Leicester Lions battled hard in tricky conditions against a well organised and physical Rotherham side but ultimately the big home pack proved too strong for the relatively inexperienced Lions side.

The Lions attacked straight from the kick off having received the kick but, when the ball was worked wide, a good opportunity for a break was missed and gave the home side their first opportunity from the turnover penalty. Lloyd Hayes kicked the penalty for an early lead (3-0).

Both sides were making handling errors due to the wet conditions and it was the Lions who profited when a bouncing ball was collected by Oliver Taylor who broke through a gap before finding Harry Palmer to score his first Lions try. Bouchier converted superbly from out wide (3-7).

The lead was short lived though as an intercept by Hayes, off a promising looking Lions attack, led to the centre running in unopposed from halfway for a converted score (10-7).

The crucial score came just before half time when, with the final play of the first half, the Titans extended their lead when back rower Travis Gordon crashed over for another converted try, to send his side in at the break with a 17-7 lead.

If the try just before half time wasn't the killer blow, then the one afterwards certainly was. The Lions pack had done a superb job keeping the giant Rotherham pack's driving maulk at bay but they finally rumbled over with Jack Bergmanas dotting down. Haynes with his third from three conversions (24-7).

With the Lions looking to find a way back in to the contest and the Titans pushing for a bonus point both sides pushed hard in attack, but it was determined defence from both sides that characterised the second half and neither team scored a point for the last 35 minutes of the contest. Credit has to be given to the Lions who with time up (and nothing to play for) continued to fight and held the home side up over the line (for the third time during the game) to deny the hosts their try bonus.

Commenting after the match Gareth Collins said: “The boys are obviously very disappointed with the result but I've just said to them how proud I was of their effort today. Of course we have to be better, and we can be, but the fight they showed against one of the top, and biggest, sides in the division was amazing. We knew that we would have to push the boundaries in attack, and that we would have to be on point, if we were going to get a result, but unfortunately we just lacked accuracy on the ball today.''