Match Previews

Round eleven of National 1 sees Rotherham Titans take on league leaders and title favourites Rams; kick-off at Clifton Lane on Saturday is 2pm.

Rotherham will go into the game on the back of a good performance against Sedgley Park which saw them pick-up the bonus point in a hard-fought but deserved 35-30 win.

Trailing by ten points early in the second half, Rotherham impressed by showing good composure and control to overcome a dangerous Sedgley side.

Another good performance will be required when a rampant Rams side rock up at the Lane. 

The Berkshire based outfit have impressed this term with a perfect 10 wins form 10 games. Indeed, only two teams have managed to collect the losing bonus point as Rams have pretty much overrun every team they’ve played. They can also boast of having the strongest defence in the league; a strong defence is always a good indicator of a top side.

Nevertheless, Rotherham are going well themselves and will relish the challenge of taking on the best side in the division.

The teams have met on two previous occasions, those being in the foreshortened Covid season back in 2019/20 and whilst both games were competitive Rams came out on top in both fixtures.

Going into this week’s game Roth have made five changes to their starting XV.

In the front row hooker Jack Bergmanas retains his spot and is flanked by props Charlie Capps at loosehead who comes in for Loma Kivalu and Andrew Foster at tighthead who comes in for Alastair Donkor.

The second row sees Curran Maguire lining up alongside Harry Gilson-Fox, whilst in the back row the only change sees Ellis Thomas come in for the injured Harry Newborn at openside. Zak Poole stays on the blindside with Callum Bustin at number 8. 

Across the backline scrum half JB Bruzulier comes in for James Naylor and he will accompany Rob Povey in the half back positions, with Lloyd Hayes and Jamie Cooke maintaining their partnership in midfield.

The back three sees Tomasi Tanumi come in on the wing as Ronnie Du Randt moves to full back in place of Jack Townend, with Aidan Shortall on the other wing.

Looking ahead to the game Titans Assistant Coach, Matt Smith, said:

“We were delighted to come away from Sedgley Park with a bonus point win because it’s a tough place to go. We’ve had some tough contests there over the years and so to come away with the result was very rewarding for the lads. 

“I always felt with the performance there was more to come from us, but if you look at their games you can see they’ve picked up a lot of bonus points and we knew we were going to be in a fight and they didn’t disappoint.

“When we went 10 points down early in the second half we weren’t really nervous, it was frustration more than anything. I think the boys gave away a couple of soft tries and even at that point I still felt like we had enough on the pitch to go and win the game. 

“As a coaching team we were really pleased with how the boys got back to task and just went out there to show the ability to go and win a game of rugby. It will be the same against Rams, we’ll have to show that same desire and attitude against arguably the best team in the division.

“Rams have got a great a great set-up and you can tell they are building for the Championship. They’ve been really successful in recent years and they are now in a position to make that next step. 

“And credit to them, they’ve played 10 games so far and they’ve won them all and we know it’s going to be a tough game, but it’s one we’re excited to be involved in.”

Titans: 

15 Ronnie Du Randt, 14 Tomasi Tanumi, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jamie Cooke, 11 Aidan Shortall, 10 Rob Povey, 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps ©, 2 Jack Bergmanas, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Harry Gilson-Fox, 5 Curran Maguire, 6 Zak Poole ©, 7 Ellis Thomas, 8 Callum Bustin.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Alastair Donkor, 19 John Okafor, 20 Corben Ollivent.