Rotherham Titans are expecting to be tested again this weekend when they face Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield in round 8 of Nat 2 North at Clifton Lane; kick-off on Saturday is 2pm.
The South Yorkshire side will go into the game on the back of defeats to the top two sides in the division, Fylde and Sedgley Park and whilst Roth did have opportunities in those games which could have seen them go on to win, those opportunities were not taken and they came away on the wrong side of the scores.
Additionally Roth will still be smarting from their 36-31 defeat to Huddersfield at Lockwood Park at the back end of last season and as such will be fully aware of the threat the West Yorkshire side will pose.
All in all Rotherham will be eager to get back on the winning trail and will hope against ‘The Field’ they can kick-start their season.
Meanwhile, whilst Huddersfield may be nearer the bottom than the top, following just one win this term, a closer look behind the stats will show they have been really close in games; indeed they have lost 3 matches by less than 7 points and come into this this one on the back of a 24-7 bonus point win over Blaydon.
So anyone thinking this will be an easy afternoon for Roth beware!
Going into the derby encounter Rotherham have made five changes to their starting XV, with three of those coming in the backline.
The division’s leading point’s scorer Lloyd Hayes returns from injury and replaces Jack Taylor at outside centre.
Kai Ramrattan makes his first start of the season as he comes in at scrum half for Sam Boxhall and Corben Ollivent returns to the side at fly half as Sam Veall moves to full back in place of Fraser Jones.
The two changes in the pack sees Danny Rylance come in for Gareth Denman at tighthead prop and Theo Nwosu-Hope comes into the second row, as skipper Zak Poole reverts to the back row for Callum Bustin.
Looking ahead to the match Titans forwards coach, Matt Smith said:
“The most disappointing thing about our two recent defeats is we are making a lot of mistakes. Our penalty count is too high, the errors we are making are too high and what we’re doing is just compounding things. When we are in a good position on the pitch, by making mistakes we end up back inside our own 22 defending.
“We just need to look at ourselves and if we can massively cut down on our errors and keep the penalty count low, then we’ll be more than alright going forwards.
“Sedgley Park has a good side and you have to acknowledge that, but at the same time I think we were the better side. I think it was a game we could have won and if it wasn’t for the penalty count and the errors we would have won the game.
“This team has size, pace and skill all in there with local lads and that is something to be proud of; but as with most things it takes time to develop.
“As coaches what we want to see is the boys using that top two inches, so that in games they are able to make the right decisions at the crucial moments.
“Against Huddersfield this week hopefully we will see some improvements in that area. We are expecting a lot of pride, a lot of passion and a lot of energy from them. They want to come here to Clifton Lane and beat Rotherham; they beat us last year at their place and we know they’ll be going all out to do the same again.
“What we’ve got to do is match their pride, passion and energy and bring even more. We’ve just lost two games on the trot and we want to see a reaction; so we are expecting a good game and hopefully our quality and work rate can nudge it in our favour.”
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Kai Ramrattan, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Danny Rylance, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Callum Bustin, 19 Jack Taylor, 20 Sam Boxhall.
