Rotherham Titans are all-set for the challenge Leeds Tykes will present this weekend, when they travel to their Yorkshire rivals in round 11 of National 2 North; kick-off on Saturday at The Sycamores is 2:30pm.
Titans were made to battle hard last week to earn a well-deserved 28-9 win over Hull and in doing so maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
More of the same will be needed this week as Rotherham face the ultimate test against league leaders Leeds, who are also unbeaten.
Tykes who were relegated from National 1 last season have impressed massively this year; they’ve won all 11 games and have grabbed the bonus point in all but one. They are the league’s top scorers with 438 points and they average almost 40 points per game.
It’s fair to say this will be Titans biggest test to date.
However, the South Yorkshire side’s focus will be on what they can control and they too will go into the match with confidence following their best league start since the 2002/03 season in National 1 (now the Championship), where they won their opening 20 games.
Overall the teams have previously met on 28 league occasions, with the score standing at 16-12 to Leeds.
The last time the clubs met was at Clifton Lane during the 2017/18 Championship season where Roth ran out narrow 30-26 winners. That was the Rotherham’s final Championship game at Clifton Lane.
Going into this one Titans have made four changes to the starting XV that beat Hull; with two each coming in the forwards and backs.
In the pack Charlie Capps and Gareth Denman come into the front row for Loma Kivalu and Reece Ward respectively, both of whom drop to the bench.
Along the backline Harry Dunne comes in for Jack Render on the wing and scrum half JB Bruzulier returns to the side as Will Metcalfe goes to the bench.
Speaking ahead of the match Titans head coach, Gaz Lewis said:
We are looking forward to an exciting game; it could be a game of contrasting in styles, we have our strengths and they have theirs.
They’ve got an exciting back three and they have a lot of youth on their side; they like to play coast-to-coast, but hopefully we can impose ourselves on the game and not really worry about the opposition.
I think if we play to our potential we are a difficult team to beat.
The game won’t be season defining by any stretch because I’m sure there will be lots of twists and turns ahead, but it is a big game for both sides.
Both clubs have a rich history and have been in the higher echelons of the English game; I think it will be a great match and hopefully we can attract a decent Yorkshire crowd.
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Dan Rundle, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Harry Dunne, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Matt Smith, 19 John Okafor, 7 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 30 Reece Ward, 18 Callum Bustin, 20 Will Metcalfe.
