Revved-up Rotherham Titans dig deep to bring down league leaders

Titans held off a late fightback from the visitors to prevail 32-26 and pull within two points of their Yorkshire rivals in National Two North with three games left to play.

Rotherham’s 12th straight win, it preserved a 13-month unbeaten home record and avenged their only loss of the season, away to Leeds in November.

“If you go back to when we last played them, we’re a much better team now and that came through,” said Titans rugby consultant Harvey Biljon.

"Not everything went our way and it took us time to build into the game.

"Leeds are a team in form. Their skill and their playing style is pretty attractive and we needed to dig deep to beat them and we did that."

A crowd of more than 1,000 saw Leeds hog territory and possession in the first half but end it 22-5 down as Titans seized on rare opportunities to plunder tries for wing Jack Taylor, back row John Okafor and centre Harry Dunne, with Lloyd Hayes adding seven points from the tee.

Tykes had the advantage of a strong wind in the second half and then saw Rotherham reduced to 13 men through two quick yellow cards .

Despite that, they were only able to fashion one try and when Titans countered to put Taylor in for his second of the day to take the score to 27-12 and secure the four-try bonus point, they looked well set. But two converted scores in four minutes pulled Leeds back to within a point and they were pressing when Okafor seized on a loose ball and galloped in from distance to gleefully settle it.

“The support we had today was unbelievable,” acknowledged Biljon. “Since I’ve been here I’ve seen the crowds growing and how vocal they can be and you’ve seen that again. Let’s hope they keep coming.”

Titans now have a two-week break before their next match away to Sheffield Tigers on April 6.

Added Biljon: “I’m excited about where we can go but I’m not going to get focused on a race. Let’s leave Leeds to worry about that.”