Battling Titans fall to defeat as Leeds march on

Both destined for the promotion play-offs, it will be a shame if the White Rose public are denied another blood-and-thunder clash between these two standard bearers for rugby in the county.

Rotherham won the first meeting by a slender four points and Leeds duly gained revenge by a similarly narrow margin last night.

It was a fierce contest, with no quarter asked for or given by either side, and if they were to meet again with the whiff of promotion in the nostrils later in the Spring, it could be quite a sight.

For Leeds have the purpose, Rotherham the defiance.

For 80 minutes Leeds looked to stretch Rotherham but time and again they were repelled by Andre Bester’s well-drilled troops.

Only two tries were scored but it did nothing to diminish the spectacle, with never more than six points separating the two sides.

After Robin Copeland – scorer of some spectacular tries this season – edged Rotherham ahead with a less-stressful one-metre dive, Leeds retaliated with a slick backs move finished off by Michael Stephenson.

Either side of that, Tommy Bell and Joe Ford for the hosts, and Garry Law for the visitors, kept the scoreboard ticking over and the final scoreline forever in question.

This was Leeds’s seventh win on the bounce, and given the calibre of scalps Rotherham have taken this season, it was quite a statement to make.

With this win they cut the gap on the Championship’s pacesetters, albeit temporarily, to five points and the Premiership pretenders will be looking over their shoulders at the ominous march of the Headingley men.

Rotherham will have better days of offensive rugby and remain slightly limited in the backs, but their desire and determination will carry them a long way.

Bell and Law traded penalties in the first half, Rotherham’s Scottish fly-half edging Leeds’s young Sale loanee by three to two to give the Titans a 9-6 interval advantage.

Despite the scoreboard saying otherwise, Leeds produced the early running, with breaks from Bell and Robbie Shaw stretching the visiting defence.

Rotherham centre Dave McCall – on loan from Glasgow - did his bid for a permanent deal no harm with a couple of thundering hits in what was a no-holds-barred contest throughout.

It threatened to boil over on 29 minutes when Tom Denton’s burst from midfield was halted and Rotherham turned the ball over. From the resulting break the Titans wing Ed Tellwright burst forward but was hauled down, prompting a number of players to thunder in.

Leeds, although determined to get the ball wide as quickly as possible, were maddeningly – for the home crowd – being sucked into infringements in close quarters.

A break into the Leeds 22 by Semisi Taulava at the start of the second half should have resulted in points but Law struck the upright with a penalty.

And the green-shirted hosts punished him when Ford kicked a drop-goal from 25 metres after good work from Shaw and Denton. But from nowhere the Titans grabbed the game’s first try on 48 minutes.

Tom Foden – brother of England full-back Ben – broke into enemy territory and was only denied a try by a despairing tackle from Shaw.

But when the ball was recycled, Copeland picked up and dove over the line from a yard out.

Ford kicked another drop-goal as Leeds struck back immediately following a neat grubber from the former Northampton fly-half and a successful execution of the home lineout.

And Leeds’s enterprise with ball in hand was rewarded on the hour when Ryan Burrows and Joe Barker combined to set up Stephenson in the corner. Bell converted to edge Leeds 19-16 ahead.

Ford intelligently kicked another drop-goal to hammer home Leeds’s advantage but as was characteristic of the game, Rotherham struck back with Law’s penalty.

Bell kicked Leeds back into a six-point lead and they held on grimly as Rotherham pressed at the finish, the visitors guilty of poor decision-making.

The crowd of 3,167 was the highest of the season at Headingley Carnegie, and the reaction of the home bench as they spilled onto the pitch in jubilation at the final whistle illustrated the importance of victory in this engaging Yorkshire rivalry.

Leeds Carnegie: Bell, Blackett (Lucock 52), Thornley, Barker, Stephenson, Ford, Shaw (White 71); MacDonald (Lockwood 71), Titterrell (Nilsen 76), Young (Mustafa 58), Denton (Paul 49), Hemingway, Burrows, Walker (Beck 63), Rowan.

Rotherham Titans: Foden, Tellwright (Hamilton 68), McCall (Hodgson 68), Nonu, Monahan, Law, Williams; Cahill (O’Donnell 59), Baines, Hooper (Kilbane 59), Maddison, Griffiths, Copeland, Dougall, Taulava. Unused replacements: Stagg, Kirwan, Rhodes.

Referee: I Tempest (RFU).