This Saturday round six of National League 1 sees Rotherham Titans take to the road for a tricky looking fixture against Leicester Lions; kick-off at Westleigh Park is 2pm.
Titans impressed last week at Clifton Lane with a 45-19 bonus-point win over a good Dings Crusaders side, where a headline grabbing hat trick of tries from John Okafor proved pivotal in Rotherham’s success.
However, this week’s clash away to Leicester Lions, a team Roth have never previously played, is another where they will need to be at their best if they are to get anything from the game.
Lions’ current league position is very deceptive, as some of their performances this season have clearly shown they can mix it with the best in the division.
They were narrowly beaten at Plymouth Albion, a ground considered to be one of the toughest in the league, whilst their last outing at home saw them beat Sedgley Park with a bonus point and last week’s loss against title favourites Rams saw them score 4 tries to grab another bonus point – as such, no one at Clifton Lane will underestimate the task in hand.
Going into the match Titans have made three changes to their starting XV.
The front row sees hooker Jack Bergmanas come in for Luke Cole and he’ll be flanked by props Zach Toerien who in turn comes in for Charlie Capps at loosehead and Alastair Donkor at tighthead.
The second row stays the same with skipper Zak Poole lining up alongside Curran Maguire.
The back row is also unchanged with John Okafor and Harry Newborn on the flanks and Callum Bustin at number 8.
Across the backline scrum half JB Bruzulier is joined again in the half backs by Corben Ollivent.
Lloyd Hayes and Jamie Cooke retain their partnership in midfield, whilst across the back three Tomasi Tanumi comes in on the wing for Travis Gideon with Jack Hedley on the other wing and Ronnie Du Randt at full back.
Commenting ahead of the game Harvey Biljon said:
“We are looking forward to taking on Leicester Lions; there is a real buzz about training and the players are enjoying what we are doing, but we are all staying focussed on one match at a time.
“We know Leicester have the beating of any team on their day; they showed that with their win over Sedgley Park.
“They’ve been in every game, they’re at home and they’ll want to make sure they continue their fine recent form and so we will go there and give them our full respect.
“Our aim is to try and keep on improving as a group and if we can, our performances will improve too.”
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Jack Hedley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Tomasi Tanumi, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Zach Toerien, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Alastair Donkor, 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Charlie Capps, 18 Andrew Foster, 19 Ellis Thomas, 20 Rob Povey.
