LYMM’S 36-22 home loss to promotion contenders Rotherham Titans was considered an honourable one.

The Yorkshiremen, who have lost only once this season, stuck to their dominant forward platform and it was clearly an effective game-plan against a free-flowing home side in the National League 2 North contest.

Director of Rugby, Adam Fletcher, said: ‘I thought the guys showed some great attacking flair and scored three really good tries.

“The weather halted us a little but I thought the boys still tried to move the ball.

“Rotherham have an extremely powerful set piece and we felt the full force of it. They used their driving maul to great effect.”

He added: “It was great to have Ollie Higginson back on the pitch and proud to see James Kimber reach 100 games.

“I hope Matt Challinor is doing well, we all wish him a speedy recovery.”

A 20-minute delay occurred in the first half when the Titans veteran second row Challinor went down with a suspected broken leg.

The score was 7-7 at the time, with Padding Jennings crossing from a Jack Reynolds break for a converted try from the restart after Titans went ahead through Taylor’s improved touch down.

After the delay, a Titans rolling maul brought a try for visiting hooker Bergmanas while Ben Thomson had a response ruled out due to the officials being unsighted.

However, a penalty was awarded which Tom Shard banged over.

Bergmanas added his second try and Newborn also got over, both from rolling mauls and with a penalty added Rotherham led 29-10 at the interval.

Starting the second half with the intention of killing the game off, Rotherham extended their lead with a well-worked try from Bustin as the rain started to get heavier.

Home spectators were buoyed to see number eight talisman Higginson take the field for his first game of the season following a long-term shoulder injury.

The lineout became heavily contested as Higginson competed successfully on the opposition’s throw, negating this threat.

Lymm’s now traditional response of winning the second half against top of the leaguers kicked in.

A cheeky chip over the on-rushing defensive line by Shard allowed centre Kimber to collect, break and expertly feed replacement right winger Andy Williams who out-paced the cover to score wideout. Shard converted from wide out after 64 minutes.

Under growing pressure, the Titans then had two yellow cards in quick succession, reducing the team to 13 men as Lymm, with a ‘never-say-die’ attitude, stepped up their game in search of the bonus-point fourth try.

The third try came when the ball was moved speedily from left to right and the final pass inside found centre Ste Pilkington who scored near the posts, for Shard to convert.

Lymm: Gav Woods, James Pitcher, Matty Hand, James Yates, Ben Thompson, Harry Martin, Joe Johnson, Rhys Lilley, Cal Morris, Tom Shard, Paddy Jennings, James Kimber, Ste Pilkington, Nathan Beesley, Jack Reynolds. Replacements: Joe Higgins, Rob Makin, Jordan Widdrington, Ollie Higginson, Andy Williams.