Rotherham Titans are back on the road this weekend with a visit to the capital, where they’ll take on third placed side Blackheath in round 22 of National 1; kick-off on Saturday at The Utilita is 3pm.
Titans consolidated their position at the top of the division last time out with a hard-fought 33-7 win over a robust Birmingham Moseley outfit on a heavy surface at Clifton Lane.
The bonus point win saw the South Yorkshire side outscore the Midlanders by 5 tries to 1 with dot downs from Travis Gordon, Harry Newborn, James Norman, Luke Cole and a penalty try.
Indeed, with Plymouth Albion losing at home to Blackheath Rotherham extended their lead at the top to 5 points.
Therein lies a warning; not that any side in the division would be underestimated, but Blackheath’s excellent win over Albion clearly shows what a dangerous outfit they are and if Rotherham are to get anything from this one, they’ll need to put in a near-perfect performance.
Blackheath’s home form has been excellent, their only loss came against local rivals Rosslyn Park back in September and since then, no team has got within 8 points of them at Well Hall.
Club, as they are known, have a not-so-secret weapon in skipper Billy Harding; the dynamic hooker has an incredible 39 tries from his 21 appearances and Rotherham know all about him, as he scored two of those in the reverse fixture at Clifton Lane earlier in the season.
It’s fair to say this game has all the potential to be a belter and a flag bearer for National 1 rugby.
Over the years Rotherham and Blackheath have faced each other 12 times with the overall head-to-head standing at 8-4 in Rotherham’s favour, although you have to go back to 1998 for Titans last away win in this fixture.
Going into this week’s game, Titans have made just one change to their starting XV.
In the front row hooker Luke Cole will be flanked by Alastair Donkor at loosehead prop with Andrew Foster at tighthead.
In second row Frankie Gascoigne links-up with Harry Gilson-Fox, whilst in the back row John Okafor is at blindside, with skipper Harry Newborn on the openside and Jack Baldry at number 8.
The backline sees a half back combination of JB Bruzulier at scrum half and Rob Povey at fly half, whilst Lloyd Hayes and Travis Gordon maintain their partnership in midfield.
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.
Speaking ahead of the match Harvey Biljon said:
"What a game to be part of, everyone knows what a tough proposition Blackheath are. They’re always in and around the top four and have taken some great results.
“Look how tight our game was earlier in the season, last year we had similar. They’ll be full of confidence coming off a win down at Brickfields.
"Our players understand it's a big match against tough opposition and we need to make sure we get the right training in. We've had challenges away from home before and on the whole we've been able to get through those.
"I still think teams like ourselves, Plymouth and Blackheath, we're all going to lose a game between now and the end of the season.
"There’s still lots going on and that's why with five games to go, we don't get ahead of ourselves. Just be in the moment.”
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 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn (Capt.), 8 Jack Baldry.
Replacements: 16 Morgan Veness, 17 Zach Toerien, 18 Xavier Valentine, 19 Curran Maguire, 20 Will Metcalfe.
