Rotherham Titans came out on top in a massively physical contest to beat Blackheath 24-19 on a wet afternoon at Clifton Lane.
The sides shared 6 tries with Titans 3 scores coming from JB Bruzulier, Sinjin Broad and a penalty try, with Lloyd Hayes adding 7 points from the tee on a difficult afternoon for kicking in drenched conditions.
It was never going to be a high scoring affair, and we had to wait until the 14th minute before the visitor’s livewire scrum half, Jordan Burns, collected and raced around the Rotherham defence to go in near the corner for an unconverted try.
Titans didn’t take long to react, and they nosed themselves ahead a couple of minutes later when their own scrum half, JB Bruzulier, got in the thick of the forwards action to come up with a try, which Lloyd Hayes converted; the latter then stretched the advantage ten minutes later with a penalty.
Blackheath are not considered a top side without good reason, and they proved that when before the half hour mark, they retook the lead when hooker Billy Harding dotted down from the tail of a driving maul.
The final ten minutes of the half saw Rotherham step on the gas and enjoy a purple patch as firstly Sinjin Broad went over in the corner following good work in the build up from Mitchell Lacey-Babalola and Jackson Barling.
Then the Titans were awarded a penalty try after a long looping pass from JB Bruzulier looked to send in Jackson Barling on the wing. However, a deliberate knock-on from Blackheath winger Alex Earnshaw prevented the score for which he received a 10-minute rest.
With Rotherham now in full control and with the momentum in their favour the South Yorkshire outfit looked to wrap up the bonus point before half time.
Following a series of scrums and penalties on the Blackheath line this looked inevitable; unfortunately for them they were penalised on their own scrum, and the opportunity was lost, but they still however went in at the break with a worthy 24-12 lead.
The second period proved to be as equally as competitive as both sides battered each other in an attempt to gain the ascendancy.
Just after the restart Hayes missed a difficult penalty opportunity for what would have opened a 15-point advantage, but no blame could be attached to any kicker in these challenging underfoot conditions.
Blackheath narrowed the deficit to just five points before the hour mark when hooker Billy Harding popped up again to finish off another driving maul.
With plenty of time remaining the game was up for grabs and both sides did their very best to wrestle the advantage.
Titans came close to stretching the lead to a crucial 8-points inside the final ten minutes with a penalty kick, but this was narrowly missed.
With the nerves jangling at the death there was a huge sigh of relief on full time as the Titans held on for a tough, but well-deserved win in tricky conditions against a very good side.
Titans will now rest a few bruised bodies before quickly turning their attention to next week’s challenge against Plymouth Albion.
Speaking after the game Rotherham’s Harvey Biljon reflected:
“Today I’ve got to credit our players on the discipline with pretty big, long defensive sets. In the second half we were under pressure at line out, we were under pressure at set-piece, and we had to find another way.
“When you talk about character, effort, but also being composed and understanding the situation, that was a big moment of maturity for the group.
“On days like today you’re never going to get away from opposition and it’s always going to come down to that one score.
“In these conditions not everything is going to go right every time, but I am immensely proud of how far they have come today because that Blackheath team came with everything.”
Titans: JB Bruzulier (T), Broad (T), Penalty Try, Hayes (2C, P)
Blackheath: Harding (2T), Burns (T), Hennessey (1C), Dalrymple (1C)
Yellow Card: Earnshaw (Blackheath)
Referee: Ben Simpson
Assistant Referees: Adam Carpenter & Ian Farrell
Titans: 15 Isaac Shaw, 14 Jackson Barling, 13 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, 12 Travis Gordon (Capt.), 11 Sinjin Broad, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Alastair Donkor (Toerien 54), 2 Morgan Veness (Cole 67), 3 Andrew Foster (Valentine 74), 4 Frankie Gascoigne, 5 Cory Teague (Maguire 67), 6 John Okafor, 7 Jack Baldry, 8 Ellis Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Zach Toerien, 18 Xavier Valentine, 19 Curran Maguire, 20 Corben Ollivent.
Blackheath: 15 Jake Hennessey, 14 Jake Lloyd, 13 Luke Pollock, 12 Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas, 11 Alex Earnshaw (McGhie 44), 10 Ed Dunford (Dalrymple 40), 9 Jordan Burns (Sloot 74), 1 Archie Holland (Cornish 67), 2 Billy Harding (Capt.), 3 Andrew Boye, 4 Finley O’Sullivan, 5 Ed Scragg, 6 Archie Smeaton (Jameson 44), 7 Noah Sloot (Bourne 67), 8 Finn Osborne.
Replacements: 16 Archie Bourne, 17 James Cornish, 18 William Jameson, 19 Kyle McGhie, 20 Matt Dalrymple.
