Rotherham Titans fully expect, and are prepared to be tested this weekend when they host high-flyers Fylde in round six of National 2 North; kick-off on Saturday at Clifton Lane is 2pm.
Rotherham preserved their unbeaten start to the season last time out with a hard-fought, but well-deserved 33-19 win over a dangerous Tynedale side at Station Road.
The victory made it a perfect five wins on the spin this term; the last time Rotherham won their first 5 games of the season came 19 years ago in 2004/05.
So whilst confidence in the Titans camp will be high following their impressive start, no one is underestimating the challenge that will be presented by a talented Fylde side.
Last season’s runners-up, have by their own high standards had a mixed start to the campaign having drawn at home to Sheffield Tigers and suffered defeats away at Wharfedale and surprisingly last week at home to Lymm.
There’s no doubt the aim will be to get that winning habit back quickly and they will target this game to kick-start their season.
Overall the teams have met on 10 previous league occasions, with Roth holding a 7-3 advantage.
However, the last 3 games have all been won by Fylde. Indeed the corresponding fixture at Clifton Lane last season saw the North West outfit run away with a classy 41-16 win.
Going into Saturday’s match Titans have made two changes to their starting XV, both of which come in the backline.
Winger Jack Render has joined the club from Hunslet rugby league and he comes in for Dan Rundle; whilst at full back Jack Townend returns to side, moving Lloyd Hayes to outside centre and Tomasi Tanumi onto the wing for Jack Taylor.
Speaking ahead of the game Titans head coach, Gary Pearce said:
“Last week I thought our lads played really well for the first 25 minutes before we let them back into the game, but to be fair, Tynedale put up a good performance and they battled until the end.
“We dominated the second half and we felt unlucky not to get the bonus point and we were disappointed not to get it. Overall however, against arguably a good side on their own patch, it will prove a good result for us and so we were pleased with the win.
“There are a lot of things that we can be better at; we can be more clinical for sure and that will give us more opportunities to pick up bonus points. We do go out there to score tries, but sometimes the opposition are pretty good and we have to accept and respect that.
“It will be the same on Saturday; Fylde are a very good side who we respect and no one is thinking about bonus points. They’ve been up there for a long time and we know what they will bring, it’s hard enough to try and beat them never mind anything else.
“Looking from afar at the results they’ve had to date, by their standards they’ve had a bit of a rocky start. They’ve drawn one and lost a couple and that’s unlike them as usually they are a very clinical side.
“Maybe they’ve had a few injuries and that’s impacted them, but we know what a dangerous side they are. They still have a lot of good players and they will come here with a full team determined to get the win.
“We’ll look to take them on up front and get on top of them there and then we’ll look to manoeuvre ourselves into the right areas if we can.
“We virtually have a full squad of players to select from; only Jack Hedley is unavailable and so we have the headache, although a nice one, of who’s going to be involved and who’s not and there’ll be a few disappointed lads which is natural.
“Usually playing a side like Fylde at Clifton Lane is an advantage, but it didn’t help us last year as they beat us quite handily and regardless of where you play you have to turn up and want it more than the opposition. If we get that aspect right we are a handful for anyone.”
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Jack Render, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Tomasi Tanumi, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Rupert Kay, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Reece Ward, 19 John Okafor, 20 Callum Bustin.
