Rotherham Titans 41 Coventry 11: Burrows hat-trick leaves Rotherham in bullish mood

The details of the system to determine which club is relegated from the league's bottom four will be announced at Twickenham tomorrow, and even if Rotherham, who must beat Bedford at Goldington Road next month to have any hope of finishing above the relegation zone, end up in a dogfight, on current form they will survive.

Success against Nottingham and now this convincing victory has resulted in nine invaluable points. By punishing Coventry, Rotherham revealed the power they can employ to beat the Midlands club, home and away, in the play-offs.

No-one enjoyed the experience of thrashing Coventry, second from bottom, more than Rotherham No 8 Ryan Burrows, who rampaged everywhere at Clifton Lane to score a hat-trick of tries.

Terrorising Coventry's defence, Burrows' tries on five, 49 and 88 minutes indicated his pace and strength during a collective display by the pack that enabled Rotherham to control the first half and nearly all the second.

"It's my first senior hat-trick, but it's the result that counts most," said the 21-year-old, who has been a Rotherham player for two-and-a-half seasons.

"Two weeks ago we were all down, but even though we lost at Doncaster, we gained confidence and everyone is giving everything week in, week out.

"We've put 40 points past a team which we lost to at the start of the season, and it was the same in midweek when we beat Nottingham, who beat us heavily earlier on, so sides don't like coming here.

"We scrummaged well against Coventry and our lineouts went well. If we stay in the bottom four, we will survive.

"But we are aiming to get a result at Bedford and I know it is the last chance again, like it was last season, but the last two league performances have proved we shouldn't be in this position."

Perfectly true, but as it is, Rotherham, whose other tries were scored by full-back Hunt, flanker Adam Kleeberger and winger Jon Feeley – his 99th in the league – occupy 10th place, and although their revival is clear to see, why have they left it so dangerously late to demonstrate their potential?

Playing positively and with relentless purpose, the Titans led 22-8 at the interval against mediocre opponents who seldom threatened, but there were occasions when Coventry were able to put together a fluent move.

Winger James Lewis completed an excellent counter-attack which wrecked Rotherham's defence, but apart from that success and late pressure near Rotherham's line by Coventry's forwards, the Midlanders never seriously looked capable of embarrassing the home side.

During a solid display by the Rotherham pack, Burrows's example was followed by Kleeberger and Steve Swindall in the back-row. They were not alone in taking the game to Coventry and enabling the forwards to control possession.

The recent arrival of lock Tom Denton from Leeds Carnegie has improved the ability to compete. The 22-year-old impressed against Nottingham, and his strength and size also upset Coventry.

Denton, who has temporarily withdrawn from his degree course at Leeds University to play professional rugby, will have been disappointed to receive a yellow card on 77 minutes, but his absence came when Rotherham were leading by more than 20 points, so it could not have altered the outcome.

"I've come here because I've been released by Leeds, but I'll have to return if they call me back," explained Denton, who learnt to play at Malton and Norton and subsequently at St Peter's School in York.

"I'm really enjoying it at Rotherham. We had a good performance against Nottingham and now we've built on that. We took Coventry on in the scrums and in the lineouts and proved from there that we were far too strong.

"There's a good feeling here and, hopefully, we will beat Bedford in three weeks' time."

Rotherham Titans: Hunt (Henderson 56), Feeley, Maggs, Gidlow, Swatkins, Allen (Chivers 56), West, Voisey (Kilbane 63), Batty (Conroy 48), Prescott, Challinor, Denton, Swindall, Kleeberger, Burrows.

Coventry: Russell, J Lewis, Mackenzie, C Lewis, Plantey, Hayes, Frost (Walls 48), Dugard, McMillan (Dwyer 48), Hall, Brenton, Herrington, Pons (Venter 30), Bignell, Shaw.

Referee: P Knowles (RFU).