Rotherham Titans retained their place at the top of National 1 with a hard-earned 35-31 win over Rams on a wet afternoon at Old Bath Road.
Titans put in a huge physical effort to grab the spoils in a bonus point win with tries from Travis Gordon, John Okafor, Jackson Barling and Lloyd Hayes, with the latter adding 12 points from the tee; Rob Povey also added a 3-pointer.
An outstanding first half performance laid the foundations for Rotherham’s impressive victory over a top end side.
As early as the third minute Titans signalled their intentions with a lovely try from centre Travis Gordon after good work from Isaac Shaw and Lloyd Hayes.
Despite Rams levelling matters shortly after through second rower Liam Elston, Titans quickly restored their advantage when Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty before sending in John Okafor for Titans second try.
Rams responded to narrow the deficit when midway through the half winger Oli Rhoads raced in near the corner.
Undeterred however, Rotherham pressed home their dominance with a further two tries before the break.
More good work from Hayes saw him send in winger Jackson Barling who showed good desire to get over the line, before Hayes himself finished off a lovely team try as he dummied his way over to send Titans in at the break 29-12 to the good.
A second half response was expected from the home side and they didn’t disappoint.
The Berkshire outfit ran in a further 3 scores from Stone, Kalling-Smith and Clow, the latter try came with a minute remaining which set up a tense finale.
However, second half penalties from Hayes and Povey meant Rotherham had enough points on the board to see out their deserved win.
Reflecting after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“Let’s not forget Rotherham have never beaten Rams away and that just shows what a difficult place it is to come and get a result!
“I’m absolutely delighted with the performance; in the first half there was some rugby that I was really impressed with considering the conditions.
“And then we just needed to adapt and become a little more disciplined through the second half and unfortunately that just gave them a few opportunities, and they fought until the end.
“However, the way the players showed their control and kept their composure meant they thoroughly deserved it, and I think there was one or two scores that on another day get awarded.
“What people may not see is the adversity we faced during the game where we lost three or four players.
“We lost our line-out caller, we lost our number 8, we lost a midfielder and a prop, and we had to manage with all those comings and goings.
“So, we were having to problem solve with players in different positions and I think that’s the sign of a really good team, to be able to show their resilience and because that is what disrupted our second half.”
Titans: Gordon (T), Okafor (T), Barling (T), Hayes (T, 3C, 2P), Povey (1P)
Rams: Elston (T), Rhoads (T), Stone (T), Kalling-Smith (T), Clow (T), Cooke (3C)
Yellow Card: Hayes (Titans)
Referee: George Ounsley
Assistant Referees: Michael Maple & Richard Waller
Titans: 15 Isaac Shaw, 14 Jackson Barling, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Travis Gordon, 11 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola (Valentine70), 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Alastair Donkor (Toerien 38), 2 Luke Cole (Veness 46), 3 Xavier Valentine (Foster 38), 4 Frankie Gascoigne, 5 Harry Gilson-Fox (Baldry 55), 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin (Broad 70).
Replacements: 16 Morgan Veness, 17 Zach Toerien, 18 Andrew Foster, 19 Jack Baldry, 20 Sinjin Broad.
Rams: 15 Zach Clow, 14 Axel Kalling-Smith, 13 Ellis Jones, 12 Rowan Grundy (MacRae 60), 11 Oli Rhoads, 10 Mike Cooke, 9 Sam Boxhall (Hodgson 54), 1 Paddy Harris (Marris 50), 2 Max Hayman (Capt.), 3 Ryan Lomas (Baker 50), 4 Connor Stapley (Duda 54), 5 Liam Elston, 6 Harry Stone, 7 Aaron Tull, 8 Willo Bicknell.
Replacements: 16 Ant Marris, 17 James Baker, 18 Morgan MacRae, 19 Mikey Duda, 20 Ollie Hodgson.
