How Leeds Tykes beat Rotherham Titans in battle of the unbeaten fallen Yorkshire giants

The West Yorkshire club clinically defeated a spirited visiting side at The Sycamores, with five tries and four conversions being enough to protect the Tykes’ winning start to the season.

Talking to The Yorkshire Post post-match, Brady said: “This game’s been building up for a long time, but we can’t get too carried away with ourselves.

“We’ve won and it’s nice to win, but there are still 13 or 14 games to go.

“We’ve just got to focus on next week now. We’ve got Tynedale next week which won’t be easy. We’ve got to go there and do a job.

“We can enjoy the victory and enjoy the five points, but then it’s back to work.”

Leeds have now built a healthy 11-point gap between themselves and the Titans, although the latter possess a game in hand in a promotion duel likely to have plenty of twists still to come.

Coming into Saturday’s game at West Park, both sides had won every league game possible with an abundance of bonus points in tow.

The match was subsequently expected to be a quality affair, and it had not disappointed by 4pm.

Brady, however, believed his side could have enjoyed a more gratifying scoreline.

“We kind of let them score to bring the scores a little bit closer, but it could’ve finished 26-13. There seemed to be a little bit of a margin there”, he added.

“It was as we expected. Rotherham brought a big set piece game. We thought we could keep parity, if not better that.

“We scored some lovely tries out in the backs and we managed to keep them at bay.”

Despite the defeat, Rotherham Titans captain Zak Poole remained positive about the club’s prospects for the remainder of the season.

An amalgamation of two tries, two conversions and two penalties meant the visitors threatened to bring high flying Leeds crashing down to earth. But, in the end, fate defied them.

Poole said: “We’re there and we’re where we need to be. We just need to go up one more gear, tie a few more things together and I think we’ll come back. It’s not the end of our season, no way.

“Nothing changes, we regroup, we trust the process, we go back to basics and do what we’re doing well.

“I think a bit more ball in that game and it goes the other way. It’s not panic buttons yet.”

Ten years ago, the two clubs were participating in the Championship play-offs before freefalling into the game’s fourth tier. In turn, a certain poetic drama surrounded Saturday’s clash. By the full-time whistle, this was replaced by a distinct sentiment of respect following an excellent advert for the game in Yorkshire.

Poole added: “It was a great performance by Leeds. They’ve got a few great players in the squad and scored some lovely tries.

“That’s a great game and anyone in the Yorkshire area that wanted to watch a game of rugby today I don’t think would’ve been upset if they were a neutral.”

The game’s early stages saw both sides attempt to assert contrasting philosophies amid an implicit on-field feistiness.

Rotherham, equipped with their Machiavellian disruptive style, looked to be succeeding in their attempts to stifle Leeds’ need for speed with targeted set play routines and resolute defending.

But the hosts, who began by playing towards Leeds-Bradford Airport, took flight after a slippery Jacob Mounsey run left winger Harry Jukes with a simple cross under the posts for his 38th all-time Tykes try.

Pete Lucock neatly tucked away the following conversion to leave Rotherham with a mountain to climb.

Smart work by the table toppers further compounded the Titans’ misery when Leeds Beckett graduate Kieran Davies snuck through the visitors’ defence to score.

Once again, Lucock carefully executed his conversion as the Tykes went in with their tails wagging.

Rotherham, looking to defend their pride, came out for the second half in inspired form and began well with a tidy Lloyd Hayes penalty.

The visitors then went one better as a suffocating move culminated in former Leeds man John Okafur crossing for a left-sided try.

Hayes followed with an expertly dispatched conversion, before scoring another penalty to revive the game’s competitiveness.

Leeds, however, turned the visitors’ hope into pain as Davies bundled home another try to send the packed West Park stand into raptures.

The subsequent conversion was missed, but Leeds nevertheless put the game beyond doubt soon after through a remarkable solo run by the prolific Jukes.

This time the conversion was tucked home, rendering a late Rotherham maul try and Hayes conversion futile.