Rotherham Titans go into round 18 of the Greene King IPA Championship ready to face what is expected to be a huge test, when they welcome league leaders Bristol Rugby to Clifton Lane on Saturday; KO is 2pm.
Titans are still smarting from last week’s heroic, but agonising defeat away to Ealing Trailfinders, having been denied victory with an 85th minute penalty from Luke Daniels.
This week, the test becomes even tougher with Premiership-bound Bristol the visitors. The South West side has won 16 of their 17 league outings to date and are on a direct course back to the top table of English Rugby.
However, Rotherham’s form since the turn of the year has been encouraging and they will go into the game with no fear, as they attempt to upset the odds in their battle to stay in the division.
Going into the game Titans have made just 2 changes to the starting XV which lost in the capital last weekend, with Will Thomas coming into the side at full back, as Ben Foley moves onto the wing for the injured Drew Cheshire. Whilst up front Luke Cole will wear the hooker’s jersey for the injured Jonny Murphy; whilst Titans centre and backs coach Joe Barker will make his 50th appearance for the club.
Commenting ahead of the game Titans Nic Rouse said, “We’re still stinging from the Ealing defeat last week; going down there it was a game we believed we could win and I think we should have won, but I think we will learn from that game and we’ll be better for the experience this week.
“We scored some amazing tries against Ealing; we’d planned to go and take them on early in the game and everything we’d worked on came off, which was pretty exciting and pleasing for us.
“It’s been a tough season, but all credit to the lads they are training really hard week on week and the mood in camp is incredibly positive and they’re really looking forward to the Bristol game.
“We’ve had a look at Bristol and it’s not too hard to see what they are doing, as it is with every team. We will go and attack them and we’ll play some exciting rugby; we’re intending to take the opportunities we create and go and score some tries.
“We know they are strong all over the park; in particular their back three are outstanding. Luke Morahan for me has been an exceptional signing. Tusi Pisi is a player who I tremendously respect; his decision making on the field is excellent and I think their power game is pretty strong.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for us to go and try and stop them; we’ll try and put some pressure on them and we’ll see what happens.”
Titans: 15 Will Thomas, 14 Ben Foley, 13 Joe Barker, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Jake Henry, 10 Caolan Ryan, 9 Rhodri Davies, 1 Toby Williams, 2 Luke Cole, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Rob Louw, 5 Adam Peters, 6 Dan Grange, 7 Charlie Maddison, 8 Tom Calladine (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Tom Williams, 18 Brandon Palmer, 19 Matt Postlethwaite, 20 Jamie Cooke, 21 Lee Millar, 22 Will Porter.
