Rotherham Titans are back on the road this weekend as they travel to the South East where they’ll take on Kent based side Tonbridge Juddians in round 20 of National 1; kick-off at The Slade on Saturday is 2pm.
This will be the first time Rotherham have played at Tonbridge, but despite that, they’re aware of the test that awaits and know only a first-class performance will give them a chance of victory.
Titans will arrive at Juddians on the back of an excellent result against Dings Crusaders where they ran out 47-12 winners; a result which kept them at the top of the table, a point ahead of nearest challenges Plymouth Albion.
The bonus point victory was achieved in difficult conditions due to the recent wet weather; however, the South Yorkshire outfit refused to let those conditions affect them as they outscored Dings by 7 tries to 2 with tries from Isaac Shaw, James Norman, Travis Gordon, Mitchell Lacey-Babalola, Sinjin Broad and a brace for Lloyd Hayes.
Equally, Tonbridge will come into the game in good form, and they’ll be confident of beating anyone on home soil as results at The Slade have showed this season. Their beating of Plymouth Albion 35-25 and their total annihilation of Sedgley Park 56-0 are testament to that.
Juddians also impressed last week despite losing; their 26-20 reversal at Plymouth saw them push the Devonians all the way. Indeed, the Kent outfit kept the home side scoreless in the second half and not many teams do that at Brickfields.
Consequently, this encounter is expected to be a fiercely fought affair with little to choose between the sides, just as the corresponding fixture at Clifton Lane was earlier in the season.
In that fixture Titans trailed 21-12 at half time and indeed as the game approached the hour mark, they trailed 28-17. However, a stirring comeback saw Rotherham eventually get on top to run out 38-28 winners.
Going into this week’s game Titans have made seven changes to their starting XV, with two coming in the backs and five in the forwards.
In the front row hooker Luke Cole comes in for Morgan Veness and he’ll be flanked by Alastair Donkor who comes in for Zach Toerien at loosehead prop with Andrew Foster coming in for Tom Bairstow at tighthead.
In second row Frankie Gascoigne links-up with Harry Gilson-Fox who comes in for Curran Maguire, whilst in the back row Jack Baldry moves from openside to blindside for John Okafor, as skipper Harry Newborn returns at openside and Callum Bustin at number 8.
The backline sees a half back combination of JB Bruzulier at scrum and Rob Povey at fly half, as the latter returns to the side in place of Harris Rutherford.
Lloyd Hayes and Travis Gordon maintain their partnership in midfield.
Whilst across the back three Jackson Barling comes in on the right wing for James Norman, with Mitchell Lacey-Babalola on the left wing, and Isaac Shaw at full back.
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 Luke Cole, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Frankie Gascoigne, 5 Harry Gilson-Fox, 6 Jack Baldry, 7 Harry Newborn (Capt.), 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Morgan Veness, 17 Zach Toerien, 18 Xavier Valentine, 19 John Okafor, 20 Sinjin Broad.
