Rotherham Titans face a severe test this weekend when they travel to Fylde in round 19 of National 2 North; kick-off at Woodlands on Saturday is 3pm.
With a perfect 8 wins from 8 games at home this season, Fylde have made Woodlands a fortress. They have already beaten top sides Stourbridge and Hull Ionians there and have flogged Harrogate 80-26 and Bournville 73-7.
Indeed, in the reverse fixture at Clifton Lane earlier in the season, the North West side made Rotherham work their socks off for their hard-earned win on a wet afternoon.
So Roth are fully aware Fylde, who are one place above them in the table, are going to present them with challenges and they will need to be at their best if they are to get a result.
Roth likewise are enjoying a successful season, as they sit fourth in the league and are unbeaten after 15 games and as such will travel to Fylde with confidence.
Going into the game Titans have made 2 personnel changes and 2 positional changes from the starting XV which beat Blaydon at Clifton Lane last time out.
The backline remains the same, but in the pack Rikki Stout returns from injury and replaces Colin Quigley at tight head prop. Matt Challinor returns to the side in the second row, moving Theo Nwosu-Hope to blindside flanker and Zak Poole to openside, as Keifer Laxton makes way.
Speaking ahead of the game Titans’ Adam Byron said:
“We want to go to Fylde and put in a performance. They have their own style of play which is not dissimilar to Sedgley Park, in that they’ll look to throw the ball around and get it wide.
“They’ll want to test us all over the park, they’ll want to try something different; but we know they will have a go at us and we’ll need to handle that and stick to our own strategies.
“Rugby is so much about momentum and we are very much a team with momentum; we are confident of where we are and we want to keep that going against Fylde.”
Titans: 15 Matt Minogue, 14 Connor Field, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Harry Newborn, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 7 Zak Poole (Capt), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Tomos Richardson, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Matti Williams, 20 Jonny West.
