Team News: Titans v Otley

Rotherham Titans face a tricky away challenge on Saturday when they travel to West Yorkshire rivals Otley in round 20 of National 2 North; kick-off at Cross Green is 2:15pm.

Following last week’s notable 32-14 victory over third placed Sheffield - their seventh bonus-point win on the spin - Rotherham are hoping to keep that momentum rolling this week against Otley.

Titans’ performance against Sheffield was an impressive one; they controlled much of the match and defended with intensity and good organisation when called upon. The maul in particular was an effective weapon for the home side.

One negative to come out the highly entertaining game was an injury to second rower Matt Smith; at this stage it’s not known how long he’ll be out for and with Matt Challinor out for the rest of the season, it’s a double blow for the Titans to lose two players of vast experience in the same position.

Nevertheless, injuries are part of the game and Rotherham will get on with the task of taking on Otley at the weekend.

However, that won’t be an easy assignment as Otley are a good side and have won 2 of their last 4 games, with one of those defeats coming by a single point.

Furthermore, in the corresponding fixture last season, the Cross Green outfit ran out 39-26 winners and in the reverse fixture this season at Clifton Lane Titans squeaked a narrow 34-32 win, demonstrating what a tough side they are to beat.

Overall the teams have met on 17 previous occasions with the South Yorkshire side coming out on top in 13 of them.

Going into this week’s match Rotherham have made five changes to the starting XV that beat Sheffield, four of which come in the forwards.

In the front row Jack Bergmanas comes in at hooker for Luke Cole and Gareth Denman comes in at tight head prop for Loma Kivalu, whilst in the second row Lewis Allan comes in for the injured Matt Smith and in the back row Laurence Cowen-Leak comes in for Marcus Payne.

Along the backline the only change sees new recruit Cuchulain Livingstone come in on the wing for Dan Rundle.

Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Cuchulain Livingstone, 10 Will Milner, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Capt.), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 John Okafor, 5 Lewis Allan, 6 Laurence Cowen-Leak, 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Reece Ward, 19 Marcus Payne, 20 Will Metcalfe.