Rotherham Titans go into round 2 of their National 2 North game this weekend prepared for a huge challenge from hosts Hull Ionians; kick-off at Brantingham Park on Saturday is 3pm.
Both sides started their campaigns last week with impressive wins. Titans ran in 9 tries to overwhelm Harrogate at Clifton Lane, whilst Ionians picked up a crucial bonus point win away from home as they dominated Blaydon 34-21 at Crowtrees.
Furthermore, both of these sides are expected to be at the sharp end of the table come the business end of the season; and that sets the game up nicely to be a hotly contested affair, played out in front of a big crowd on the eastern side of the county.
Last season’s corresponding fixture saw Rotherham fightback from a half time deficit of 17-5 to edge out narrow 27-24 winners and another tight encounter is expected.
Going into the game Rotherham have made just one change to their starting XV with George Tucker coming in on the wing for the injured Jack Hedley.
The sole change on the bench sees the return of Marcus Payne for Lewis Allan.
Looking ahead to the match Titans Adam Byron said:
“We were very pleased with how things went against Harrogate in our opening game and particularly with how we stuck to our processes, which has been a big focus for us in the last few weeks. We created lots of opportunities and importantly the lads finished them off.
“It was a very open game and over 80 points were scored; we conceded a couple of tries which we would have preferred not to have done, one was an interception and the other was a driving maul. And that is something Ionians will look to threaten us with on Saturday.
“Ionians will be a very different challenge; they are a similar side to us in that they have recent experience of playing at a higher level in National 1 and they are a team that is expected to be at the business end of the table come April.
“They had a good start last week as they picked up the bonus point in their win over Blaydon and they will fancy putting it on us this week.
“They are a good all round side; they have a very experienced and powerful set of forwards who enjoy to maul whenever they can and the back line is full of experience and pace. They will obviously pose a stern challenge.
“However, the boys are relishing that challenge and these are the type of games that get the juices flowing when you take on one of your biggest rivals in the division.
“We will need to be consistent and accurate in everything we do and when we create the opportunities, like last week we will need to make sure we finish them off. If we can manage that then we’ll give ourselves a chance of getting a result.”
Titans: 15 Sam Veall, 14 George Tucker, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Corben Ollivent, 9 Sam Boxhall, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Zak Poole (Capt.), 5 Theo Nwosu-Hope, 6 Rupert Kay 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Louis Inman, 17 Rikki Stout, 18 Danny Rylance, 19 Marcus Payne, 20 Kai Ramrattan.
