Rotherham Titans expect a tough test when they travel to Tynedale on Saturday for round 15 of Nat 2 North; kick-off at Station Road is 2pm.
Following last week’s impressive 47-19 win over Blaydon, Titans return to the north east to take on much stiffer opposition, as Tynedale sitting two places behind Roth in the table demonstrates.
The Corbridge-based side has achieved some good results this term, including victories over Sheffield, Sheffield Tigers, Wharfedale and Preston Grasshoppers and maybe the best of all, a narrow 33-28 loss away to unbeaten league leaders Sedgley Park.
When the two sides met earlier in the season at Clifton Lane, although Roth won 37-7, Tynedale showed what a good outfit they are by winning the second half and as such Roth won’t underestimate them this weekend.
Going into the game Titans have made just one change to their starting XV with Callum Busting coming into the back row for Rupert Kay. There’s also a positional change in the backline as Sam Veall and Jack Taylor swap positions.
Speaking ahead of the match Titans new head coach, Gary Pearce said:
“I arrived at the club this week and I’m excited to be here; Rotherham has a great history and I’m looking forward to being a part of hopefully a successful period in that history.
“I’m just looking at the players and what they are doing at the moment and it’s been interesting to see. We’re in season and so we’re not looking to change a huge amount right now, but over the next few weeks we’ll look to tweak a few things here and there if possible.
“We’ve had a couple of sessions this week and Smithy has helped out as we are supporting each other; I think Thursday went a lot better than Tuesday and obviously it’s going to take a bit of time to implement the changes we feel need making.
“We know this week we have a tough test at Tynedale; they’ve been a good side over the years and traditionally they are strong at home, but hopefully the away win at Blaydon has given the lads a bit of confidence for this week.
“We’ll have to match them up front because they are quite a heavy pack with a few slicks backs and we’ll have to control the game a bit better than we have done.
Last week was a little bit different because Blaydon didn’t play a rugby game, they played it almost like a sevens game from the start and this will be the opposite of that and so it will be a different test, but one I’m sure the lads will be up for.”
Titans: 15 Jack Taylor, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Sam Veall, 12 Lloyd Hayes, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Connor Dever, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 7 Callum Bustin, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Harry Newborn, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Cade Cambier, 19 Marcus Payne, 20 Corben Ollivent.
