Rotherham Titans kicked off their pre-season campaign in style as they ran out 59-7 winners over a spirited Hull Ionians outfit under the lights at Clifton Lane.
Titans outscored I’s by 9 tries to 1 with Luke Cole grabbing a brace, with one each from Will Metcalfe, Ellis Thomas, Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, Callum Bustin, Isaac Shaw and a couple of penalty tries. Lloyd Hayes added 8 points from the tee and Rob Povey chipped in with a conversion.
On a very warm evening, in which temperatures reached the mid 20’s, both sides impressed with lots of energy and plenty of endeavour.
However, it was the home side that converted strong early pressure into points as Metcalfe and Thomas finished off from close to the line and a penalty try before the half hour mark made it 21-0 to the Titans.
Ionians deserved their score from Sam Pocklington on the half hour mark, but Rotherham soon exerted more pressure on the visitors.
However, a resolute Hull defence held out and no more points were conceded in the half.
The second forty saw Titans step up their intensity and they extended their lead just two minutes in when Mitchell Lacey-Babalola jinked through for a nice score.
Despite more dominance from Rotherham, they found it difficult to add to their tally as once again the visitors showed impressive resilience in defence.
However, and almost inevitably, in the final 15 minutes Rotherham finally broke Ionians spirit as they ran in five unanswered tries.
The flourishing finish gave the home support plenty to shout about and a legitimate reason to enjoy a couple of cold ones in the bar afterwards.
Speaking post-match Harvey Biljon reflected:
“When you look at the scoreline it’s probably a little bit unfair to the effort and emotion that Hull Ionians put into the game. I really think that will put them in a great position as they go into the league campaign.
“For our players it’s very easy to get a little bit over enthusiastic in a pre-season game and baring a couple of moments I thought we stuck to task really well in what we were trying to do and ultimately that what broke Ionians down and gave us opportunities to go and get those scores.
“We had great balance between the forwards and the backs, but there’s lots more to come.
“We used 24 players for the game and each of them made a contribution and that gives you an headache with selection and I love that.
“We spoke before the game and tonight, as next week’s game will be, is was about learning what some of these players have got to offer and a lot of them fronted up tonight and that’s really encouraging.”
Referee: Tim Allatt
Assistant Referees: Jason Garrick & Matt Daubney
TITANS:
15 ISAAC SHAW
14 JACKSON BARLING
13 LLOYD HAYES
12 MITCHELL LACEY-BABALOLA
11 KIERAN O’MEARA
10 ROB POVEY
9 WILL METCALFE
1 ZACH TOERIEN
2 LUKE COLE
3 XAVIER VALENTINE
4 FRANKIE GASCOIGNE
5 CURRAN MAGUIRE
6 JOHN OKAFOR
7 TRAVIS GORDON (CAPT.)
8 ELLIS THOMAS
REPLACEMENTS:
JAMIE MAJOR
ALASTAIR DONKOR
TOM BAIRSTOW
WILL BAKER
JACK BALDRY
LUCKAS SABLEMAN-BLUE
JB BRUZULIER
FRASER HASTIE
CALLUM BUSTIN
