Rotherham Titans are all ready and prepared to take on Blaydon in round 3 of National 2 North this weekend; kick-off at Clifton Lane on Saturday is 2pm.
Rotherham will go into this one still stinging from the bitterly disappointing loss to Hull Ionians 7 days ago and they will be keen to get back to winning ways.
Blaydon however will provide a different kind of test this week as they are a side that like to throw the ball around and play from everywhere on the park.
Their reputation for an adventurous style of rugby means Rotherham will need to stay alert to the dangers of broken play and expect the visitors to run it from all areas.
Titans have made just two changes to their starting XV, both of which come in the pack.
Rikki Stout comes in at tight head for Gareth Denman and Marcus Payne comes into a reshuffled back row for Callum Bustin.
On the bench Alastair Donkor comes into the squad for the first time this season following a spell out with injury.
Looking ahead to the game Titans Adam Byron said:
“We were very disappointed with the result at Ionians, but we have to keep building and working hard to improve as a squad. We have to understand it is still early stages and there are a lot of games to be played. We’re going to take it one game at a time and look forward to each game as an opportunity to improve.
“We’ll regroup starting with Blaydon; it won’t be easy however as they are a very decent side and we will give them the respect they deserve.
“They’ve started with a couple of tough games against Hull Ionians and a local derby against Tynedale which they narrowly just missed out on the win. So they will be looking to build on their encouraging start and get off the mark today.
“They have a mixture of styles in that they were competitive up front against Tynedale, but they are a side that likes to get the ball out and play some rugby; and if they are like anything last season when they came to Clifton Lane they literally attacked us from everywhere, including from their own goal line and it will be interesting to see if they have the same approach today.
“However, we will focus on our game and how we want to go about things. It will be important to try and get on the front foot and once we achieve that we need to keep the momentum going and make sure we stay on top. It’s also important that when we are not on the front foot that we have an out to relieve the pressure.”
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 George Tucker, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Rikki Stout, 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Lewis Wilson.
Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Gareth Denman, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Callum Bustin, 20 Kai Ramrattan.
