Rotherham Titans expect a tough test on Saturday when they host Otley in Nat 2 North; kick-off at Clifton Lane is 2pm.
Following a three week break due to a reserve weekend and the Sheffield Tigers game being called off due to snow, Rotherham will be eager to get back out on the pitch. However, their task won’t be a straightforward one as visitors Otley are flying high in the league in fourth spot.
Indeed, if Otley win their two games in hand on Hull Ionians they will replace them in third place and for a team which got promoted into this division at the beginning of the season, that would be an outstanding achievement.
Otley have demonstrated all year how good a side they are, but last month’s victory over Fylde was eye-catching and surely must be the highlight of the season for the West Yorkshire outfit.
When Rotherham met Otley back in November at Cross Green it was the home side that ran out 39-26 winners and they will be aiming to do the double over Roth at the weekend.
A quick look at the Otley roster shows there are a number of former Titans in the Otley ranks, with Luke Cole, Callum Irvine, Dan Preston-Routledge, Ben Waddington, Reece Ward and Henry Roberts all based at Cross Green and as such that will add a bit more spice to the clash.
Going into the game Roth have made five changes to the starting XV that beat Sheffield last time out, four of which come in the back line.
Jack Hedley returns from injury and comes in on the wing for Sam Veall, whilst on the other wing Jack Taylor returns to action in place of Luckas Sableman-Blue. Harry Dunne is back at inside centre as Callum Bustin is unwell and not available; whist the final change in the backs sees Kai Ramrattan come in at scrum half for Sam Boxhall.
In the pack, the sole change sees Lewis Allan come into the back row for the injured Rupert Kay.
Speaking ahead of the match Titans head coach, Gary Pearce said:
“What with the weather and reserve weekend it’s been a while since we played against Sheffield. We were pleased to get the bonus point win against them, but a little disappointed that we didn’t score more points if I’m being honest. We did however score some nice tries and with it being a local derby it brought a little more spice to the game and it was good to come out on top.
“I thought our forwards went well and our backs moved the ball nicely; although we know there are still plenty of things to work on. Defensively we could have been better, the last try we gave them at the end could have been avoided and for me the scoreline flattered them.
“We went back to playing a bit more direct and more territorial than we have been of late and everyone loves to get the upper hand when it comes to a local derby.
“It will have been 3 weeks since we last played when we take on Otley and you never really know if a break like that is a good or a bad thing until after the game. You’d like to think it freshens players up and gives some battered bodies a little more time to mend or sometimes you can find you’re a bit ring rusty, so we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out.
“What we do know is that Otley are a very good side and we’ll need to be at our best if we are to get a result against them. They got promoted into this division last season and they have done unbelievably well as a group. They quite rightly should feel proud and pleased with what they have achieved and they are likely to finish in either third or fourth spot and that is an outstanding achievement.
“I would say one of their strengths is from a big set of forwards; they have a very aggressive, physical pack that has a number of lads that have been around a long time and they are well coached.
“They also have good half backs in Joe Rowntree and Callum Irvine and we know Callum in particular is a dangerous operator and we’ll need to try and control him if we can and outside of that they have some speedy backs; all of which makes them a dangerous outfit.
“If we are going to be competitive we’ll have to match them up front, the game always starts up front and the set piece is always a critical area for everybody. If you can dominate in those areas you can dictate the game and dictate which areas you play in; but it will be crucial that we match them all over the park and importantly we will have to match their enthusiasm.
“So we obviously expect it to be a very difficult and a tight game; but we have confidence in ourselves and at home we always fancy our chances of getting a result. We want to do ourselves proud and we want to make our supporters proud; we have a great set of supporters who rally around the lads really well and together we all want to win and that’s what we’ll be striving to achieve.”
Titans: 15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Tomasi Tanumi, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Kai Ramrattan, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Danny Rylance, 4 Matt Challinor, 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Lewis Allan, 7 Marcus Payne, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Tom Richardson, 17 Alastair Donkor, 18 Cade Cambier, 19 Sam Veall, 20 Luckas Sableman-Blue.
