Rotherham T….32pts Leeds Tykes…..26pts
ROTHERHAM Titans threw the promotion race wide open by inflicting a first defeat of the season on Leeds Tykes in a tense Yorkshire derby yesterday afternoon. A crowd of more than 1,000 at Clifton Lane saw Titans survive a nail-biting finish to preserve their 13-month unbeaten home record and pull within two points of their visitors with three games left to play.
Leading 27-12 heading into the final quarter, Rotherham saw their lead whittled back to a point by the resurgent visitors, before a breakaway try by John Okafor sealed the deal.
“What stood out the most was the character and heart we showed,” said Titans rugby consultant Harvey Biljon.
“We were down to 14 and then 13 men at one stage, but the way the players kept getting off the floor for each other was special to see.”
Playing with a strong wind at their backs in the first half, the Titans needed a decent points cushion by the half-time interval and got it, turning around 15 points up.
TEAMS
ROTHERHAM: Townend, Tanumi, Hayes, Dunne, Taylor, Milner, Bruzulier, Capps, Bergmanas, Denman, Poole, Smith, Okafor, Cowen-Leak, Bustin Replacements: Newborn, Kivalu, Ward, Kay, Metcalfe LEEDS: Davies, Irvine, Dixon, Tom Williams, Turpin, Lucock, Hardwick, Toby Williams, Brown, Dennis, Brady, Collins, Nu'u, Teague, Brown Replacements: Yorke, Fishwick, Ademakin, Venables, Macnab
REFEREE: Ben Simpson
ATTENDANCE: 1,141
Star man
Jack Taylor -Rotherham
Jack Taylor won a foot race to score their first try and although Leeds wing Ben Turpin grounded in a corner to reward the visitors' long spells of possession, Rotherham finished the half the stronger.
A break from Lloyd Hayes ended with Okafor steaming in next to the posts and centre Harry Dunne then finished off a series of drives to claim their third try.
Seven points from the boot of Hayes made it 22-5.
Rotherham went into the game on a run of 11 straight wins, but their chances of a 12th weren't helped by two quick yellow cards for Jack Bergmanas and Zak Poole respectively in the second half.
Tykes took advantage, setting up the position for flanker Jonny Teague to score and with Callum Irvine's conversion, they trailed by ten points.
However, they couldn't capitalise further and the hosts countered to put Taylor in for his second of the day to secure a four-try bonus point and a 15-point lead.
Throwing caution to the wind and getting their backs on the ball, Leeds came roaring back with two converted touchdowns in four minutes from Peter Lucock and Kieran Davies to take their own try tally to four and set up a grandstand finish.
They were pressing again when Okafor seized on a loose ball and galloped in to finally decide it.
Biljon added: “Leeds are a team in form and you can see the skill they played with the style of rugby they play is pretty attractive. We needed to dig deep and we did that.”
