Rotherham Titans expect a tough challenge this week when they travel to West Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield in round 27 of National 2 North; kick-off at Lockwood Park on Saturday is 3pm.
Yorkshire derbies are usually keenly fought affairs that are full of intensity and passion and Rotherham expects more of the same this week.
Indeed, in the reverse fixture at Clifton Lane back in December Huddersfield pushed the Titans all the way, with the South Yorkshire outfit only wrapping up the game 13 minutes from time with a Callum Bustin try, in a 26-12 win.
The only previous league meeting before that came 32 years ago at Clifton Lane in North 2 during the 1989/90 season. On that day it was Huddersfield that ran out 18-10 winners; although Rotherham would go on to win the league that year.
Titans will however be encouraged with their record in derbies this term, having won 6 out of 7; their only reversal came at league leaders Hull in a tightly contested 20-17 loss at the Ferrens Ground.
This week’s derby will see Huddersfield come into the game in confident mood having beaten Harrogate 21-13 last time out at Rudding Lane.
Equally Rotherham will be confident of putting in a decent shift as they go in on the back on 4 straight wins, all of which saw them pick up the bonus point.
In terms of the Titans team, there is just one change to the starting XV that beat Loughborough Students last time out, with Kieran Curran returning to the back row for Marcus Payne.
Speaking ahead of the match Titans Adam Byron said:
“It’s always a tough trip when you go to Huddersfield, but as always we will travel there with the ambition of getting the win and hopefully a bonus point too.
“That’s the only thing we can control at the moment in terms of trying to win the league, we can’t affect Hull, so we just need to concentrate on the things we can affect and we’ll keep on doing that for the rest of the season.
“It’s difficult to predict what to expect against Huddersfield as their results have been very much up and down recently and often it depends on who they have available to play as to the performance they give.
“However, whatever side they put out, it will be a side that will look to take our scalp; it’s another Yorkshire derby and we all know how intense and competitive these games can be.”
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Tom Lewis, 13 Jamie Cooke, 12 Harry Dunne, 21 George Tucker, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Sam Boxhall, 19 Tom Richardson, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 27 Rikki Stout, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Zak Poole (Capt.), 7 Keifer Laxton, 8 Kieran Curran.
Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Colin Quigley, 18 Marcus Payne, 22 Olly Fisher, 20 Lewis Taylor.
