This week Rotherham Titans travel to Bishop’s Stortford for round 14 of National League 1, where they will fully expect to be tested by the Hertfordshire side; kick-off on Saturday at Silver Leys is 3pm.
Having beaten Chinnor and Cinderford away, the latter by keeping them scoreless and last week suffering a narrow 1-point defeat against league leaders Blackheath, it is plain to see what a dangerous side Bishop’s Stortford are and as such Titans will not underestimate their opponents.
Titans go into the game on the back of two consecutive victories, having worked hard to beat Caldy and Cinderford in their last two outings. Sitting fifth in the table, six points off top spot, the South Yorkshire side will be keen to remain in contention at the top-end as the midway point of the season approaches.
Ahead of Saturday’s game Rotherham have made 3 changes to their starting XV, two of which come in the pack. Following a Thursday night training injury Dan Preston-Routledge damaged his ankle meaning Conor Keys comes in at second row. Whilst in the back row Zak Poole returns for Luis Ball who drops to the bench.
The sole change along the backline sees winger Henry Roberts come back into the side as Connor Field sits on the bench this week.
Commenting ahead of the match Joe Barker said, “Overall we had a good performance last week against Cinderford and it was one of those wins you have to grind out. I think our lads handled the game and the pressure really well. We played in the right areas, we put them under pressure and we capitalised on that as a result and credit to the lads for that because it was a professional performance.
“It will need to be the same against Bishop’s Stortford this week; we’ve seen a lot of them in our reviews and they play a great brand of rugby. We know they are defensively strong as you can tell from the stats, but they keep the ball well and they obviously know what they’re doing.
“They played against Blackheath last week and everyone knows what a strong team they are and Bishop’s should have won that one and the week before they kept Cinderford scoreless at home. So, we’re not taking this game lightly, we know they are a really good team and we’re going to have to put in a massive shift if we want to get the result.”
Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Henry Roberts, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Alex Dolly, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Conor Keys, 5 Jamie Ure, 6 Smith-Wano, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Luis Ball, 19 Connor Field, 20 Connor Dever.
