Rotherham Titans are set for another tough National 1 road test when they travel to Sale FC on Saturday; kick off at Heywood Road is 3pm.
Following their dramatic victory in the 94th minute over Birmingham Moseley last week, the South Yorkshire side are looking to build on that success with victory over their Lancashire rivals at the weekend.
There’s very little to choose between the top six sides in the league as 6 points cover all the teams with 12 games remaining. So Rotherham will be keen to maintain their push for a top-end finish with a good performance against the Greater Manchester side.
However, having just snatched a 32-27 victory over Sale earlier in the season with an Ellis Abrahams interception try in the 76th minute, Rotherham realise their task will not be a straightforward one.
Additionally, a home win over Cinderford and an away win at Caldy in their last three outings show that Sale are in decent form and they will be determined to secure the points also.
Going into the match Titans have made just one change to their starting XV with Tom Cotterill coming into the back row as Luis Ball goes into the second row for Conor Keys.
Commenting ahead of the game Titans Joe Barker explained, “It was a close one last week against Moseley, but I think the team who wanted to play the better rugby came out on top.
“I was so proud of the lads for their commitment and desire to keep on grafting until the end and I think they deserved the win for those efforts. It wasn’t our best performance of the season and we’ve plenty to work on, but the effort the lads put in cannot be questioned.
“That same effort will be needed again on Saturday against Sale. We know what a good side they are as they pushed us close earlier in the season at Clifton Lane. They are a talented all-round side with quality throughout, but if their backs get quick ball they can hurt you with their pace and we’ll need to be on our game for the full 80 minutes to prevent that.”
Titans: 15 Callum Irvine, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Henry Roberts, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Luis Ball, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Tom Cotterill, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Ali Thomson, 17 Will Dennis, 18 Conor Keys, 19 Harry Dunne, 20 Alex Dolly.
