Round 2 of National One sees Rotherham Titans go on the road when they visit the North-East on Saturday to take on Darlington Mowden Park; kick-off at the Darlington Arena is 3pm.
Titans began the season last week with an impressive showing as they put away fancied side Rosslyn Park 31-21 at Clifton Lane.
Both sides scored 3 tries, but it was Rotherham who enjoyed the majority of territory and possession and fully deserved their opening-day success.
This week however Titans will face a different challenge on a huge playing surface inside the 25,000 all-seater stadium at the Darlington Arena.
Titans have played there twice before, but have come unstuck on both occasions, having lost 42-19 and 41-27 in recent times and as such no one at Clifton Lane will underestimate the challenge.
Darlington’s Director of Rugby is a familiar face to most Rotherham supporters with Garry Law in Charge. Garry made 48 appearances for Rotherham, scoring a massive 438 points, most of which came from his boot. And who can forget “THAT KICK” from him in the Championship against Doncaster Knights in 2012!
Garry will be keen to keep up his winning run against his former side.
Going into the game Titans have made three changes to their starting XV, but the tight five which performed so well last week remain the same.
In the front row hooker Luke Cole is flanked by props and Co-Captain Charlie Capps at loosehead and Andrew Foster at tighthead; whilst Co-Captain Zak Poole is joined again in the second row by Curran Maguire.
In the back row only Callum Bustin at number 8 retains his spot. Ben Copley comes in for John Okafor on the blindside as the latter suffered an injury in training this week and Harry Newborn moves from the bench to play at openside for Travis Gordon who suffered a leg injury against Rosslyn Park.
Along the backline JB Bruzulier and Rob Povey stay in the half back positions.
Tomasi Tanumi however moves from the wing to inside centre for Joe Mounsey who also suffered a leg injury last week; Lloyd Hayes will partner him in midfield.
The back three sees Travis Gideon come into the side to make his debut on the wing with Jamie Cooke on the other wing and Ronnie Du Randt retaining his place at full back.
Titans: 15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Travis Gideon, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Jamie Cooke, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Co-Capt.), 2 Luke Cole, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Zak Poole (Co-Capt.), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Ben Copley, 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Lewis Allan, 20 James Naylor.
