Rotherham Titans completed their pre-season in style with a third straight win, as they ran out 50-21 victors over a spirited and very capable Durham University side under the lights at Clifton Lane.
Titans outscored their youthful opposition by 8 tries to 3 as they looked to make full use of their squad ahead of the National 1 season, which starts for them next Saturday away to Sale FC.
In a competitive first half both sides scored converted tries to leave the score at 14 apiece after 25 minutes, with Titans tries coming from Corben Ollivent who came into the line at pace to collect before barrelling over and Morgan Tunneycliff dotting down from the tail of a driving maul.
Just after the half hour mark Will Wood crashed over following a period of forward pressure for an unconverted try to send the home side in at the break 19-14 ahead.
Durham stunned the Titans early in the second half when they took the lead for the first time with a score under the sticks from centre Victor Ravailhe, his second of the match, with fly half Louie Platt adding the extras.
The home side soon responded however, as over the next 20 minutes they ran in 4 unanswered tries to effectively seal the game.
Callum Bustin helped himself to a brace with his usual determination and power, Luckas Sableman-Blue raced in down the right wing for his and Travis Gordon showed good athleticism and purpose to cross the whitewash under pressure.
To be fair to the visitors they never let their heads drop at any point and their desire for the battle was commendable.
However, it was to be Rotherham who had the final say when at the death Fraser Hastie finished off another power drive for the home side.
Reflecting after the match Titans Harvey Biljon explained:
“Right now, I am thinking what a fantastic set of pre-season fixtures we’ve had.
“We’ve had a different challenge every single game and every team has presented us with problem solving situations during the game and that’s been a great test for our players to adapt and transfer the messages from the coaches and put them into practice on the field.
“I thought Durham came with real intent, they scored some great tries and from a defensive point of view we had to be really alert around that.
“It’s very easy in a game like that to just get loose and go with it and that was a real test of our whole pre-season programme, how everyone had understanding.
“Because every team has been different through the three games and I think the players stuck to task in a game that could have very easily got loose and that’s why we got the scores we did.
“However, the players are once again giving me more headaches around selection.”
Titans: Bustin (2T), Ollivent (T), Tunneycliff (T), Wood (T), Sableman-Blue (T), Gordon (T), Hastie (T), Cummins (5C)
Durham University: Ravailhe (2T), Windows (T), Platt (3C)
Referee: Tim Allatt
Assistant Referees: Jason Garrick & Simon Park
Titans: 15 Will Baker, 14 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 13 Will Wood, 12 Corben Ollivent, 11 Sinjin Broad, 10 Joe Cummins, 9 Will Metcalfe, 1 Jacob Odams, 2 Jamie Major, 3 Tom Bairstow, 4 Harry Gilson-Fox ©, 5 Curran Maguire 6 Jack Baldry, 7 Morgan Tunneycliff, 8 Fraser Hastie.
Replacements: 16 Morgan Veness, 17 Calvin Mitchell, 18 Andrew Foster, 19 Callum Bustin, 20 Travis Gordon, 21 James Norman, 22 Mike Ogunwole.
Durham University: 15 Patrick Keaveney, 14 Callum Hyland-Dugbo, 13 Victor Ravailhe, 12 Ben Motamed, 11 Lucas Rowell, 10 Louie Platt, 9 Will Windows, 1 Leon Tahana, 2 Callum McMurray, 3 Sam Graham, 4 Emmanuel Olowe, 5 George Lavender, 6 Julius Turley, 7 Jonny Smith ©, 8 Oli Gordon.
Replacements: 16 Will Ayton, 17 Timmy Gecer, 18 Ethan Hulme, 19 Nick House, 20 Oliver Hinds, 21 Sam Curwen, 22 Max Orange, 23 Keelan Farrell, 24 Finn Janaway.
