Rotherham Titans 25 Esher 22: New faces to bolster Titans challenge

Byron Godfrey, a 23-year-old centre or fly-half from South Africa, begins work today, while Kiwi centre Simeon James, 26, joins from Biggar in Scotland next Monday.

Bester is also closing in on a trio of forwards from the South Sea Islands as he attempts to beef up a pack that helped Rotherham to victory in a physically and mentally demanding examination against Esher.

"We haven't spent our whole budget on the team yet so we've made the decision to bring in more players," said South African Bester, whose side's first victory in three games lifted them to sixth.

"There is no doubt that we are a long way ahead of where we thought we were going to be at the start of the season but we also know that if we want to keep on improving and get to where we want to be in January and February, then we need a bit more competition in the squad.

"It's a small squad and there's not enough competition. We need players knowing they have to stay on their toes otherwise the next guy will take over.

"The forwards we're hoping to bring in will all have international experience."

Godfrey was on the sidelines as the Titans squad were forced to dig deep to edge out Esher.

In a first half their pack dominated, Rotherham could not establish a lead with tries by impressive No 8 Ryan Burrows from the base of a scrum and prop Nico Steenkamp, plus a conversion by Juan Socino, cancelled out by four penalties from Sam Ulph.

Esher, under former Titans coach Mike Schmid, took charge shortly after the break when Seb Jewell finished off the Surrey club's first possession in the opposition 22 and Ulph – on a dual-registration contract from Harlequins – added a conversion and a penalty.

Bester's young squad needed to respond, and led by the experienced Joe Bedford at scrum-half, they did just that. Socino shrugged off his inconsistency to kick a penalty and then two of Rotherham's former Leeds players combined for the try of the game as centre Jonny Hepworth burst through the middle and released the supporting Bedford, who raced between the posts.

Bedford went close moments later as Rotherham chased a bonus point, but afterwards paid tribute to his team-mates.

"Jonny Hepworth's had to be patient, he's not had things his own way since he's been here, but he showed today what a quality player he is and why we signed him," said Bedford, who is relishing the greater responsibility of being club captain.

"We're such a young side and the pressure was on us at the end there to come back into the game.

"There's a lot of guys who have not really experienced this pressure before and they put their hands up today and I'm massively proud of them.

"We played some cracking rugby first half, especially in the forwards, who put together probably their best performance of the season. And we showed a lot of patience at the end."

Indeed they did, closing out the match with Socino's conversion to Bedford's score and a further penalty from the young Argentinian fly-half that earned Rotherham a timely fifth win of the season ahead of the derby at Doncaster on Saturday.

"If we can get a win at Donny and a win at Moseley we've had a cracking first half of the season," said Bedford, whose arrival has helped transform Rotherham into a team with a genuine case for finishing in the top eight at the end of the regular season.

"I'm loving the challenge and I'm really happy I could step up and score a try today. I love playing for Andre, he gives you so much responsibility, he doesn't get on my case, he trusts me and that's massively important between coach and captain. That can only be good for Rotherham.

"I never doubted we could win games at the Lane, if we can start to pick up a few wins on the road then we'll be a good side."

Rotherham Titans: Hunt, (Hodgson 50), Swatkins, Welding, Hepworth, Hampsey, Socino, Bedford; Steenkamp, Loney, O'Donnell (Quigley 40), Harris, Dickinson, Kettle, Dougall, Burrows. Unused replacements: Aikman, Sandford, McGregor, Baines, Rhodes.

Esher: Ulph, Hylton, MacKenzie (Chisholm 70), Jewell, Smith, Slemen (Whitehead 58), Garner (Gibbs 76); Millard, Corrigan, O'Reilly, Rudzki, Blakeburn, Wallace (Waterhouse 40), Stitcher, Renwick. Unused replacements: Rowland, Anderson, Walker.

Referee: D Gammage.