Rotherham Titans will face another stiff challenge this week when they travel to the north of the county to take on Wharfedale in round 29 of National 2 North; kick-off at The Avenue on Saturday is 3pm.
It’s never easy being the away side in a Yorkshire derby and Rotherham will be aware of the perils that lie ahead following their defeat at Huddersfield earlier in the month.
Moreover, Wharfedale will take great pleasure in taking the scalp of the ‘big boys’ in the division should they manage to come out on top and they will come into the game full of confidence following back-to-back wins.
Last time out the ‘Green Machine’ hammered Harrogate 56-18 at Rudding Lane after running in 8 tries and before that they toppled Huddersfield 37-31 at The Avenue, having run in 5 tries.
However, Titans will also go into the game with confidence having suffered just 1 defeat in their last six outings and on the back of a good win last time out, when they put South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Tigers to the sword 41-22.
It will be the same group of 20 Titans that will travel north this weekend, albeit there are two changes to the starting XV.
Along the back line George Tucker comes in on the wing for Connor Field, whilst in the pack Alastair Donkor is given the nod at loose head prop ahead of Tom Richardson.
Speaking ahead of the match Titans Adam Byron said:
“Here we are again with another Yorkshire derby and as always in these types of game we know there will be lots of pride and lots of passion on display.
“We’ve seen on plenty of occasions this year how our opponents start the game fast and with high intensity as they look to get into us and it will be no different this week; so we’ll need to make sure we’re ready for that and that we fight fire with fire.
“We are viewed by most teams in this league as the ‘big boys’ of the division because of the clubs history and I think that’s right we are viewed that way, but with that comes a big target on your back and teams look to try and smash that whenever they can.
“Often we are seen as a ‘cup final’ and especially at this time of the year teams are willing to take chances and have a real go at you. This is something that we not only have to expect, but something we have to deal with effectively.
“So whilst we will give Wharfedale all the respect they deserve, we will also go there to try and stamp our game on them and hopefully come out the other end with the right result.”
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 21 George Tucker, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 18 Alastair Donkor, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Kieran Curran, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 19 Tom Richardson, 25 Matti Williams, 20 Connor Field.
