Rikki Stout, 18 Danny Rylance, 19 Marcus Payne, 20 Kai Ramrattan.

Hull Ionians: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Sam Wilson, 13 Lewis Minikin, 12 Josh Britton, 11 Nathan Hill, 10 Ben Smith, 9 Sam Pocklington (Kirk 74), 1 Chris Morton (Bell 52), 2 Ben Stephenson, 3 Ben Bell (Laverick 35) (Morton 71), 4 Joe Makin, 5 Tyler Heelas (Campbell 52), 6 Allan Hudson (Thompson 55), 7 James Sanderson (Capt.) (Powell 69), 8 George Mewburn. 

Replacements: 16 Dave Laverick, 17 Alex Campbell, 18 Declan Thompson, 25 Lucas Powell, 20 Charlie Kirk.

Titans 67 Harrogate 15

Rotherham Titans ran out 67-15 winners over a spirited Harrogate side, as they started their Nat 2 North campaign in impressive fashion on a warm afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans outscored their county rivals by 9 tries to 2 with a brace of tries from Lloyd Hayes and one each for Jack Taylor, Jack Hedley, Gareth Denman, Zak Poole, Louis Inman, Sam Boxhall and Kai Ramrattan. Lloyd Hayes also added 22 points from the tee to cap off an outstanding individual performance.

Ahead of the game a minute's silence was impeccably observed as a mark of respect for William Barrack, Harrogate Club President, who sadly died last week.

Titans’ first half performance was outstanding; it was full of energy and dynamism and it saw them score 6 tries to a solitary penalty for the visitors.

Lloyd Hayes jinked back inside as early as the 3rd minutes to set the home side on their way and then dusted himself down to convert; he added a 3-pointer shortly after to race the Titans into a 10-0 lead after 8 minutes.

Within the next 10 minutes Rotherham’s wingers Jack Taylor and Jack Hedley both dotted down on debut. Corben Ollivent was instrumental in setting up the former with a nice break; then a quick tap from scrum half Sam Boxhall led to the latter. In between Rory MacNab sandwiched a 3-pointer in for the visitors.

Lloyd Hayes added a second penalty for Titans early into the second quarter, before a rampant home side scored a three further tries inside the final 7 minutes of the half.

Gareth Denman, on his return to his home club, was the next to cross the whitewash and although the tighthead may feel he went in from 40 metres, in actual fact it was more like 15 – it was still no mean feat from the local hero who showed great power to get over.

That man Hayes just wouldn’t go away and up he popped again shortly after to dot down for his second try. He and Sam Veall interchanged passes before the centre danced though for a nice score.

The final play of the half saw Titans score their only set piece try of the game. From a line out close to the line skipper Zak Poole broke off the maul to charge in near the corner.

The half time oranges would have tasted very sweet indeed.

It appeared as if Rotherham’s first half dominance would continue throughout the second, as replacement hooker Louis Inman showed a good appetite to crash over for a try on debut, following a nice switch in play from the backs.

However, credit must be afforded Harrogate, as they showed impressive spirit and determination to keep going and indeed take it to the Titans.

A 20-minute spell followed whereby the visitors scored two tries through hooker Jacob Garrett and fly half Tom Steene; the latter came via an interception, but they all count.

Rotherham did however manage to regroup late on and finish off with another couple of tries from Sam Boxhall and replacement scrum half Kai Ramrattan – another player enjoying his debut with a try.

So whilst Rotherham may face stiffer test this season, starting with an away trip to top side Hull Ionians next week, they will be overjoyed to kick-off their campaign with such an enterprising performance.

Speaking after the game Titans Adam Byron said:

"It is great to score nine tries in any game, but it’s how we created those tries that is the pleasing thing.

"We stuck to our process and made sure we finished things off when we got the opportunity.

"Lloyd Hayes was different class today with his footwork and his understanding of the game. He played really well.

"The new team has had some game time together and we will put our hands up and say the pre-season games were tough. We defended a lot and didn't get chance to play much, so it has been really pleasing to get the ball in hand and show what we can do."

Referee: Matt Sharpe

Attendance: 250

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Taylor (T), Hedley (T), Denman (T), Poole (T), Inman (T), Boxhall (T), Ramrattan (T), Hayes (2T, 8C, 2P)

Harrogate: Garrett (T), Steene (T), MacNab (1C, 1P)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley (Bustin 77), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor (Ramrattan 17), 10 Corben Ollivent (Taylor 69), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Rylance 40), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Inman 41), 3 Gareth Denman (Stout 40), 4 Zak Poole (Capt.) (Allan 45), 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Rupert Kay 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Callum Bustin (Poole 60). 

Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 27 Rikki Stout, 18 Danny Rylance, 19 Lewis Allan, 20 Kai Ramrattan.   

Harrogate: 15 Rory MacNab, 14 Oliver Pearson, 13 Jack Kennell, 12 Jordan Cummings (Raubitschek 54), 11 Will Yates, 10 Tom Steene, 9 Alex Ibbotson (Fox 69), 1 Seifeldin Elsayed, 2 Jacob Garrett (Derbyshire 54) (Garrett 69), 3 Tom Baxter, 4 Tomas Phipps (Booth 50), 5 Sam Brady (Capt.), 6 Cameron Breen (Jones 35), 7 Will Hill, 8 Thomas Spencer-Jones.

Replacements: 18 Henry Derbyshire, 16 Gregory Jones, 19 Kurtis Booth, 21 Ben Raubitschek, 20 Sam Fox.

Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons

Titans 36 Sheffield Tigers 17

Rotherham Titans finished off their season with a worthy 36-17 bonus point win over local rivals Sheffield Tigers on a warm afternoon at Clifton Lane.

The win confirmed Rotherham’s third place finish in the league behind worthy champions Hull and second placed side Sedgley Park, who too enjoyed a successful season after scoring the most points in the division.

Titans will now look to regroup over the summer as they aim to go two steps further in 22/23.

The South Yorkshire side can be proud of their achievements this term following relegation from Nat 1, rebuilding a new squad and somehow managing to complete the campaign following their long list of horrendous long-term injuries.

Their final game against Tigers saw them only able to field 18 players; nevertheless, their overall performance on the day, after a sluggish start, was impressive and in these last few weeks the players coming in have done an amazing job which should bode well for the future at Clifton Lane.

Tigers started this match with plenty of enthusiasm and nosed ahead as early as the 4th minute when fly half Tom Parkin slotted over a penalty.

And to be fair to the Dore Moor side, they enjoyed the majority and territory and possession inside the opening quarter. Indeed, it took some hardy and resilient defending by Rotherham to keep them from extending their advantage.

Eventually however Titans worked themselves into the contest which saw them on the half hour mark open their account through centre Harry Dunne. Some sloppy work around the breakdown was exploited when Dunne seized the opportunity to steal and then gallop home from 25 metres.

Just before the break Roth doubled their tally when Dunne was on hand again. This time following a quick-tap from scrum half Sam Boxhall, Dunne charged through in support to collect and then barge his way over next to the posts.

Within 5 minutes of the restart Roth had their third try. This time from a scrum close to the line the ball was spread across the field before eventually arriving with winger George Tucker who had the formality of dotting down in the corner.

Titans’ bonus point try came shortly after when prop forward Tom Richardson started things off by stripping the ball on halfway, before he then found Zak Poole. He in turn made some good ground before finding Kieran Curran who slipped in Harry Dunne for his hat trick.

A now totally dominant Rotherham were rampaging all over the field and this inevitably resulted in their fifth try.

A loose ball on halfway was hacked on by Zak Poole up to the Tigers 22, before Connor Field helped it on its way with nudge that was collected nicely by George Tucker, who in turn slipped in Lewis Taylor to finish off. Lloyd Hayes’ conversion extended Roth’s lead to 33-3 which in effect ended the game as a contest.

Credit to Tigers must be given however as they never stopped battling and they were rewarded for their efforts when front rower Sim Meek and full back Harrison Astley ran in for two tries before the end.

Fittingly however, with the last kick of the match Roth’s tight head prop Colin Quigley, who was playing his final game before retirement, stepped up to convert a penalty to the enormous enjoyment of his team mates and the supporters at Clifton Lane.

Speaking on the pitch afterwards Titans head coach Adam Byron said:

“I arrived here in November, I think we had a tough task ahead of us and that was made a bit tougher with a few cancellations that we had and then when we came back after Christmas we knew we had 18 straight weeks without a break and it feels like a very big relief to get to the end of that.

“I think the story of that is a lot of injuries and that’s something that comes from having a hard slog, we had some very good performance and some really pleasing moments and at this time of the year it feels like a big relief and even more so in getting the win over Tigers and staying unbeaten at Clifton Lane all season.

“I want to give huge thanks to all our supporters; the support they have given us throughout the season has been outstanding, both at home and away and that makes a huge difference for the lads.

“With regards to today’s game we had a slow start, again we had to get over that cup final mentality, but I thought we rode the storm well and stayed very much in touch. It was nice to get the first try and once we got to 7-3 and then 14-3 at half time it felt reasonably comfortable.

“However, if we are honest we have to say our set piece didn’t functioning as well as we would have liked and when you work that hard to get field position and then your set piece lets you down that’s very disappointing and it puts you on the back foot. Thankfully it was the same for Tigers and so that evened itself out and then afterwards when we went 4 scores up it felt fairly comfortable after that.”

Referee: Matt Riley

Attendance: 541

Yellow Card: Holmes (Tigers)

Titans: Dunne (3T), Tucker (T), Taylor (T), Hayes (4C), Quigley (P)

Sheffield Tigers: Meek (T), Astley (T), Parkin (2C, P)

Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lewis Taylor, 12 Harry Dunne, 21 George Tucker, 10 Sam Veall, 9 Sam Boxhall (Fisher 52), 18 Alastair Donkor (Richardson 33), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Donkor 76), 3 Colin Quigley (Stout 30) (Quigley 76), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Kieran Curran, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.). 

Replacements: 19 Tom Richardson, 27 Rikki Stout, 22 Oli Fisher. 

Sheffield Tigers: 15 Harrison Astley, 14 Sam Down (Keetley 78), 13 Jamie Broadley, 12 Sam Wager, 11 Otis Floyd, 10 Tom Parkin, 9 Ryan Holmes, 1 Will Bennett, 2 Louis Townsend (Meek 11), 3 Nick Bingham, 4 Joe Fitzsimons (McLaughlin 78), 5 Charlie Cone (Baldry 34) (Cone 52), 16 Connor Scott, 7 Angus Hughes (Clark 56), 8 Tom Calladine.

Replacements: 6 Jack Baldry, 17 Sim Meek, 18 Cam McLaughlin, 19 Freddie Clark, 20 Chris Keetley.

Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons

Wharfedale 38 Titans 19

Rotherham Titans suffered a disappointing 38-19 defeat to Wharfedale in their final away game of the season on a warm afternoon at The Avenue.

The disappointment of the result however was overshadowed by a nasty injury to Titans winger Jamie Cooke at the end of the game.

Jamie broke both tibia and fibula in his right leg and underwent an operation in Airedale Hospital where his leg was pinned and plated. Our best wishes, alongside many others who were at the game, including Wharfedale RUFC go out to Jamie for a speedy recovery.

The game itself will be one Rotherham will want to forget and consign to the bin quickly, as it was possibly their most disappointing defeat of a long and difficult season with all the severe injuries that they have picked up along the way.

Right from the start there were worrying signs for the South Yorkshire side as their play appeared to be disjointed and full of errors.

Wharfedale by comparison looked energetic and eager for battle as they ran hard and with intent. Their bright start was converted into points as they raced into a 10-0 lead inside the opening 15 minutes, following a penalty from fly half Tom Davidson and a converted try by flanker Ryan Carlson.

Titans did hit back following impressive work from Jamie Cooke; the winger showed good pace and power to break before popping a nice inside pass to Connor Field allowing him to race in for a nice score.

Back came the hosts however and they deservedly increased their advantage as play was spread across the park quickly ending up with winger Oli Cicognini dotting down.

Before the break Titans skipper Zak Poole scored from a line out close to the line to give his side some hope of a comeback in the second half.

However, the second period saw an even more dominant display from Wharfedale and by the 71st minute they had the game wrapped up following two further tries from hooker Madison Hunting and winger Rian Hamilton, combined with two penalties from Tom Davidson to stretch the hosts lead to 35-12.

Titans collected a consolation try 5 minutes from time when Harry Dunne went over near the corner, but the final say fittingly lay with Wharfedale as Tom Davidson bagged his 4th penalty of the afternoon.

Titans will now need to regroup and prepare themselves for the final game of the season this Saturday when they host local rivals Sheffield Tigers at Clifton Lane; please note the earlier kick-off time of 12 noon.

Referee: Daniel Woods

Attendance: 535

Yellow Card: Carlisle (Titans)

Titans: Field (T), Poole (T), Dunne (T), Carlisle (2C)

Wharfedale: Carlson (T), Cicognini (T), Hunting (T), Hamilton (T), Davidson (4P, 3C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Connor Field, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall (Fisher 71), 18 Alastair Donkor (Richardson 33) (Donkor 63), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 27 Rikki Stout (Quigley 63), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Williams 51), 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Kieran Curran, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.). 

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 19 Tom Richardson, 25 Matti Williams, 22 Oli Fisher.  

Wharfedale: 15 Harry Bullough, 14 Rian Hamilton, 13 Ben Blackwell (Stockdale 62), 12 Beau Verity (Moore 55), 11 Oli Cicognini, 10 Tom Davidson, 9 Jack Blakeney-Edwards, 1 Joe Altham, 2 Madison Hunting (Blackwell 68), 3 Sam Dickinson, 4 Rhys Green, 5 Elliott Stockton (Beesley 48), 6 Ryan Carlson (Hedgley 32) (Stockton 55), 7 Jack Pinder (Thompson 63), 30 Josh Burridge (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Matt Beesley, 18 Dan Stockdale, 17 George Hedgley, 19 Jack Thompson, 20 Jonathan Moore.

Sheffield Tigers 22 Titans 41

Rotherham Titans recovered from a slow start to eventually overcome a resilient Sheffield Tigers 41-22 on a bright but blustery afternoon at Dore Moor.

Titans outscored Tigers by 7 tries to 4 with Kieran Curran helping himself to a brace and one each for Sam Boxhall, Harry Newborn, Lloyd Hayes, Connor Field and George Tucker.

The home side started much the sharper as they no doubt looked to give their near-neighbours a bloody nose on this first competitive fixture between the sides.

Indeed, it took Tigers just 4 minutes to breach the Rotherham defence as hooker Louis Townsend broke off the tail of a maul to score the first try.

Titans did hit back shortly after when scrum half Sam Boxhall dotted down following a nice exchange of passes with Jamie Cooke; but Tigers soon restored their advantage when Townsend popped up again to dot down from a catch and drive close to the line.

On 25 minutes matters worsened for Rotherham as former player Jamie Broadley cut through to score a converted try to give Tigers a healthy 17-5 lead and send the Dore Moor crowd into raptures. Indeed the Tigers players on the field celebrated with equal gusto as they anticipated a huge shock was on the cards.

However, Titans eventually began to settle to their task and started to exert some control, all of which resulted in Kieran Curran crossing the whitewash twice before the break.

First he received a quick-tap from Sam Boxhall to barge his way over and then in the final play of the half and following a sustained period of pressure inside the Tigers 22, he received a nice inside pass from Joe Carlisle allowing him to charge through for a nice score to reduce the arrears to 17-15.

Whatever was said over the half time oranges certainly had a positive effect for the Titans, as within 18 minutes of the restart they ran in 4 further tries to effectively seal the game.

First up replacement hooker Harry Newborn showed good strength to muscle over following a number of phases in the 22.

Next a sweeping backs move which started in their own half saw the ball pass through many hands, before arriving with full back Sam Veall; he then ghosted through before popping a pass back inside for Lloyd Hayes to finish off.

Titans’ next try was a belter as skipper Zak Poole ripped the ball from Tigers on the edge of his own 22, before then charging downfield to take play up to the Tigers 10 metre line and then offloading to winger Connor Field to charge in to score under the posts.

The final try for Rotherham saw replacement winger George Tucker show tremendous determination as he burrowed his way over in the corner to end a period of total domination by the Clifton Lane men.

To be fair to the home side they never stopped battling and when replacement forward Sim Meek squeezed over late on to secure a bonus point, it was fair reward for the Tigers efforts on the day.

Speaking on the pitch post-game Titans Adam Byron said:

“We are really pleased with the result; these Yorkshire derbies are tough games and the South Yorkshire derbies are even tougher.  As we’ve seen all season everyone wants to take the Rotherham scalp and you could see how much Tigers wanted it today.

“We go into the lion’s den every week and every week it’s a cup final and it’s a difficult to play cup finals on a weekly basis; no other club in this division has that to contend with, but the boys have done it again and we are really pleased with the performance.

“We probably let ourselves down a little bit in the opening 20 minutes; it’s wasn’t about being outplayed, it was more about our own discipline and decision making and how we managed the game.

“Then in the following 20 minutes we really got ourselves back into the match and we went in at half time just 2 points behind and then we were able to come out in the second half and really do a job.

“The boys are an intelligent group and there’s lots of experience in our dressing room and most of the time they don’t need me to tell them what to do; so our chat at half time was pretty easy and after the break they came out and reacted accordingly and that was very pleasing.”

Referee: Owen Taylor

Attendance: 452

Yellow Card: Richardson & Carlisle (Titans), Broadley (Tigers)

Titans: Curran (2T), Boxhall (T), Newborn (T), Field (T), Tucker (T), Hayes (T, 3C),

Sheffield Tigers: Townsend (2T), Broadley (T), Meek (T), Parkin (1C),

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Connor Field (Donkor 22), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke (Tucker 49), 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 19 Tom Richardson (Field 32), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 29), 27 Rikki Stout (Quigley 67), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Kieran Curran, 7 Marcus Payne (Williams 57), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Alastair Donkor, 25 Matti Williams, 21 George Tucker.

Sheffield Tigers: 15 Sam Down, 14 Otis Floyd, 13 Jamie Broadley, 12 Sam Wager, 11 Chris Keetley (Nicholson 46) (Keetley 77), 10 Tom Parkin, 9 Ryan Holmes, 1 Will Bennett, 2 Louis Townsend, 3 Nick Bingham (McLaughlin 75), 4 Joe Fitzsimons, 5 Charlie Cone (Meek 48), 16 Connor Scott (Clark 77), 7 Jack Baldry (Monks 40), 8 Angus Hughes.

Replacements: 20 Lee Monks, 17 Sim Meek, 18 Cam McLaughlin, 19 Kieran Nicholson, 6 Freddie Clark.

Photo Credit: Roy France

Huddersfield 36 Titans 31

Rotherham Titans surprisingly suffered their third defeat of the season as they crashed to a 36-31 reversal to a spirited Huddersfield side at Lockwood Park.

Titans did manage to pick up two points for their efforts which keeps them in second place in the league. However, the South Yorkshire side will now need to regroup ahead of the visit of Harrogate to Clifton Lane this week.

Whilst it’s fair to say Rotherham endured a bad day at the office, Huddersfield fully deserved their win after a heroic performance on the day and although Titans scored as early as the second minute through centre Jamie Cooke, Huddersfield outplayed their Yorkshire rivals for much of the opening 40 minutes.

Indeed Huddersfield ran in four tries to secure the bonus point before half time through Callum Thompson, Nick Sharpe, Kian Stewart and Sam Nunn.

So delighted at securing the bonus point, Huddersfield’s head coach took delight in thumping out a tune on the away dug-out just to let everyone know how happy he was!

Rotherham’s other points in a lacklustre first half came from number 8 Kieran Curran as he dotted down from the tail of a powerful scrum close to the line.

Titans came out with more purpose after the break and looked more threatening than they had before.

Indeed within10 minutes of the re-start Titans crossed the whitewash twice through centre Harry Dunne who sneaked up the blindside to crash over and then winger George Tucker who finished-off in the corner after the ball was spread across the field through a number of hands.

This reduced the Titans deficit to 26-24 and most in the ground would have expected the South Yorkshire outfit to kick-on and secure the win.

However, Huddersfield were having none of that and to their credit extended their lead just before the hour mark when loosehead prop Callum Thompson crashed over from a catch and drive close to the line.

Back came Rotherham in what was now a thrilling encounter which had the bumper crowd roaring.

With just 8 minutes remaining and following some powerful work from the Titans pack, lock forward Lewis Allan collected the ball to bulldoze his way over. Joe Carlisle added the extras to level the scores at 31-31.

However, it wasn’t to be Roth’s day. With 3 minutes remaining Huddersfield took play up deep inside the 22 before second rower Nick Sharpe effectively used his bulk to crash over and give his side a stunning victory.

Speaking on the pitch following the full time whistle, a disappointed Adam Byron said:

“We are obviously frustrated and I’m upset for the boys in terms that it’s been a long hard slog. We have been doing exceptionally well with players coming into positions with a lack of rugby and performing every week, but today it was maybe one step too far.

“We have to learn from this; we have to learn that if we want to be a team that wants to win the league, we have to turn up every week and we have to be disciplined enough to be in the right frame of mind every week and we have to put in a performance every week.

“At this stage of the year Huddersfield had nothing to play for other than getting a big upset and that was their motivation and because we didn’t turn up, we didn’t put in a performance that was good enough to win and well done to them for getting the result.

“If we want to be a team that’s mid-table then you can turn up some weeks and not others, but we want more than that, we want to be a team that wins a league.

“So we have to be a team that turns up every time and that’s a hard ask, but that’s something we have to learn to do as a squad and that’s the step we’ll have to make next year if we are going to win the league.”

Referee: Ben Davis

Attendance: 498

Yellow Card: Ed Brown (Huddersfield)

Titans: Cooke (T), Curran (T), Dunne (T), Tucker (T), Allan (T), Carlisle (3C)

Huddersfield:  Thompson (2T), Sharpe (2T), Stewart (T), Nunn (T), Milner (3C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Tom Lewis (Taylor 78), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall (Fisher 68), 19 Tom Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 51), 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton (Payne 45) (Boxhall 78), 8 Kieran Curran (Quigley 64).  

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Marcus Payne, 22 Olly Fisher, 20 Lewis Taylor.

Huddersfield: 15 Tom Hodson, 14 Kian Stewart, 13 Lewis Workman, 12 Will Milner, 11 Sam Nunn, 10 Matt Law, 9 Jonny Mason, 1 Callum Thompson, 2 Liam Stapley, 3 Jack Smith (Walker 39) (Smith 43), 4 Luke Pearson (Davis 39), 5 Nick Sharpe, 6 Harvey Keighley-Payne, 7 Lewis Bradley (Capt.), 8 Ed Brown.

Replacements: 16 Lewis Brook, 17 Toby Walker, 18 Leighton Davis, 21 Joe Potter, 20 Cameron Catleugh.

Titans 47 Loughborough 17

Rotherham Titans maintained their unbeaten home record with a 47-17 win over a spirited Loughborough Students side on a sunny afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans’ points came way of a hat trick by skipper Zak Poole, and one each for Sam Boxhall, Tom Lewis, George Tucker and Joe Carlisle, the latter also added 12 points from the tee.

The win keeps Rotherham on the heels of league leaders Hull and should the East Yorkshire side make any slip-ups on the run-in, the South Yorkshire outfit will look to step-in and take advantage.

The game itself saw Roth start brightly as they raced into a 14-0 lead inside the opening 15 minutes.

The first try came courtesy of the Titans pack as they powerfully drove over from a scrum 10 metres out; number 8 Zak Poole dotted down from the base to seal the deal and fly half Joe Carlisle tagged over the extras.

Roth’s second score came from turnover ball on their own 22 which saw Zak Poole collect and make good ground before Tom Lewis and Marcus Payne combined to send it out wide to scrum half Sam Boxhall; he charged home from 40 metres, with Carlisle adding the conversion.

Loughborough, who looked bright and energetic all afternoon, stunned Roth moments later when full back George Barber showed tremendous tenacity to shake-off a number of tackles before sending in winger Darragh Walsh to score.

However, Titans soon re-established control and scored two further converted tries before the break. The first of which came after full back Sam Veall made significant ground down the right after collecting around halfway, before he popped a nice inside pass to Tom Lewis for him to show a good turn of foot to race in.

The bonus point try saw Veall involved again; he took play up to the line before Sam Boxhall popped out a pass from the base to send in Zak Poole near the corner. Carlisle impressed with the difficult conversion to send his side in at the break leading 28-5.

The second half saw the visitors start with good energy and intent and when winger Ryan Apps crossed the whitewash in the far corner following a long miss-pass; it was a fair reward for the Students’ efforts.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes a flurry of scores followed. On 71 minutes Titans’ skipper Zak Poole showed good awareness to take a quick-tap penalty to run in from close range for his hat trick, before two minutes later the visitors replied with their third try when centre Archie Heard intercepted and ran it home from 55 metres, both tries were converted.

As the game entered its final stages Rotherham finished off in style as they added two more tries to complete a fine afternoon’s work.

Firstly, Joe Carlisle showed some silky skills before dotting down next to the posts and then converting his try for a perfect 6 from 6 for him.

Then in the final play; following a tremendous break downfield from replacement scrum half Ollie Fisher, the ball was fed out wide to George Tucker who just managed to squeeze over in the corner. Sam Boxhall took over kicking duties following Joe Carlisle leaving the field, but unfortunately for him his effort drifted wide.

Overall Rotherham will have been pleased with their performance and the result, but they will have been especially pleased with the players that have come into the squad in recent weeks and impressed in the manner they have.

Speaking immediately after the game Titans Adam Byron concluded:

“We are really pleased with the result and in terms of control I think that’s one of our best performances of the year.

“Getting an early lead was important and it was pleasing that we did, as that’s something we’ve spoken about and once we got that lead I don’t think we ever looked in danger after that.

“I thought we were really clinical today, every time we were in their 22 we seemed to come away with points and the boys managed the game really well.

“There were one or two occasions when it looked like Loughborough may get a couple of quick scores to get themselves back into it, but the lads scrambled back well and stopped them getting any momentum.

“It’s also pleasing to keep our unbeaten record at home; this is something that you want to build your season on and making your home ground a fortress is so important and we’ll try to stay unbeaten here for the rest of the year.”

Referee: Tim Allatt

Attendance: 317

Yellow Card: Poole (Titans)

Titans: Poole (3T), Boxhall (T), Lewis (T), Tucker (T), Carlisle (T, 6C)

Loughborough: Walsh (T), Apps (T), Heard (T), Tom Smith (1C)

Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Tom Lewis, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne (Taylor 40), 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle (Boxhall 78), 9 Sam Boxhall (Fisher 71), 19 Tom Richardson (Quigley 39) (Richardson 70), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Newborn 54), 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Keifer Laxton (Williams 70), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Matti Williams, 22 Olly Fisher, 20 Lewis Taylor.

Loughborough: 15 George Barber, 14 Ryan Apps, 13 Ollie Smith (Heard 50), 12 Archie Heard (Burgwin 48), 11 Darragh Walsh, 10 Tom Smith (Capt.), 9 Charlie Briers (Law 40), 1 Seb Smith, 2 Jamie Harding (Westmacott 40), 3 Josh Toms (Harri Williams 33), 4 Toby Adlington, 5 Jack Shine, 6 Anthony Pedlar, 7 Nick Jennings, 8 Fergus Dick (Scharink 49).

Replacements: 16 Mink Scharink, 17 Harri Williams, 18 Sam Westmacott, 21 Jonny Law, 20 Iwan Burgwin.

Photo Credit: Steve Mettam

Tynedale 31 Titans 47

Rotherham Titans maintained their title ambitions with a thrilling 47-31 win over Tynedale on a glorious, sunny afternoon at Station Road.

Rotherham outscored their North East opposition by 6 tries to 5, as Connor Field scored a hat-trick and Jamie Cooke, George Tucker and Tom Lewis all chipped in with 5-pointers; full back Lloyd Hayes had a productive day from the tee as he added a further 17 points.

Titans pretty much dominated the opening 40 minutes which saw them race into a 24-5 half time lead. Jamie Cooke opened the scoring for the South Yorkshire side after good work by the pack meant he could exploit the space outside to run in for the first try.

Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty shortly afterwards before Connor Field quickly followed up on the half hour with a try under the posts having picked off a pass to intercept from 35 metres out.

Roth’s third try which came five minutes later was a belter. From turnover ball on the edge of their own 22 Titans collected with first Keifer Laxton and then Zak Poole taking play up inside the Tynedale half. From there the ball was spread across the full width of the pitch for left wing George Tucker to dot down in the corner.

Just before the break there was the first sign of what was to come in the second half when Tynedale winger Seamus Hutton ran in to score.

Rotherham secured the bonus point on 50 minutes when scrum half Sam Boxhall took a quick-tap penalty and made good yardage downfield before finding Lloyd Hayes in support. The full back popped a pass to Connor Field who raced in to score his second of the match.

However, just after the hour mark Titans were stunned when in the space of 2 minutes the hosts ran in two tries through centre Will Miller and full back Robert Parker to reduce the hosts’ arrears to 17-31 which injected some urgency into the game.

Titans settled things down a little when Lloyd Hayes slotted over a penalty, but the peace didn’t last as from the restart Tynedale ran in for their bonus point try through Robert Parker.

In what was fast becoming a game of 7’s Rotherham hit back almost immediately when flanker Keifer Laxton made a busting break from around halfway to take play deep inside the 22, before he offloaded to Tom Lewis in support for his side’s fifth try of the game.

In a gallant display tenacious determination Tynedale came back once more and scored a fifth try through replacement forward Ben Bell, after Roth briefly switched-off from a penalty close to their line.

With four minutes remaining Rotherham would have been nervous, despite holding a 39-31 lead.

However, those nerves were put to bed when firstly Lloyd Hayes added his third penalty of the game and then winger Connor Field picked off another interception to run in from 55 metres to score in the corner and wrap up a thrilling game of rugby in the North East.

Speaking immediately after the match Titans Adam Byron said:

“The boys worked incredibly hard, it was a very hot day and again we are asking players that haven’t had a lot of rugby to come out here and do 80 minutes and they did an outstanding job.

“We had a depleted bench with only four boys on it; and of the two forwards on the bench we could only really use one of them and that‘s a big ask when it’s as hot as it was today.

“Nevertheless, the boys to dug in well because Tynedale made it hard work; every time you kick off you know they are going to have a go at you. And on a big, wide pitch like this one, where there is a lot of space to defend, they make it really hard for teams that come here for the full 80 minutes.

“We knew they were going to have a go at us, we knew they were going to run at us and throw the ball about, but the lads put in a great shift to make sure we did enough to win the game.”

Referee: Tim Allatt

Attendance: 280

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Field (3T), Cooke (T), Tucker (T), Tom Lewis (T), Hayes (4C, 3P)

Tynedale: Parker (2T), Hutton (T), Miller (T), Bell (T), Rodgers (3C)

Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Connor Field, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle (Lewis 35), 9 Sam Boxhall, 19 Tom Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 27 Rikki Stout (Quigley 35) (Stout 59), 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Harry Williams, 22 Olly Fisher, 20 Tom Lewis.

Tynedale: 15 Robert Parker, 14 Guy Pike, 13 Ross Cooke, 12 Will Miller, 11 Seamus Hutton (Leslie 38), 10 Jake Rodgers, 9 Matty Outson (Capt.), 1 Angus White (Batey 68), 2 David Batey (Carmichael 50) (Telfer 74), 3 Liam Carmichael (Telfer 25) (Loughhead 50), 4 Chris Wearmouth, 5 Graeme Dunn, 6 Jonny Cousin (Bell 50), 7 Henry Wainwright (Blackburn 68), 8 Ben Blackburn (Stanwix 50). 

Replacements: 16 Adam Telfer, 17 Owen Loughhead, 18 Ben Bell, 19 Rob Stanwix, 20 Josh Leslie.   

Photo Credit: John & Barbara Austin

Chester 17 Titans 34

Rotherham Titans maintained an interest at the sharp end of the table with a hard-fought 34-17 win over Chester on a bright and sunny afternoon at Hare Lane.

A keenly contested first half saw Chester race into a 12-0 lead after 26 minutes, before the South Yorkshire side bounced back to score 5 tries through a brace from Jamie Cooke and one each for Rikki Stout, Keifer Laxton and Connor Field.

The South Yorkshire side however did not have things all their own way and following a sluggish start found themselves behind after just 2 minutes when centre Ben Ivory dotted down for fly half Iwan Phillips to convert.

Matters got worse for Roth, who to be fair were struggling to put any significant work together at this stage, when prop forward Alex Reed barged over following more good work from the home side.

Titans eventually got themselves on the board after 30 minutes with a scintillating try from Jamie Cooke. The powerful centre collected on halfway following a line out and then proceeded to cut back inside before galloping down the right wing to score in the corner. Joe Carlisle impressed from out wide with the extras.

Confidence boosted, Rotherham grew into the contest and levelled matters before the break when tighthead prop Rikki Stout touched down following a powerful drive from a line out; Jack Bergmanas’ work in the drive was outstanding.

The second half saw Titans pretty much dominate throughout and in effect seal the game with a 3-try haul in the space of five minutes.

First up on 46 minutes and following a brilliant line break from Lloyd Hayes, play was taken inside the Chester 22. From there the ball was spread quickly along the line and collected by flanker Keifer Laxton who showed a good turn of foot to race in and score as he fended off two defenders.

From the restart the Titans defence showed good line speed which enabled winger Connor Field to pick-off a pass and gallop in from 55 metres for the bonus point try.

The fifth try quickly followed when Joe Carlisle threw a deft little pass to Jamie Cooke who raced in from 45 metres, before having to use great strength to shake-off two defenders to get over the line.

Six minutes from time Lloyd Hayes gave his pack a breather as he nail a penalty to extend his sides lead to 34-12.

However, in the final play of the match Chester scored their third try and it was no more than they deserved when a move which started in their own 22 was finished off by Ben Ivory.

Titans will now prepare for next week’s trip to Tynedale as they attempt to keep in touch with the leaders.

Speaking after the game Titans Adam Byron said:

“It’s always concerning when you go behind early, but what that does do is give you the opportunity to react within the game and that’s something we’ve been working on; that ability to change things within a 40-minute period and not just at half time.

“I was really pleased with how the boys reacted and to go in at half time at 12 apiece was a really big achievement and it set us up for a good second half.

“We had a chat at half time because we understood what did and didn’t work, we knew what we needed to change defensively and once we made the defensive changes Chester found it very difficult to break us down.

“We then played some very good rugby and opportunities came our way; the shape we played exposed them and that was really good to see.

“However, the most pleasing thing was how the boys reacted after the first 20 minutes, they did it all themselves, they made the right changes and really got us on to the front foot.

“Injury wise we’re up against it at the moment, but the boys are really pulling together and it’s great to see everyone contributing to what we are trying to achieve.”

Referee: Ben Davis

Attendance: 377

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Cooke (2T), Stout, (T), Laxton (T), Field (T), Hayes (2C, 1P), Carlisle (1C)

Chester: Ivory (2T), Reed (T), Phillips (1C)

Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Connor Field (Veall 73), 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall (Fisher 75), 19 Tom Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Harry Williams (Payne 60), 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Marcus Payne, 22 Olly Fisher, 20 Sam Veall.

Chester: 15 Gethin Long, 14 Jonny Roberts, 13 Ben Ivory, 12 Tom Scott, 11 Kier Gordon, 10 Iwan Phillips, 9 Tom Holloway (Craven 53), 1 Tom Furnival (Woods 45), 2 Scott Robson (Williams 75), 3 Alex Reed (Williams 28) (Reed 58) (Guest 70), 4 George Spalding, 5 James Lloyd (Brearey 56), 6 Harry Wilkinson (Capt.), 7 Sam Brearey (Farrar 45), 8 David Ford (Lloyd 70).

Replacements: 18 Wade Williams, 20 Joshua Woods, 17 Tom Guest, 19 Sam Farrar, 21 John Craven.

Titans 33 Chester 28

Rotherham Titans ran out worthy 33-28 winners over a tenacious Chester side on a bright, but blustery afternoon at Clifton Lane.

Titans outscored their Cheshire based opponents by five tries to four to maintain an interest in taking the top spot come mid-May.

Rotherham’s points came from touch downs via Jamie Cooke, George Tucker, Harry Dunne, Lloyd Hayes and a penalty try, with 6 points coming from the boot of fly half Joe Carlisle.

Despite a horrendous list of injuries in the Titans pack, which include Charlie Capps, Colin Quigley, Matt Challinor, Matt Smith, Lewis Wilson, Callum Bustin and Kieran Curran, the South Yorkshire side showed great resilience to maintain their unbeaten record at Clifton Lane this season.

However, Roth started slowly out of the blocks and it was Chester who scored first when fly half Liam Reeve knocked over a penalty on 12 minutes, before moments later winger Kier Gordon ran in too easily to touch down in the corner to give his side an early 8-0 lead.

As the first quarter came to a close Roth finally got themselves on the board, when a scrum 5 metres from the line was collapsed by Chester, it left  referee Daniel Woods with no option but to award Titans a penalty try.

Titans’ joy however was short-lived as the injury curse struck again and again it was a forward! This time it was Matti Williams who left the field with what appeared to be a neck injury.

Nevertheless the home side quickly regrouped and scored their second try within minutes.

From a scrum on halfway next to the main stand, scrum half Sam Boxhall found Joe Carlisle who flung out a beautiful  long miss-pass to Harry Dunne before he drew the last defender to send in winger Jamie Cooke for a really nice score.

Rotherham were now rampant and their third try followed quickly, when after a period of possession inside the Chester 22 the ball was spread across the field and into the hands of full back George Tucker who found a gap in the defence to race through.

The bonus point try for Rotherham came just before half time when Connor Field made good ground towards the line, which allowed an alert Harry Dunne to nip in and dive over for a simple score.

As the sides went in at the break, Rotherham would have been pleased with their 28-8 lead and maybe they thought job done.

However, another slow start to the half saw Chester exploit some errors from the home side and within 8 minutes they crossed the whitewash twice through back rower George Baxter and full back Gethin Long to reduce their arrears to 28-18.

The nerves of the home side were calmed just after the hour mark when Lloyd Hayes cut back inside to score Roth’s fifth try following some good powerful work down the left flank from Jamie Cooke.

However, those nerves were jangling again late on after replacement back rower Sam Farrar went over for Chester on 74 minutes for a converted try and Liam Reeve added a penalty as the game went into injury time.

Thankfully for the home side they managed the game out well and held on for a deserved win.

The two sides will have another go at each other next week as the original game in Chester was postponed due to Covid earlier in the season.

Commenting after the match Titans’ Adam Byron said:

“We came into the game wanting five points and that’s what we’ve come away with; so we are pleased with that aspect of the match.

“However, we have 8 forwards out now after today’s game and that obviously will make any teams task that little bit more difficult; but we have to give credit to the boys who came in and put in a great shift.

“We started the game off slowly for some reason, but something seemed to change after about 20 minutes; although we had created a couple of chances early on, we seemed to really turn the screw from the mid-point of the first 40.

“I was a little bit frustrated with how we came out in the second half and again we seemed to struggle a little bit in terms of putting in a full 80-minute performance, but that is something we can work on going forward.

“We are still in the fight for promotion and we’ll continue to give everything as we pursue our ambitions.”

Referee: Daniel Woods

Attendance: 364

Yellow Card: Furnival (Chester)

Titans: Cooke (T), Tucker (T), Dunne (T), Hayes (T), Penalty Try, Carlisle (3C)

Chester: Gordon (T), Baxter (T), Long (T), Farrar (T), Reeve (2P, 1C)

Titans: 21 George Tucker, 14 Connor Field (Veall 70), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 28 Alastair Donkor (Richardson 40), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Keifer Laxton, 7 Matti Williams (H. Williams 21), 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).

Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 22 Olly Fisher, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Tom Richardson, 20 Sam Veall.

Chester: 15 Gethin Long, 14 Jonny Roberts (Parry 20), 13 Ben Ivory, 12 Tom Scott, 11 Kier Gordon, 10 Liam Reeve, 9 Tom Holloway (Malik 61), 1 Tom Furnival (Roberts 28), 2 Scott Robson (Woods 60), 3 Wade Williams (Furnival 33) (Williams 60), 4 Harry Wilkinson (Capt.) (Spalding 40), 5 James Lloyd, 6 George Baxter (Spalding 46), 7 Sam Brearey, 8 David Ford.

Replacements: 17 Rhodri Parry, 20 Joshua Woods, 18 George Spalding, 19 Sam Farrar, 22 Oscar Malik.

Photo Credit: Gareth Siddons

Hull 20 Titans 17

Rotherham Titans suffered heartbreak at the end of a pulsating clash, as winger Michael Adlard ran in to score from a cross-field kick with 2 minutes remaining to give Hull a dramatic 20-17 win.

The result leaves the Humberside outfit as heavy favourites to go on and win the league.

However, despite the disappointing loss, Titans will battle on in pursuit as they attempt to chase down their Yorkshire rivals, alongside Sedgley Park who are still very much in the race to finish top of the pile.

The game itself was played in front of a bumper crowd thanks to the travelling support, but in wintry conditions as a swirling wind and constant drizzle kept both sides attention throughout.

Indeed it was Rotherham who enjoyed the better of things during a keenly fought opening quarter; despite losing experienced prop forward Colin Quigley on 10 minutes to a nasty looking facial injury.

On 16 minutes Titans thought they had opened the scoring, but unfortunately for them they were held-up over the line.

Titans would rue not putting some points on the board during this period of the game, as on 20 minutes Lady Luck turned her back on them.

From a kick through from Hull’s Stephen Johnson, Titans full back Matt Minogue tried to control the ball with his foot; however the ball spun forward allowing his opposite number Reece Dean to hack on and chase through to score.

Boosted by the try Hull came into the game more and they enjoyed some good success, particularly at scrum time.

On the half hour mark and after a number of reset scrums close to the Titans line, referee Tim Allatt awarded the home side a penalty try to make it 12-0 and also yellow carded Roth’s tighthead Rikki Stout in the process.

Things got even worse for Rotherham moments later when they lost back five forward Lewis Wilson to what appeared to be a serious injury and fly half Joe Carlisle, although he would return for the second half.

Somehow however Roth managed to navigate their way through to half time without conceding any more points.

Rejuvenated after the half time oranges Roth came out for the second period with a spring in their step and a determination to leave a mark on the game.

And although Simon Humberstone knocked over a penalty on 46 minutes to extend Hull’s lead to 15-0, it did little to dampen Titans determination.

Within 10 minutes Roth had reduced their arrears to 15-10 following firstly a well taken penalty from Matt Minogue and then a terrific powerful drive culminating in replacement front rower Tom Richardson dotting down for a converted try.

The comeback was complete 11 minutes from time when another powerful drive from the Rotherham pack saw the home side once again struggle to legally keep it out and referee Allatt awarded a penalty try to give Titans a 17-15 lead.

It was always going to be a tight and nervous end to this top of the table clash.

With two minutes remaining on the clock, Hull, after failing to penetrate the Rotherham defence, pulled the ball out and opted for a cross field kick.

The risky option paid dividends for the home side as the ball bounced kindly and sat up for the chasing winger Michael Adlard to dot down for a dramatic win!

Rotherham will feel they did enough to win the game, but sometimes the bounce of the ball in tight games ultimately decides the winner.

Speaking after the match Titans Adam Byron said:

"That's the rollercoaster of rugby union, it is exactly what happens. Sometimes the bounce of the ball goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. We’ve had a few decisions in recent weeks that went our way, but today the bounce of the ball went Hull’s way.

"We were frustrated at half time but really proud of that second half. The boys went out and did exactly as they were asked and they showed great heart and managed the game well.

"In all honesty we were pretty unlucky not to come away with the win. Nevertheless our attitude remains the same; we are going to keep fighting the rest of this season and see where that takes us come mid-May."

Referee: Tim Allatt

Attendance: 550

Yellow Card: Stout (Titans), Boothman (Hull)

Titans: Richardson (T), Penalty Try, Minogue (1C, 1P)

Hull: Dean (T), Penalty Try, Adlard (T), Humberstone (1P)

Titans: 15 Matt Minogue, 21 George Tucker (Richardson 33) (Carlisle 41), 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle (Tucker 34), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Colin Quigley (Donkor 10) (Richardson 54), 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 53), 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Matt Challinor (Newborn 78), 5 Lewis Wilson (Laxton 33), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Matti Williams, 8 Kieran Curran.  

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 28 Keifer Laxton, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Tom Richardson, 22 Olly Fisher.

Hull: 15 Reece Dean, 14 Mike Adlard, 13 Iosefo Taunei Turaga, 12 Stephen Johnson, 11 Keane Naylor (Jobling 78), 10 Simon Humberstone (Capt.), 9 Harvey Harding, 1 Loma Kivalu (Beech 32) (Kivalu 71), 2 Mike Jobling (Jones 32) (Makaa'fi 65), 3 Ben Boothman, 4 Cameron Curry, 5 Liam Regardsoe, 6 Latu Makaa'fi (Hicks 34) (Dias 76), 7 Alistair Thomson, 8 Will Hall.

Replacements: 16 Robin Watts, 17 Tom Hicks, 18 Greg Jones, 19 Mike Dias, 20 Charlie Beech.

Photo Credit: Mike Inkley

Titans 17 Stourbridge 10

Rotherham Titans ran out narrow 17-10 winners over Stourbridge at a blustery, but bright Clifton Lane to maintain their promotion ambitions.

Both sides scored a try apiece, but ultimately it was the boot of Matt Minogue that sealed the win against a very good Stourbridge outfit.

Titans’ sole try of the game was scored by skipper Zak Poole 2 minutes from time and now the South Yorkshire side will focus on the important game against league leaders, Hull, in 7 days hence.

The game itself saw a much-improved Stourbridge team to the one Titans had played three weeks earlier at Stourton Park; a game the South Yorkshire side won with some ease to be fair.

However, in this one Stourbridge had loaded their backline with some big boys and the obvious message seemed to be run hard at Rotherham. This they did and for the first 20 minutes of the match Titans struggled to gain any control.

Indeed when hooker Jack Lea crashed over for the visitors and Michael Heaney converted on 21 minutes, the signs looked ominous for the home side.

Eventually Roth inched their way back into the contest with a couple of good penalties from Matt Minogue; this helped to calm the nerves somewhat as the game became a more even affair.

Heaney did slot over a penalty for the hosts before the break, but it was interesting Stourbridge decided to take the points on offer, as up to this juncture they had gone for the corner to set-up the drive. Titans’ resilience in defence had obviously had an impact on their change of strategy.

It was also noteworthy that this would be Stourbridge’s final score of the game as in the second half Rotherham managed to keep them pointless and indeed the West Midlanders rarely got anywhere near the Titans line; but that’s not to say it wasn’t a keenly-fought, close affair between two very good sides.

On the hour mark Rotherham took the lead for the first time when Minogue impressed again from the tee in difficult conditions from out wide.

Then two minutes from time Titans guaranteed the win when skipper, Zak Poole dotted down from a powerful driving maul close to the line.

Overall it was no more than Rotherham had deserved and equally the visitors more than earned their losing bonus point.

Speaking on the pitch immediately after the game, Titans’ Adam Byron said:

“I’ve just said to the boy’s teams that win championships sometimes have to win ugly and I would suggest that’s two weeks in a row that we have done that; but we’ve come out on the right side and we’ll take the win.

“Stourbridge probably had the better of the first half, but I thought we came back into the game well. We were very generous in the first half with the amount of opportunities we gave them, whether that be the penalties or mistakes in the wrong areas; but to come away only trailing by a point at half time is something I was very happy to take.

“We knew Stourbridge was a very good side and I think today’s score shows just how well we played when we went there 3 weeks ago, especially when we were 38-7 up at one stage.

“Today we saw Matt Minogue slot over some crucial kicks which helped to keep us in the game and I knew as long as we could stay in touch, I was confident we would go on to win the game in the second half.

Referee: Owen Taylor 

Attendance: 394

Yellow Card: Ciaran Moore (Stourbridge)

Titans: Poole (T), Minogue (4P)

Stourbridge: Lea (T), Heaney (P, C)

Titans: 15 Matt Minogue, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Colin Quigley (Richardson 28) (Donkor 46), 2 Harry Newborn, 27 Rikki Stout (Quigley 69), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Wilson, 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Matti Williams, 8 Kieran Curran.  

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 28 Keifer Laxton, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Tom Richardson, 20 George Tucker.

Stourbridge: 15 Matt Moseley, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 Rhys Pritchard (Ororo 73), 12 Ciaran Moore, 11 Dan Rundle, 25 Mike Penn, 24 Michael Heaney (Capt.) (Morgan 73), 1 Stefan Thorp (McLeod 28), 2 Jack Lea, 3 Chad Thorne (Smith 70), 17 Nick Murphy (O'Sullivan 61), 5 Matt Perks, 6 Mark George, 7 Jasper Smith, 8 Tatenda Mukarati.

Replacements: 20 Ben O'Sullivan, 21 Clarkson McLeod, 19 Jess Smith, 23 Dallas Ororo, 22 Freddie Morgan.

Photo Credit: Gareth Lyons

Luctonians 10 Titans 12

POST-MATCH UPDATED NOTES:

The original full time score of 12-10 to Rotherham Titans was re-instated by the RFU after a series of meeting the following week.

The referee altered the final score after the game, deeming that the last kick of the game, a conversion by Matt Minogue for Rotherham, had gone under the crossbar.

The RFU saw video evidence to prove the kick was good, but more importantly ruled - the score on full time was 12-10 to Rotherham and this couldn’t be changed by anyone after the full time whistle, including the referee.

Rotherham Titans suffered a disappointing and controversial end to their game at Luctonians, as Matt Minogue’s last-kick-of-the-game conversion was deemed to have gone under the bar.

The match ended in a 10-10 draw on a heavy pitch, but Titans frustration was heightened when video footage emerged to clearly show the ball had gone over the bar legitimately.

The result means for the first time this season that Rotherham’s title ambitions are now out of their own hands.

The game itself had to be played on an adjacent pitch due to heavy rainfall in the area which left the main pitch laden with standing water.

In awful conditions due to the sodden surface and strong winds, the error count for both sides was understandably high and as such the game was always going to be a low-scoring affair.

The solitary score of the first half saw Luctonians scrum half Owen Randell dot down after a punt up-field saw the ball bounce kindly for the home side, before a hack on was finished off by the half back.

Titans’ task got a lot tougher just before the break when centre Harry Dunne was shown a red card for foul play.

Rotherham to their credit battled admirably throughout the second half into the unyielding wind and with a reduction in their numbers.

On 65 minutes however Titans endeavours were rewarded when lock forward Matt Challinor bulldozed his way over to level the scores.

Back came the home side as they pressed to regain the lead and as the ball was fed out wide, unfortunately for Rotherham Matt Minogue lost his footing in the mud and Ben Owen took full advantage to run in and score in the corner with 7 minutes remaining.

Rotherham impressed again with their response as their character came to the fore and they battled gamely uphill into the biting wind in search of a late win.

Dramatically in the final play of the match the South Yorkshire side managed to cross the whitewash next to the posts through skipper Zak Poole, after immense work from the Titans pack, to level the game at 10-10 with the conversion to follow.

Minogue duly added the extras and the two referee assistants raised their flags to indicate the dramatic, but successful end to the game for Rotherham.

However, in a cruel twist for the visitors, the referee held conference with his fellow officials before deciding the ball had gone underneath the crossbar!

Rotherham Titans suffered a disappointing and controversial end to their game at Luctonians, as Matt Minogue’s last-kick-of-the-game conversion was deemed to have gone under the bar.

The match ended in a 10-10 draw on a heavy pitch, but Titans frustration was heightened when video footage emerged to clearly show the ball had gone over the bar legitimately.

The result means for the first time this season that Rotherham’s title ambitions are now out of their own hands.

The game itself had to be played on an adjacent pitch due to heavy rainfall in the area which left the main pitch laden with standing water.

In awful conditions due to the sodden surface and strong winds, the error count for both sides was understandably high and as such the game was always going to be a low-scoring affair.

The solitary score of the first half saw Luctonians scrum half Owen Randell dot down after a punt up-field saw the ball bounce kindly for the home side, before a hack on was finished off by the half back.

Titans’ task got a lot tougher just before the break when centre Harry Dunne was shown a red card for foul play.

Rotherham to their credit battled admirably throughout the second half into the unyielding wind and with a reduction in their numbers.

On 65 minutes however Titans endeavours were rewarded when lock forward Matt Challinor bulldozed his way over to level the scores.

Back came the home side as they pressed to regain the lead and as the ball was fed out wide, unfortunately for Rotherham Matt Minogue lost his footing in the mud and Ben Owen took full advantage to run in and score in the corner with 7 minutes remaining.

Rotherham impressed again with their response as their character came to the fore and they battled gamely uphill into the biting wind in search of a late win.

Dramatically in the final play of the match the South Yorkshire side managed to cross the whitewash next to the posts through skipper Zak Poole, after immense work from the Titans pack, to level the game at 10-10 with the conversion to follow.

Minogue duly added the extras and the two referee assistants raised their flags to indicate the dramatic, but successful end to the game for Rotherham.

However, in a cruel twist for the visitors, the referee held conference with his fellow officials before deciding the ball had gone underneath the crossbar!

Referee: George Richardson

Attendance: 354

Red Card: Dunne (Titans)

Titans: Challinor (T), Poole (T)

Luctonians: Randell (T), Owen (T)

Titans: 15 George Tucker (Carlisle 24), 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 23 Jamie Cooke, 10 Matt Minogue, 9 Sam Boxhall, 28 Alastair Donkor (Richardson 40), 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 60), 27 Rikki Stout (Quigley 53), 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope (Williams 71), 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Kieran Curran. 

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Matti Williams, 19 Tom Richardson, 20 Joe Carlisle.

Luctonians: 15 Giles Morell, 14 Rob Bengry, 13 Nick Yeoward, 12 Ben Owen, 19 James Wheeler, 10 Tom Jones (Cheshire 65), 9 Owen Randell (Nott 57), 1 Connor Deignan, 2 Ben Link (Smith 43), 3 Joe White (Capt.), 4 Tom Smith, 5 Owien Harriott-Davis, 6 Jack Forsythe (Kone 67), 7 Mat Hackley, 8 Sam Jones.

Replacements: 16 Brad Smith, 20 Henry Powell, 30 Cheik Kone, 17 Aiden Cheshire, 21 Josh Nott.

Titans 40 Hull Ionians 12

Rotherham Titans maintained their ambitions of a top-end finish with an impressive 40-12 win over a determined and hugely physical Hull Ionians side.

Titans managed to keep their opponents try-less, whilst running in four scores themselves through a double from Kieran Curran and one each for Callum Bustin and Sam Boxhall.

Fly half Matt Minogue put in another perfect afternoon from the tee as he knocked over all 8 of his efforts.

However, the victory lost some of its gloss for the home side as Callum Bustin and Matt Smith both left the field on stretchers and at the time of writing all at Clifton Lane wish them a speedy recovery.

The game itself was played in windy and wet conditions, but despite this the handling from both sides was pretty impressive.

Following an early penalty from fly half Matt Minogue Titans scored their first try following a barnstorming break from centre Lloyd Hayes, which took play up to the five metre line, after which scrum half Sam Boxhall fed back rower Kieran Curran who powered his way over. Minogue added the extras.

Ionians got themselves on the board through two penalties from centre Lewis Minikin whose efforts sandwiched one from Matt Minogue.

Titans extended their lead on 30 minutes when number 8 Callum Bustin broke off the tail of a dominant maul for Roth’s second try. Minogue impressed from out wide with his conversion.

Rotherham continued to have the better of things in general, but credit to Ionians as some resilient defending kept out the home side. Indeed Lewis Minikin added two more penalties just before the break to send the teams in at half time with Roth holding a 20-12 advantage.

The second period saw Rotherham dominate even more as the visitors began to tire. Two early penalties from Minogue sent his side 26-12 up, before the third try arrived on 56 minutes.

From a line out close to Ionians line Roth set up a powerful driving maul which culminated in Kieran Curran dotting down for his second score of the match. Minogue dutifully added the extras.

The final score of the game came 15 minutes from time and secured the bonus point for the South Yorkshire side.

This time the score came from a flowing move which combined backs and forwards in the build-up, with flanker Matti Williams making good ground before offloading to Sam Boxhall to theatrically dive over the whitewash for the try of the match. Minogue completed a perfect afternoon’s work for himself with the extras.

Titans now have to regroup after the loss of Charlie Capps, Callum Bustin and Matt Smith in the last 2 weeks due to potentially serious injuries.

Speaking immediately after the game Titans Adam Byron said:

“Some of the gloss has obviously been taken off the result because we had two boys leave the field on a stretcher. The injuries didn’t look great, but it’s too early to know just how serious they are.

“We have to say a huge thanks to our medical department for looking after them; we are lucky at Rotherham to have such quality and experience in David Swift and Chris Myers.

“Whenever there is a serious injury which stops the game for a long period it takes it out of the boys and you can lose your focus, but the boys came together and did what they had to do and full credit to them for that.

“Hull Ionians are a good side and we knew they were going to give us a tough test and so we are really pleased to get the result and it’s another game in which we have scored 40 points against one of the top sides.

“Our real focus since the Fylde game has been our game management and that ability to be clinical in finishing off our opportunities and I thought we were good again in those areas and since I’ve been here it’s the first time we’ve been able to do that for two games in a row.

“It was also pleasing to see the boy’s not just win, but win convincingly – just as they did last week down at Stourbridge and that is very pleasing to see.”

Referee: Nikki O'Donnell

Attendance: 377

Yellow Card: None

Titans: Curran (2T), Bustin (T), Boxhall (T), Minogue (4P, 4C)

Hull Ionians: Minikin (4C)

Titans:

15 George Tucker

14 Connor Field

13 Lloyd Hayes

12 Harry Dunne

11 Jamie Cooke

10 Matt Minogue

9 Sam Boxhall (Fisher 78)

28 Alastair Donkor (Richardson 57)

2 Harry Newborn

27 Rikki Stout (Quigley 64)

4 Matt Challinor (Capt.)

5 Matt Smith (Bergmanas 59)

6 Kieran Curran

7 Matti Williams

8 Callum Bustin (Wilson 50)

Replacements:

16 Jack Bergmanas

17 Colin Quigley

18 Lewis Wilson

19 Tom Richardson

21 Oli Fisher

Hull Ionians:

15 Jack Townend

14 Sam Wilson (Metcalfe 41)

13 Lewis Minikin

12 Josh Britton (McDaniel 72)

11 Nathan Hill

10 Ben Smith

9 William Metcalfe (Kirk 40)

1 David Laverick (Bell 67) (Laverick 80)

2 Ben Stephenson

3 Ben Bell (Morton 41)

4 Joe Makin (Capt.)

5 Thomas Peters

6 Alex Campbell (Foffie 40)

7 Allan Hudson (Malcolmson 67)

8 George Mewburn

Replacements:

16 Christopher Morton

18 Kobby Foffie

23 James Malcolmson

19 James McDaniel

20 Charlie Kirk

StoUrbridge 33 Titans 48

Rotherham Titans returned to winning ways with an eye-catching 48-33 win over high-flyers Stourbridge on a windy afternoon at Stourton Park.

Rotherham outscored their opponents by 6 tries to 5, with Jamie Cooke, Zak Poole, Callum Bustin, Kieran Curran, Harry Newborn and Connor Field all crossing the whitewash, whilst Matt Minogue chipped in with a massive 18 points on a perfect day for him.

The win for Rotherham was an important one as it keeps them in touch with a host of clubs at the top of the table and they have taken points directly away from one of their main competitors.

The game itself saw Rotherham put in an excellent performance, but in particular they had a great opening 40 minutes where they scored three tries and restricted a dangerous Stourbridge side to very few opportunities.

Titans’ fly half Matt Minogue opened the scoring on 3 minutes with a well taken penalty before Jamie Cooke touched down for the first try of the game after receiving a huge miss-pass from Joe Carlisle.

Almost from the restart Roth had their second following more good work from Jamie Cooke which resulted in skipper Zak Poole charging in from 20 metres. Minogue impressed from out wide with his conversion to make it 17-0 after 20 minutes to stun the home side.

Stourbridge are not a top team without just cause and five minutes later they got themselves on the board when centre Seb Atkinson crossed the whitewash for captain and ex-Doncaster Knights scrum half, Michael Heaney, to convert.

Undeterred Rotherham continued to dominate in all aspects of the game and in particular at the set piece.

Ten minutes before the break Roth added to their try count when from a line out 15 metres from the line they ran a nice move through Matt Challinor who popped a pass back inside for Callum Bustin to charge through to score.

The second half opened up in the same manner when after 5 minutes Roth had the bonus point in the bag when Kieran Curran dotted down from a catch and drive close to the line.

The game was effectively sealed for the South Yorkshire side on 52 minutes when hooker Harry Newborn scored his side’s fifth try of the game from another line out close to the line, with Minogue adding the extras to make it 38-7.

With the game now gone Stourbridge threw caution to the wind and their backs were allowed to cut loose and this they did to great effect.

Just before the hour mark scores from fly half Afeafe Haisila and replacement centre Arthur Morgan gave the hosts slight hope of a miraculous comeback as they reduced the deficit to 38-19 with a quarter of the match to go.

However, five minutes later Titans Connor Field smashed that hope with an outstanding individual try. Collecting the ball from a goal line drop out around 30 metres out, the powerful winger charged through a host of defenders before showing neat footwork to round the full back to score Roth’s sixth try of the game.

In the final 10 minutes of this pulsating contest a Matt Minogue penalty was sandwiched with two more tries from Stourbridge; firstly with a penalty try and then at the death with winger Dan Rundle touching down.

Speaking on the pitch following this 81-point thriller Titans Adam Byron said:

“Obviously I am really pleased with the result and really proud of the boys; we wanted a reaction after last week and we certainly got that. We’ve come here and ticked a lot of boxes and got rid of a lot of question marks after the Fylde game.

“Playing into the wind in the first half we knew we were going to have to control the half in terms of territory and possession and the boys did that. They were clinical when they needed to be and that’s pleasing as we spoke about that coming into the game.

“We knew Stourbridge was a very good side and we saw that today, they were so dangerous from everywhere on the field and they have some real gas out wide.

“For me however the most important thing about today is that we have ticked boxes that we didn’t last week. We didn’t control the game like we should have done, we weren’t clinical in certain areas and our game management wasn’t as good as it should have been, in that we had all the territory and possession but didn’t come away with the win.

“So the difference from that and this week was huge and we really showed that we do understand how to control games and how to finish them off and that was the most pleasing aspect for me.”

Referee: Andy Wigley

Attendance: 450

Yellow Card: Smith (Titans)

Titans: Cooke (T), Poole (T), Bustin (T), Curran (T), Newborn (T), Field (T), Minogue (2P, 6C)

Stourbridge: Atkinson (T), Haisila (T), Morgan (T), Rundle (T), Penalty Try, Heaney (3C)

Titans: 15 Matt Minogue, 14 Connor Field, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle (West 75), 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps (Donkor 29), 2 Harry Newborn (Bergmanas 57), 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith (Williams 75), 6 Zak Poole (Capt) (Curran 31), 7 Matti Williams (Wilson 57), 8 Callum Bustin. 

Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Alastair Donkor, 18 Lewis Wilson, 19 Kieran Curran, 20 Jonny West.

Stourbridge: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Mark Harrison (Wilson 60), 13 Seb Atkinson, 12 Hal Riley (Morgan 41), 11 Dan Rundle, 10 Afeafe Haisila (Scott 57), 9 Michael Heaney (Capt.), 1 Mark George (Thorp 46), 2 Brad Clements, 3 Chad Thorne, 4 Matt Perks, 5 Ben O'Sullivan, 6 Jasper Smith (Jess Smith 50), 7 Michael Worthington, 8 Tatenda Mukarati.

Replacements: 16 Stefan Thorp, 17 Jess Smith, 18 Arthur Morgan, 19 Tobi Wilson, 20 Christopher Scott.