Titans Chat

It looks like as strong a squad as we can put out, that is a very strong pack and bench! I hope we can get a result. Park have had a mixed season by their standards but will be massively up for this game.

I agree that the Plymouth and Blackheath games are crucial and big ticket games for us but I also think that Sale and Park are going to be very stern tests, Sale at home I think we can win but we also need 5 full 5 pointers to keep track with this prediction. Very exciting league and all to play for.

I think that the squad rotation of other teams is also a factor, you look at Leeds, Dings, Clifton and Judds; all have access to higher divison (incl premiership academy) players. We did seem however, to fair less well against these teams (in particular Leeds) and some fatigue may have set in with our consistency. Difficult to tell. A lot of the matches with big scorelines were close for a full half or even 60 mins and then the more clinical teams have piled on the points at the end. I definitely felt that we lost some steam at the backend of the first half of the season but also seemed to lose a bit of faith in the backs and reverted to a more kicking orientated stategy as well. We have 2 from 2 on our inbound journey and a solid 10 points in the bag, so hopefully we are recharged, becuase we will need to be!!

 I wasn't able to see the Leeds match and I haven't seen any footage, but I was a t Plymouth when we narrowly lost despite being, in my opionion, the better team. I thought we looked effective and dangerous with ball in hand and when we kicked it and the kick was contestable, then we also did ok. The truth is we didn't go through the phases enough in the backs and opted to box kick an awful lot. On that day, the kicking was a little off and in the end played into Plymouth's hands. Drop kicking, for me, is a great weapon when you are going through the phases and getting nowhere. I think this just doesn't happen much with many teams, when close enough to realistically go for the drop goal. Rotherham either make the yards anyway or go for the contestable kick or go for touch. It's just theory but I don't really recall any opportunity against Plymouth to execute a drop goal. The referee also seemd to ignore Rotherham marching Plymouth's scrum 5 yards up the pitch and we, in my opinion (and as a qualified ref) were denied a few kickable penalties. Dings (or Bristol acadamey) was just a freak day I think. The rest we won. I think the DG should definitely be a card up the sleeve though, if we find ourselves in a tight spot (I think Sale, Blackheath, Park and of course Plymouth are most likely to generate this).

Seems to work ok and if the live scores are operational then that will be great! thanks.

So Jackson Barling back in the team, good to hear. I hope they have managed some training, as missing a game, as the website preview suggests, does lead to a bit of ring rust. I think this wll be a very tough match away with Bish's improved form. I just hope we can be more clinical and also give our backs more of the ball. We are sticking with JB as starter, I guess an element of this may be that Sinjin covers more positions from the bench, but I did feel from recent matches that we needed more zip, quicker and more frequent distribution and a little less kicking. However, the coaces are excellent, so they know whats best. Be great to kick start the back end of the season with a win but I suspect, if we get it, it will be a 4 pointer and very hard fought.

It is so tough to predict. I had a feeling after the Park game at homw that we were on a slight decline. Park seem to have also gone off the bouil but Plymouth seem to be improving. Leeds have made a big improvement but it sounds like we really missed our opportunity with that loss. If we get back to our early form then it is all in our own hands. We can win or lose every game. Clifton are much improved and can match any team if they have their quins contingent in. We really have to get back to that start of season intensity and "smarts". I think more use of Sinjin as the starting 9 would help.