Rotherham Titans expect a huge challenge this weekend when they travel north to take on Wharfedale in round 5 of Nat 2 North; kick-off at The Avenue on Saturday is 3pm.
The South Yorkshire side will go into this one following back-to-back home wins over Blaydon and Tynedale respectively and hold a 3-1 win record in the league to date.
Equally, Wharfedale will go into the game high in confidence, as they too have a 3-1 win record having just beaten Blaydon 46-7 at Crowtrees last time out.
Additionally, it will be fresh in the memory the last time these two sides met at the tail end of last season, where back in April Wharfedale thumped Rotherham 38-19 at the Avenue.
Both teams currently sit with 16 points in the league, with Rotherham in third spot, just one place above Wharfedale on point’s difference and so the game is set-up to be a tough, physical and in all likelihood, a close affair.
Team news ahead of the match sees Rotherham make just 1 change to their starting XV. Jack Taylor returns on the wing for Fraser Jones who drops on to the bench.
Looking ahead to the game Titans Adam Byron said:
“We are well aware how much of a challenge Wharfedale away is having lost to them at their place last season.
“This is the start of a tough run of fixtures, but you have to play all the best sides at some point and it doesn’t make any difference when you play them, it’s always going to be challenging.
“I expect Wharfedale to take us on up front; I think they’ll give us the biggest test in the scrum that we have had so far this year and they will be very organised.
“They score tries from all over the park, both through a powerful set of forwards and a speedy back line and we’ve seen in our previews they are a very adventurous side, in that they are prepared to run the ball out of the 22 and take teams on.
“So we’ll go there and give Wharfedale our full respect, knowing we are in for a tough test; but we have prepared well and as always the boys are up for these types of challenges.”
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Zak Poole (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 Fraser Jones, 20 Kai Ramrattan.
