Rotherham Titans will go into round 3 of the Greene King IPA Championship having made just one change to their starting XV for the visit of Hartpury RFC at Clifton Lane; kick-off on Saturday is 2pm.
Following last week’s disappointing defeat to local rivals Doncaster Knights, Titans will be eager to put in a strong performance in front of their home support and with just one change to their side, which sees Adam Peters come into the back row for the injured Ifereimi Boladau (shoulder), the same set of players will get an opportunity to lay down a marker against Hartpury.
The visitors however will be equally keen to register their first Championship victory, following two impressive, but narrow defeats to Bristol and Jersey respectively.
Speaking ahead of the game Titans head coach Andy Key said, “I think it’s fair to say as a club we were extremely disappointed with how the Doncaster game went. We didn’t do ourselves justice at all and from a local derby point of view we didn’t give a true showing of ourselves and that’s very disappointing.
“I don’t want use the excuse of new members coming in, but by the same token you have to be respectful that can be, and is part of it to a degree. But I can’t fault the player’s attitude and effort and the work being done in training has been outstanding.
“At the moment for us, it’s about getting on with some honest work, and understanding for some how tough this league is and how hard you have to work to get success.
“It will be no different against Hartpury, they have already shown in the first two games that they won’t be pushovers at any stage this season and anybody who thinks different will have to think twice. We are massively respectful of what they achieved last year.
“We understand how tough a challenge they will present; there’s a lot to play for and we need to get ourselves on the winning track.”
Titans: 15 Will Thomas, 14 Drew Cheshire, 13 Luke Peters, 12 Joe Barker, 11 Jake Henry, 10 Lee Millar, 9 Rhodri Davies, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Luke Cole, 3 Matt Shields, 4 James Lasis, 5 Byron Hodge, 6 Adam Peters, 7 Tom Calladine (Capt.), 8 Dan Grange.
Replacements: 16 Jonny Murphy, 17 Tom Williams, 18 Andrew Foster, 19 Tom Burns, 20 Francisco Vieira, 21 Caolan Ryan, 22 Ben Foley.
