Rotherham Titans put in a massive effort before ultimately going down 22-15 against a good Blackheath side on a bright, but blustery afternoon at The Utilita.
The South Yorkshire side were outscored by 4 tries to 2 with Lloyd Hayes and Jackson Barling dotting down, the former also added 5 points from the tee.
Importantly for Rotherham they secured a losing bonus point which keeps them top of the table, a point ahead of Plymouth Albion who are Titans next opponents at Clifton Lane on Saturday.
Blackheath started with great intensity and duly raced into a 12-0 lead inside the opening 8 minutes as flanker Noah Sloot and hooker Billy Harding barged their way over for powerful scores.
Titans were having difficulty in getting the ball and then maintaining possession once they did.
However, on 16 minutes they worked themselves back into the game with a lovely try from Lloyd Hayes after some strong work down the right wing from Jackson Barling.
The remainder of the half was a more even contest and very competitive; although Titans would have been disappointed not to score just before the break when a wayward pass meant a golden opportunity was missed.
The second half saw the hosts start well and they were next to score when winger Tom Hughes finished off to extend Blackheath’s advantage.
Rotherham nibbled back when Lloyd Hayes knocked over a penalty, but Club secured the try-bonus point when hooker Billy Harding grabbed his second of the match and 41st of the season!
Whilst the momentum was now clearly with Blackheath, Rotherham never gave up and their determination was rewarded late on with a try from Jackson Barling, his determination to get over the line was exceptional.
Lloyd Hayes added the extras to reduce Titans arrears to just 7 points, but they couldn’t find a way through to share the spoils and the hosts deservedly held out for the win.
Rotherham will now regroup and prepare well for the next test which comes at Clifton Lane on Saturday with the visit of second placed side Plymouth Albion.
Speaking after the game Titans Harvey Biljon said:
“It was always going to be tough coming away to Blackheath, they’re a form team and playing very well.
“Their line out and maul functioned very well and they put us under pressure, and we did well to fight our way back into a game that could have very easily gone the other way.
“We absolutely believe in our squad and our squad was tested today.
“We’ve had a little bit of adversity with losing JB at the last minute, during the game we lost our fly half and unfortunately our line out caller went down and suddenly you’re having to problem solve and face that adversity.
“So, the credit I’ve got to give to the players is coming away with a point against a team that’s in form.
“There will be learnings from that game and there were key stages where we invited pressure and we need to address that.
“In terms of our discipline, we weren’t on the right side of the referee and so we’ve got to make sure we go away and look at that and make sure we change that before our next game against Plymouth.”
Titans: Barling (T), Hayes (T, C, P)
Blackheath: Harding (2T), Sloot (T), Hughes (T), Morley (1C)
Yellow Card: Gascoigne (Titans)
Referee: Owen Taylor
Assistant Referees: Henry Lowis & Dewald Swart
Titans: 15 Isaac Shaw, 14 Jackson Barling, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Travis Gordon 11 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, 10 Rob Povey (Broad 39), 9 Will Metcalfe, 1 Alastair Donkor (Toerien 58), 2 Luke Cole (Veness 53), 3 Andrew Foster (Valentine 58), 4 Frankie Gascoigne, 5 Harry Gilson-Fox (Maguire 8), 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn (Capt.), 8 Jack Baldry.
Replacements: 16 Morgan Veness, 17 Zach Toerien, 18 Xavier Valentine, 19 Curran Maguire, 20 Sinjin Broad.
Blackheath: 15 Ed Dunford (Emery 58), 14 Tom Hughes, 13 Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas, 12 Luke Pollock, 11 Jake Hennessey, 10 Sam Morley 9 Jordan Burns (McGhie 77), 1 Archie Holland (Cornish 77), 2 Billy Harding (Capt.) (Bourne 78), 3 Rory Marsh, 4 Archie Smeaton, 5 Ed Scragg, 6 Josh Smart, 7 Noah Sloot, 8 Finn Osborne.
Replacements: 16 Archie Bourne, 17 James Cornish, 18 Tom Johnson, 19 Tom Emery, 20 Kyle McGhie.
