Round 4 of National 1 this weekend sees an in-form Rotherham Titans host Bishop’s Stortford at Clifton Lane; kick-off on Saturday is 2pm.
Titans have made an impressive start to their campaign and go into the game on the back of three bonus-points wins.
Victories on the road over Sale FC and Clifton sandwiched a big derby win over Yorkshire rivals Leeds Tykes at Clifton Lane.
The tries have flowed also for the South Yorkshire side with 20 already totalled across the 3 games and this has helped them to go second in the table behind Plymouth Albion on points difference.
Titans’ opponents Bishop’s Stortford have also had a decent start to the season.
An opening day 26-12 bonus point win over Birmingham Moseley was followed up with a narrow 33-31 bonus-point loss at unbeaten Blackheath, whilst last time out they weren’t disgraced in losing 31-15 to league leaders Plymouth Albion.
Bishop’s will certainly hold no fears in playing at Clifton Lane as their two previous visits have seen them win both games.
Indeed, they are the only team to beat Rotherham at Clifton Lane in over 2 and a half years. Titans last home defeat came against Sedgley Park in Park’s Nat 2 North Championship winning season of 2022/23.
In the overall head-to-head meetings honours are even as each team has won three games, the last of which being a Rotherham 17-11 win at Silver Leys in February last season.
Going into the game Rotherham have made 3 changes to their starting XV, all of which come in the forwards.
In the front row hooker Morgan Veness will be flanked by Alastair Donkor at loosehead prop and Andrew Foster at tighthead prop as he comes in for Xavier Valentine.
The second row sees Frankie Gascoigne link-up with Harry Gilson-Fox who replaces Fraser Hastie, whilst in the back row alongside John Okafor at blindside and Harry Newborn at openside, Callum Bustin comes in at number 8 for Ellis Thomas
Along the backline, JB Bruzulier and Rob Povey continue their pairing at half back, whilst in midfield Lloyd Hayes is partnered by Travis Gordon.
The back three sees Mitchell Lacey-Babalola and Jackson Barling on the wings, with Isaac Shaw at full back.
Looking ahead to the match Titans Harvey Biljon said:
We were pleased to come away from Clifton with a bonus point win. You have to give them credit; they were emotionally charged for the fixture; it was an important one for them at home after their previous two results and they definitely came with an attitude to take something from the game.
It’s difficult to sometimes to appreciate the conditions, I know the game was streamed but it’s hard to tell on the screen what it’s really like and in that first half in particular, with the rain that came down in the warm-up and a little bit during the game, it was very greasy and we were playing into a pretty tough wind.
The way we controlled the first 15 minutes was very good and I was probably a little bit frustrated not to come away with another score, but that was testament to how hard Clifton were working.
We absorbed a fair bit of pressure in that first half, and crucially for us, the team has stepped-up and learnt that the period either side of half time is vital. To come away with scores either side of half time was important and then we were able to capitalise from a territorial point of view, and we finally came away with a well-deserved 5-point victory after a long-travel on a day of tough conditions.
We know in this division every week the opposition is going to make life difficult for you, that’s the nature of the beast, and I’ve said it before, rugby is an honest game and if you’re not prepared, you’re going to get found out.
It will be no different against Bishop’s Stortford and this week we’ve just focused on our own training and on what we need to bring to the game. Against them last season each team won a game, but this is a new season, this is a new team, we’ve prepared differently, and so last season’s results really don’t come into it.
We know they’re going to be very tough opposition, we’ve seen that from their results so far and we know we need to be prepared and on point.
Our preparation from last week primes us for this game; I think what people don’t realise is the resilience behind the scenes. Last week we lost players leading into the game, right up until Thursday night training we lost players.
However, it was impressive the way players were able to step-in and still contribute to a performance and that’s great to be able to fall back on that resilience from the squad’s perspective.
Titans: 15 Isaac Shaw, 14 Jackson Barling, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Travis Gordon, 11 Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Alastair Donkor, 2 Morgan Veness, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Frankie Gascoigne, 5 Harry Gilson-Fox, 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Calvin Mitchell, 18 Xavier Valentine, 19 Ellis Thomas, 20 Sinjin Broad.
