Centenary celebrated in style by the Titans!
ROTHERHAM held off a second-half surge from Otley to crown their centenary week with a Yorkshire derby win.
Leading 22-0 early in the second half, Titans looked on course for a straight-forward afternoon until their fourthplaced visitors fought their way back into it to set up a tense finish.
The win avenged a defeat at Cross Green back in the autumn.
Rotherham head coach Gary Pearce said: “We haven’t played for three weeks and we were ring rusty.
“We scored a lot of points in the first half, but we should have scored a lot more really.
“We probably left 15 or 20 points out there, and that always makes a game of it.”
After a blank opening quarter, Titans struck first when Danny Rylance put the final touch to a catch and drive.
Otley repelled a couple more in a concerted spell of home pressure, but it was made it tell when impressive Rotherham skipper Zak Poole caught the visitors napping from
a quick tap, and Lloyd Hayes added the extras to make it 12-0.
Helped by a strong wind, the hosts had their visitors in a stranglehold, matching their physical pack up front, and a good half ’s work was completed when winger Jack Taylor collected a kick-through to go over for 17-0.
The second half started like the first one ended, with Titans on the offensive.
They soon had the fourtry bonus point, with the pack setting up the position for Tomasi Tanumi to dart in at the corner and rack up 22 unanswered points.
Otley had barely laid a glove on Rotherham up to that point, as they were completely unable to get any go-forward.
But then they suddenly conjured two tries in three minutes,
First, Clark Wells rang a good angle to score and then his centre partner, Gavin Stead, dashed in from 20 metres.
Stead converted both efforts to trim the deficit to 22-14.
Hayes settled home nerves with a successful penalty, but Otley came again, a rolling maul putting Sam Waddington over and Stead converting to put the visitors only four points behind.
Even though Titans nudged seven in front with another threepointer from Hayes, they still needed to front-up in the dying minutes to close out a good victory.
Pearce added: “Otley are fourth in the league for a reason. They’re a decent side and have plenty of confidence, but our defence got better through the second half.
“It’s just good to get a game in, and I’m sure we’ll be better for it.
“To mark centenary week with a win is also good for the club. It’s onwards and upwards for us now, that’s what we’re looking for.”