Rotherham Titans face a stiff test this weekend when they host North East based side Tynedale in round 17 of National 2 North; kick-off at Clifton Lane on Saturday is 2pm.
Following an enforced break due to a frozen pitch at Huddersfield last week, Rotherham are fresh and raring to go against an in-form Tynedale.
The Station Road outfit - currently sixth in the league - will arrive full of confidence having won 5 of their previous 6 games, with some impressive victories chalked up along the way.
Within that run Tynedale have impressed away from home; a 34-10 hammering of Hull and a 10-0 win at Sheffield Tigers shows their ability to travel well.
Indeed, their only defeat came against League leaders Leeds, where they held a 12-0 half time lead before eventually losing out.
Equally Rotherham will come into the game with confidence having secured 5 straight wins, the latest being a 36-22 bonus-point success away at Lymm.
So the game is nicely poised and set to be a close and tightly contested affair.
The teams have previously met on 7 league occasions, with Rotherham holding a 6-1 advantage. The reverse fixture earlier in the season back in September saw Roth run out 33-19 winners, although no bonus point was achieved that day.
Going into this game Titans have made five changes to the starting XV that beat Lymm last time out, three of which come in the forwards.
In the front row Luke Cole comes in at hooker for Jack Bergmanas, whilst in the second row Matt Smith returns for the injured Matt Challinor and Rupert Kay comes into the back row for Lewis Allan.
Along the backline Harry Dunne will make his 100th appearance for the club as he returns at inside centre, as Tomasi Tanumi moves on to the wing for Tainne Finn and Will Metcalfe starts at scrum half for JB Bruzulier.
Speaking ahead of the match Titans Gaz Lewis said:
“In our last game against Lymm it was pleasing to get the five points away from home; there was a lot of adversity, not only during the game, but in the week leading up to it. We had a couple of late pull outs beforehand, Matt Smith was injured, Harry Dunne pulled out on the eve of the game and then obviously Chall sustained a bad injury – and we all wish him a speedy recovery.
“During the game we faced a few challenges, but I thought the lads did really well; particularly with regards to Zak Poole. I thought Zak’s leadership was really tested during the game, not only tactically, but he was leading the line out for periods of the game and he had to step-up as a leader and that was especially pleasing.
“Although we dominated for long periods I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit once the game was won and to be fair to Lymm they kept playing. They had an expansive game plan and they have a talented group of lads; the way they moved the ball on that 3G pitch was impressive and they made it difficult right through to the end.
“It wasn’t that we were hanging on, but I was a little nervous towards the end and when the whistle went I was pleased with the outcome and the game really did show there aren’t any easy games in this league.
“It will be the same against Tynedale; they are on a great run and we know they can cause good teams lots of problems. I know their coach Ben Woods quite well and he’s an excellent coach and I know a couple of their boys well from seasons gone by.
“They’re very much a home-grown team; they have a lot of local lads who really fight for each other and I think that’s going to be the challenge. We’ll respect them entirely and hopefully we can put in a good performance for our supporters.
“Historically, Tynedale typically play coast-to-coast really well; they move the ball quickly and play out of the back with good width. They retain the ball well, they have a good pack of forwards and they usually have good links with Newcastle Falcons which can help with players coming in; although I don’t know if they’ll have any Falcon players this week.
“With the postponed game last week against Huddersfield it did give us the opportunity to recharge the batteries a little bit and I’m hoping with a good weeks preparation we can put in a good performance and give ourselves an opportunity to get a result.”
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Harry Dunne, 11 Jack Taylor, 10 Will Milner, 9 Will Metcalfe, 1 Charlie Capps, 2 Luke Cole, 3 Gareth Denman, 19 John Okafor, 5 Matt Smith, 25 Harry Newborn, 7 Rupert Kay, 8 Zak Poole (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Jack Bergmanas, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Lewis Allan, 6 Marcus Payne, 20 JB Bruzulier.