Rotherham Titans are all-set and excited to start the new season as they look forward to welcoming Billingham to Clifton Lane for the first time on Saturday; kick-off for this opening National 2 North fixture is 2pm.
Currently with a squad of 27 players, 16 of which are retained from last season, Rotherham are pleased with how their recruitment has gone over the summer and feel with the extra experience and quality of player that has joined, they can challenge for a top-end finish come April.
Titans have enjoyed a productive pre-season campaign which saw them give lots of game time to most of the squad.
Victories over Newport Salop, Guernsey Raiders and Durham University gave Coach Gary Pearce a chance to try out different combinations in different positions and he feels the squad is as ready as it can be at this stage.
Billingham however will arrive at Clifton Lane full of confidence and with a winning mentality, having won promotion into N2N this year. They lost just 3 games last season, scoring an average of 36 points per game and only conceding an average of 13.
Nevertheless Rotherham will also be confident having finished last season with 6 wins on the spin and have selected a side which has 11 players from last term in the starting XV.
The front row has a familiar look to it as Capps, Bergmanas and Denman join forces again.
Matt Challinor is joined in the boiler-house by his old pal Matt Smith; he’ll be playing his first competitive game since suffering a horrific knee injury in February 2022 and he will be warmly welcomed back into the fold.
Whilst the back row consists of two old boys in Rupert Kay and skipper Zak Poole and they’ll be joined by new man Laurence Cowen-Leak who has joined from Hull.
JB Bruzulier will debut at scrum half having joined from Championship outfit Hartpury and he’ll be joined in the half backs by last season’s leading point’s scorer Lloyd Hayes.
A familiar pairing in the centres sees Callum Bustin and Harry Dunne link up again, whilst on the wings are Tomasi Tanumi and new recruit from Stourbridge Dan Rundle. At full back Jack Townend will debut having joined the club from Hull Ionians.
The bench sees front row cover from Luke Cole (joined from Otley) and Loma Kivalu (joined from Hull); whilst John Okafor (joined from Leeds Tykes) will cover the second/back row and the backs cover comes from Kareem Eissa and Will Milner (joined from Huddersfield).
Speaking ahead of the match Titans head coach, Gary Pearce said:
“It’s great to be back and on the verge of a new season; everyone at the club is really looking forward to the year ahead. I think we have recruited well; we have a well-balanced squad with lots of competition for places and we believe we‘ve got some very good players at the club.
“Our pre-season games allowed us to have a look at a few different things and we got something positive out of all three and whilst the results in pre-season aren’t as important, it’s always nice to get the win. We managed to get some game-time into just about everyone and I think we are as well-prepared as we could be at this stage.
“Callum, our S&C Coach, has worked hard with the boys over the summer and the lads have responded really well and I think we’re fitter than we have been for a while; and that’s all credit to the lads because it’s them that’s had to put in the hard work to get the improvements and they’ve done a great job.
“Clive Griffiths is with us again this year and unsurprisingly he’s doing a marvellous job, especially with our defence and with the new tackle laws that have come in - which we all have to come to terms with. So overall we’re happy with how our pre-season preparations have gone.
“It all starts again on Saturday against Billingham; they’ve just been promoted into the division having enjoyed a successful season last year and we know they’re going to be buzzing. They’ll come here with confidence as winning sides do and they’ll be looking to give us a bloody nose.
“They play on an artificial surface at home and that encourages you to play at a faster pace with tempo and they’re a running side who like to play a bit of rugby. I expect them to move the ball at pace and to try and attack us when they get an opportunity.
“But we’ll focus on ourselves and on what we want to try and do and we want to give our supporters something to shout about. Our lads will rock-up full of determination wanting to put in a shift and get the season off to a positive start.
“Our attitude has been spot-on in pre-season; we just need to improve on our accuracy and to be a little more clinical when we are in our opponents 22. We have to convert the pressure we create into points; if we can do that then hopefully we’ll give our supporters the result we all want.”
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Dan Rundle, 13 Harry Dunne, 12 Callum Bustin, 11 Tomasi Tanumi, 10 Lloyd Hayes, 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 John Okafor, 19 Kareem Eissa, 20 Will Milner.
