Rotherham Titans are all set and prepared for what is expected to be a full-blooded derby encounter, when East Yorkshire rivals Hull Ionians visit Clifton Lane on Saturday for a 2pm kick-off.
Ionians visit to Rotherham will be their first ever league clash, with the only previous league fixture coming earlier in the season at Brantingham Park, where on that day the spoils were shared in a 20-20 draw.
Rotherham will go into this week’s game on the back of a heavy defeat to league leaders Richmond, although their second half effort at the Athletic Ground was very encouraging as they outscored the hosts by three tries to one to earn a bonus point.
Ionians also come into the game on the back of a heavy defeat to south west side Cinderford, where they conceded 9 tries in a 58-10 reversal at home.
However, despite both teams coming into this one on the back of losses and the fact that they are both occupying the relegation places, the game is expected to be a tight, physical and attritional battle as derby games often tend to be.
Ahead of the match Titans have made 8 changes to their starting XV, three of which come in the backline and five in the pack.
In the backs; Tom Bullough returns in the centres for the injured Jamie Cooke (ankle), Tom Benjamin comes back in on the wing as Tom Bacon moves to full back for George Castledine and at fly half Sam Hollingsworth is given the nod over Morgan Bunting.
In the forwards; changes to the front row see Jack Bergmanas come in for Harry Newborn at hooker and Will Dennis come in for Rikki Stout at tight head prop. Kieran Frost comes in for Elliott Ward in the second row, whilst in the back row Lewis Wilson replaces Ben Waddington and Kieran Curran (dual-registered from Wasps this week) is given the number 8 berth ahead of Anthony Maka.
Speaking ahead of the game Titans Steve Salvin explained, “I think what everyone needs to understand is that Ionians will be targeting this game as a win and we’ve got to respect them coming here.
“If we are even 5% off where we need to be – and we’ve got evidence of this from our previous game against them – we will come unstuck. So emotionally we need to be right on the money.
“The expectation is slightly different this week, as some people will expect Rotherham to win the game and with that it can bring on extra pressure, but it’s all about how we go about our business.
“If we are to get the win then everything we do will need to function well; that includes the set-piece as well as our attack and defence and our discipline has to be squeaky clean. If we can manage that we will give ourselves a great opportunity.”
Titans: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ben Robbins, 13 Tom Bullough, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Tom Benjamin, 10 Sam Hollingsworth, 9 Connor Dever, 1 Harry Whitfield, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Will Dennis, 4 Dan Preston-Routledge, 5 Kieran Frost, 6 Lewis Wilson 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Kieran Curran.
Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Toby Williams, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Anthony Maka, 20 Sam Boxhall.
