Rotherham Titans are expecting a ferocious battle this weekend when they take on Sheffield RUFC in a first-ever league meeting; kick-off on Saturday at Abbeydale Park is 2:15pm.
The only previous meeting between the clubs since the leagues were formed in 1987 was a Pilkington Cup match which took place at Sheffield in September 1989. That game ended in a 13-all draw with a certain Martin Jenkinson (Titans Director of Rugby) scoring Rotherham’s only try. Roth progressed into the next round as the away team.
This will be Titans first South Yorkshire derby of the season and it has the potential to be as close as that game was back in 1989.
Sheffield, newly promoted into Nat 2 North this term, have started the season well having won 4 of their 8 games and currently sit in seventh position in the table.
Impressive wins over Sheffield Tigers, Otley, Preston Grasshoppers and Harrogate and a couple of narrow losing bonus-point defeats to Chester and Hull Ionians have ensured the Abbeydale outfit has punched more than its weight so far this year and there’s no doubt they will be looking to take the scalp of their near-neighbours.
Rotherham meanwhile will come into this one on the back of a hard-fought 27-3 bonus point win over Huddersfield last time out. The Lane men weren’t at their best in that game and an aggressive Huddersfield side made Roth work hard for the spoils.
However, Titans will also be eager to keep their season moving with a good performance and head coach, Adam Byron, is confident his side can come up with a performance against his old team.
Byron joined the Abbeydale outfit at the age of 10 and progressed though the junior sides, before making the first team and then going on to coach the team for 13 years, 9 of which was as head coach.
Speaking ahead of the game he said:
“It’s going to be strange for me going back to Sheffield, it’s a stone’s throw away from my house and to walk up those steps into the away changing room is going to feel very odd.
“Sheffield was my boyhood club and it’s a club where I coached for over a decade and I’ve spent a lot of time there.
“Standing in the away team’s technical area will feel strange and I’ve never actually been in the away changing room up those stairs and I’m sure that will feel a bit weird going up there.
“However, there will be a lot of faces that I know and I’m looking forward to going back to say hello to them.
“In terms of the game we know they’ll be very motivated to beat Rotherham and we must be ready for what will be a fired up Sheffield side.
“But we must concentrate on ourselves and not get drawn into anything else. I think what’s important is how we play and how we implement our game plan; that has to be our main focus.
“Following our two recent defeats to Fylde and Sedgley we are just going week-on-week; our aim is to keep building on our performances.
“If we can control our own variables, if we can cut out the penalties, if we can cut down the error count and we can actually play the rugby we know we are capable of, then we will do well and everything else will just come from that and fall into place.”
Going into the game Roth have made three changes to their starting XV, with two of those coming in the backline.
Jack Taylor comes into the side at outside centre as Lloyd Hayes moves to fly half for Corben Ollivent; whilst Sam Boxhall is given the nod at scrum half over Kai Ramrattan.
The sole change in the pack sees Callum Bustin come into the back row for Marcus Payne.
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Jack Taylor, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Danny Rylance, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Callum Bustin, 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Marcus Payne, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Kai Ramrattan.
