Rotherham Titans face a tough test this weekend when they travel to the Channel Islands for round 19 of the Greene King IPA Championship to take on top four side Jersey Reds; kick-off at St Peter is 3pm.
Any trips to Jersey are always difficult and with the Islanders riding high at the moment this weekend’s trip for the Titans is sure to be no different.
However, despite registering just one victory in the Championship this season Rotherham will go into the game believing they are capable of winning following a recent upturn in their performances.
Anything other than a win for Titans will confirm relegation from the Championship and a place outside the top two divisions for the first time in 22 years.
Going into the game Titans have made just one change to the starting XV which lost to Bristol last time out. The change comes in the centres as Jamie Cooke comes in for the injured Rory Jennings who has fractured his hand.
Speaking ahead of the game Titans Nic Rouse explained, “I was pretty happy with our first half performance against Bristol, I thought the lads played very well and it could have been even better had we taken the try opportunity instead of taking the ball over the dead ball line. But the conditions at that time were horrendous and we lost our bearings in the snow, otherwise we may have gone in at half time with the lead.
“Unfortunately in the second half we just ran out of steam and we couldn’t quite manage to replicate what we had done in the first half. But they’ve got quality players throughout and I thought Ian Madigan ran the game really well for them in the second half.
“This week will be another tough test against Jersey; they are going really well at the moment and they’ll be full of confidence. They have a very big, physical pack and they’ve got some good backs too and if they get the ascendancy from the pack the backs are capable of playing some good rugby.
“They will mainly revolve their game around the forwards; they’ll scrum for penalties, they’ll maul for penalties and do everything they can to try and put us under pressure and they’ll try and bludgeon their way over the line. So we know it’s going to be a big test for our forward pack.”
Titans: 15 Will Thomas, 14 Ben Foley, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Joe Barker, 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 Tom Burns, 20 Paolo Odogwu, 21 Lee Millar, 22 Will Porter.
