Rotherham will start their 2019 National 1 campaign with a testing visit to the capital, when they take on third-placed side Rosslyn Park on Saturday; kick-off at The Rock is 3pm.
Both sides go into the match in fine form having each won their last 5 league games. However, having lost just once at home this term on their artificial surface at Priory Lane, Park will strongly fancy turning over their South Yorkshire opposition.
Ahead of the clash Titans have made four changes to their starting XV, three of which come in the pack. In the front row Ali Thomson and Will Dennis come in for Jack Bergmanas and Rikki Stout respectively; whilst in the second row Jamie Ure returns from injury for Kieran Frost. The solitary change in the backs sees Tom Allott come in at full back for Alex Dolly.
Speaking ahead of the game Titans’ Joe Barker explained, “Before the Christmas break we were on a good run having won 5 games on the spin. However, we’ve enjoyed having a bit of time off as we had a few battered bodies around the place and I think we were a little bit tired mentally and physically.
“It’s great to be back though and you can see from the boys in training that they’ve benefited from a rest and they are raring to go this weekend.
“The lads will need to be at their best on Saturday because we know Rosslyn Park are a very good team. They play a great brand of rugby, especially at home where they are very tough to beat on their own patch.
“They’ve got a lot of very good individual players and they’ve really started to gel as a team and that’s why they are just one point off the top of the table.
“So we know how tough a challenge we’ll face, but we also know that if we keep on putting in the performances then we are always going to give ourselves an opportunity of beating any side in the division.”
Titans: 15 Tom Allott, 14 Dan Leake, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Ellis Abrahams, 11 Connor Field, 10 Joe Barker, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Dan Richardson, 2 Ali Thomson, 3 Will Dennis, 4 Conor Keys, 5 Jamie Ure, 6 Luis Ball, 7 Zak Poole, 8 Seb Nagle-Taylor (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Kieran Frost, 19 Eru Smith-Wano, 20 Alex Dolly.
