Round four of National 1 sees Rotherham Titans take on one of the best teams in the division, when they travel across the Pennines to take on Sale FC; kick-off at Heywood Road on Saturday is 2:30pm.
Rotherham put in a superb shift last time out, as they ran in 7 tries to register a decisive 48-19 win over Esher at Clifton Lane. The victory was Titans third of the season and keeps them unbeaten at this early stage.
However, this week’s game against Sale FC will be by far the toughest Rotherham have faced to date and there are many that have Sale as dark horses to win the division.
Not surprisingly then Sale have made a good start to the season and can be forgiven for their defeat at title favourites Rams last weekend, particularly as their preparations were drastically affected when the bus they were travelling on caught fire!
Nevertheless, their two previous games demonstrated they are back in business; an opening day bonus point win at Plymouth Albion was followed up with another bonus point win over fierce local rivals Sedgley Park.
However, the good thing for Rotherham is they fully understand the size of the challenge and have prepared accordingly for the task.
The teams have met previously on four occasions with the score standing at 2 wins each; the home side has won on all four occasions.
The last time the sides met was at Heywood Road with the home side smashing Rotherham 49-7, only a late score from Harry Dunne prevented a total drubbing that day.
Going into this game however Titans have made three changes to their starting XV.
The front row remains the same with hooker Jack Bergmanas flanked by props Charlie Capps at loosehead and Andrew Foster at tighthead.
The second row sees a change however, as co-captain Zak Poole has picked up a leg injury which means there’s a debut for Frankie Gascoigne and he will line up alongside Curran Maguire.
The back row is the same with John Okafor and Harry Newborn on the flanks, with Callum Bustin at number 8.
Across the backline scrum half JB Bruzulier returns for James Naylor and he will link up with Rob Povey in the half back positions.
Tomasi Tanumi and Lloyd Hayes partner up again in midfield, but an injury to Jamie Cooke sees a reshuffle across the back three. Jack Townend comes in at full back as Ronnie Du Randt goes on to the wing, with Travis Gideon on the other wing.
On the bench Luke Cole, Loma Kivalu and Rikki Stout will cover the front row, Ben Copley the back five and Corben Ollivent will look forward to showing what he can do across the backline when his opportunity arrives.
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Travis Gideon, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Capt.), 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Frankie Gascoigne, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Ben Copley, 20 Corben Ollivent.
