Rotherham Titans putt in an outstanding performance to beat a very good Tonbridge Juddians side 41-21 on a soft surface at The Slade.
Rotherham were made to graft hard by a spirited Tonbridge outfit and after trailing narrowly at the interval, the Yorkshire side stormed back to run out worthy winners.
The first half however was full of tribulation for Rotherham despite racing into an early lead when winger Mitchell Lacey-Babalola showed good footwork to score near the posts.
Juddians responded when centre Lewis Gjaltema crossed before Titans went back ahead through a Luke Cole dot down from the tail of a maul.
Disaster then struck for the Titans when in the space of 4 minutes they lost 2 players to the sin bin. Harry Newborn and John Okafor were given 10 minutes on the sidelines after their indiscretions.
During this spell and whilst down to 13 players Tonbridge made the most of their numerical advantage as they added two scores from hooker Will Hollins and second rower Alfie Scopes to lead 21-12.
Crucially just before the break Rotherham steadied the ship when JB Bruzulier found Isaac Shaw with a lovely miss pass which saw the full back skilfully pluck the ball out of the air to score in the corner.
The second half, whilst still hugely competitive, actually saw Rotherham keep the hosts scoreless as they went on to score a further 3 tries.
The first of which came inside 2 minutes of the restart when scrum half JB Bruzulier found a gap to squeeze over.
This was followed by a Lloyd Hayes penalty before Isaac Shaw broke away down the right wing to cut back inside to dot down under the posts.
The final score came courtesy of the Rotherham pack when a powerful driving maul was finished off by Morgan Veness.
The win keeps Rotherham at the top with a slender one point advantage over Plymouth Albion and the focus will now quickly shift to the visit of Birmingham Moseley to Clifton Lane on Saturday.
