Doncaster Knights 21 Rotherham Titans 23: Titans use Armitage claim to fuel derby triumph

Knights centre Armitage said in Saturday’s The Yorkshire Post that Doncaster were doubly determined to win yesterday because of their opponents’ reduced training schedule since losing to Moseley on Boxing Day.

And that was used by the Titans to inspire them to a first victory in three which keeps their top-four hopes alive.

Doncaster can feel aggrieved at seeing a late comeback fall agonisingly short in what was a performance full of power and heart, if a little devoid of quality.

But the defeat leaves them looking over their shoulders at bottom-placed Plymouth and without a league win since September.

It also gave the Titans greater cause to beat their chests after proving Armitage wrong.

There were claims from within the Titans camp that the article was stuck on the wall of the away dressing room before kick-off to motivate the team.

And although he didn’t confirm that, Rotherham head coach Lee Blackett was keen to set the record straight.

“The stat was wrong,” he said.

“People use stuff as their own motivation. All I’ll say is have a look at social media, there are pictures of us training on the 31st.

“We’ve had a good week’s training, we trained in the snow and where people may have days off, we worked really hard.

“The boys had a great build-up like we would for any game.”

Every ounce of the strength and resolve the Titans had built up in the days leading up to the game was needed to edge them past a Doncaster side who will not be without a league victory for long if they keep playing with such intensity.

The hosts were dominant in the scrum, but let down only by individual errors.

Piers Francis threw a long-range pass in the direction of opposing back Michael Keating which gave the former Knight a clear path to his second try.

Before that, experienced forward Matt Challinor got involved in a heated exchange with Titans prop Robin Hislop that resulted in a penalty awarded to Doncaster being overturned, from which James McKinney duly kicked the three points for Blackett’s side.

And then having ended their own 296-minute try-scoring drought in the Championship with scores from Phil Eggleshaw and a rousing try by Paul Jarvis that edged them ahead at 21-20 with eight minutes left, they conspired to shoot themselves in the foot again.

From a scrum, Eggleshaw was penalised for an offence that baffled Knights director of rugby Clive Griffiths, and McKinney kicked the 40-metre penalty to restore a lead for the Titans that they held onto by playing the remaining exchanges in Doncaster’s half.

“Christmas was last week but we gifted them 13 points,” fumed Griffiths.

The difference-maker though, was Keating, returning to the club he served for two years to strike at their heart with the crucial second try and a ruthless first shortly before the break, when he followed a Lloyd Hayes burst to profit when the robust centre was finally hauled down.

“It’s always good to get on the scoresheet and nice to get one up on my old club,” said Keating, whose Titans welcome top-four rivals Nottingham to Clifton Lane on Saturday.

“It was a very intense derby and it’s actually the first South Yorkshire derby I’ve been on the winning side of, so it’s a nice feeling to be in the winning dressing room.

“We showed the character we’ve been lacking for the last few games to close it out.

“This block of fixtures is a bit of a season-definer for us. Give us three weeks and it’ll be a good indicator of where we’ll finish.”

Doncaster Knights: Jarvis, Flockhart, Catchpole, Armitage, Bulumakau, Francis (Palu 59), Field (Roberts 59); Bergmanas (Davies 71), Hunter (Veikoso 63), Quigley (Willgriff 71), Challinor, Phelan, Makaafi (Eggleshaw 63), Hills, Shaw. Unused replacements: Hotson.

Rotherham Titans: Scanlon, Keating, Hayes, Davies, Gill (Mitchell 44), McKinney, White; Hislop (Gadd 71), Preece (Matthews 50), Tampin (Mackin 75), Parker (Ryan 56), Holmes (Morris 75), Maddison, Birch, Rieder. Unused replacement: Barrett.

Referee: D Richards (RFU).