Earth Titans 27 Otley 8

A string of injuries entailed six changes in the team to take on the Titans and it was decided to leave out Maifea Maifea, who was red-carded the previous week against Nottingham.

Owen Edwards came in at full back for skipper Ian Shuttleworth, who was sitting on the bench alongside Kyle Dench and Danny Smith, who almost made the scoreline more realistic after replacing Xavier Andre in the 65th minute.

Smith darted through, only to loose his footing just metres short with the line at his mercy. Making his debut in the absence of Andy Brown was Neil Chivers but his initial appearance was cut short when he was yellow-carded in the first minute for illegally stopping a drive on the try-line.

Otley's makeshift line-up managed extremely well in keeping their line intact while being a man short. Rotherham chose to scrum the penalty but they were turned and the ball cleared.

After eight minutes, Nathan Bland was on his way to hospital with a suspected broken wrist. A penalty by Edwards put Otley in the lead but an ill-directed kick upfield enabled the Titans to run the ball back and Steenson put Andrew Turnbull in at the corner and then converted.

The No 10 added a 35th-minute penalty and Otley got their timing wrong at a scrum and were pushed off the ball, which went out to give Turnbull an overlap for his second try.

An Edwards interception brought a length-of-the-field try but prop Alistair Livesey was yellow-carded and Rother-ham added tries by flanker Hendre Fourie, Steenson converting, and winger Showman Smith. The South African got a helpful bounce and raced to the line to give his side a bonus point.