Rotherham Titans believe they are capable of causing upset in today’s GKIPA Championship play-offs semi-final first leg at Bristol today.
The Titans, who finished fourth in the table, have made six changes to the side that beat basement side Ealing Trailfinders last time out. Along the backline Joel Gill comes in at outside centre, moving Jack Roberts across to inside centre, as Juan Pablo Socino makes a surprise start in the number ten jersey and Michael Keating comes back into contention on the wing.
In the pack Robin Hislop gets the nod over Toby Williams at loosehead prop, Tom Cruse returns at hooker following a shoulder injury and in the second row Josh Thomas-Brown secures his berth after suffering in recent weeks with a calf strain.
Looking ahead to their firstChampionship semi-final appearance, head coach Lee Blackett explained: “There’s no hiding from the fact; this is a massive game for the club and the boys deserve their opportunity to show what they can do at this stage of the season.
“We’ll go down there with no pressure on us whatsoever from the outside; we’ll put pressure on ourselves because we believe on our day we are good enough to win this game. We know it’s a two-legged affair, but we’ll not be thinking about that, we’ll be going there to try and win the game.
“The pressure that is on us is if we’re not at our best then this Bristol side is capable of embarrassing us. We know we’ll have to be at our best if we are going to compete with them, there’s no doubt about that. They are the best team in the division; the stats don’t lie and you only have to look at the league table to see that. But we feel they are beatable and although it’s going to take a massive effort we feel they are beatable.
“As such we are optimistic going into the game and that’s based on the number of opportunities we’ve created against them this season. We do however have to concentrate on our defence because we’ve conceded some simple tries to them this year.”
Bristol are renowned fast starters to a game and Blackett is aware his side will have to be on red alert from the off. He added: “We know they’ll race out of the blocks because that’s what they do and it’s been a successful ploy for them all year. In our two league games against them this season they blitzed us early and we were virtually out of both games by the 20-minute mark. We will obviously put a big emphasis on our start and we’ll be aiming to come through that period in good shape and hopefully we’ll be ahead by that stage.”
Rotherham: Sean Scanlon, Jamie Broadley, Joel Gill, Jack Roberts, Michael Keating, Juan Pablo Socino, Charlie Mulchrone (capt.), Robin Hislop, Tom Cruse, Colin Quigley, Tom Holmes, Josh Thomas-Brown, Alex Rieder, Jack Preece, Alfie To’oala. Replacements: Ben Morris, Toby Williams, Mark Tampin, Ed Williamson, Jordan Davies, Dan White, Dallan Murphy.
Article source: http://www.thejournal.ie/suicide-prevention-rugby-1450510-May2014/
Bristol Rugby v Rotherham: Titans confident of knocking Bristol off ...
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