Rotherham Titans expect another tough test when they host Wharfedale on Saturday in round 16 of Nat 2 North; kick-off at Clifton Lane is 2pm.
And following a mid-afternoon Friday pitch inspection by an appointed RFU referee, the game has been declared on!
Despite a huge effort in difficult conditions Rotherham suffered a disappointing defeat to Tynedale last time out; however, with the comforts of home-field advantage this week, they will look for a return into the winners circle.
That won’t be a straightforward however, as their Yorkshire rivals will come into the game with confidence, having secured an impressive 22-3 win over Blaydon last week.
When the sides met earlier in the season at The Avenue, Titans grabbed a dramatic victory in the final play of the game when Sam Veall broke through to score and another close game is anticipated this week.
Going into the match Roth have made just two changes to their starting XV; however there are a number of positional changes and an interesting selection in the backfield.
Marcus Payne starts at blindside as Theo Nwosu-Hope moves into the second row for Lewis Allan. Rupert Kay returns to the team at openside as Callum Bustin moves to inside centre.
Bustin’s move into the backs sees Lloyd Hayes go to outside centre, Jack Taylor on to the wing and Sam Veall to full back, following Jack Hedley sustaining a fracture to his fibula in the Tynedale game.
Speaking ahead of the match Titans head coach, Gary Pearce said:
“Last week was a game of two halves with the wind playing a huge part in the outcome. In all fairness though, Tynedale played the conditions well and certainly better than we did. We probably didn’t put enough pressure on them in the first half and we didn’t control the territorial battle, which they did really well in the second half.
“We had a couple of chances that we didn’t take and had we converted those into points we would probably have had a different outcome; that was how tight the game was.
“We need to be more clinical going forwards and implement a simplistic game plan; we are at the start of a journey and we need to be patient as we make some assessments and weigh up what works best for us and we have another challenge this week against Wharfedale.
“They picked up a nice win against Blaydon last week and so they will come here with a bit of a spring in their step. They will show a lot of grit and determination as they always do, they are very solid up front with a bit of pace behind and like all sides in this division they are dangerous.
“We‘ll have to match them in terms of desire and we’ll have to show the same determination that we had last week, but additionally we’ll need to be more clinical when we create opportunities. We will try and play a bit more rugby in the right areas of the park and we’ll have to graft hard again for the full 80 minutes.”
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 Jack Taylor, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Callum Bustin, 11 Luckas Sableman-Blue, 10 Connor Dever, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Marcus Payne, 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Danny Rylance, 18 Lewis Allan, 19 Corben Ollivent, 20 Kai Ramrattan.
