By Roth Admin
November 21 2003

Rotherham Titans go in to their 10th Zurich Premiership game of the season still looking for their 1st win. However Saturday’s game at home to Leicester Tigers gives the Titans an excellent chance to get something on the board. Leicester Tigers themselves have not won a single away game this season and you have to go back to February to find their last away day success. That came against Bath with a 15:8 victory, Ben Kay and Geordan Murphy scoring the try’s that day.

Leicester have probably been affected more than any other Premiership club by the on-going World Cup. Their pack has been decimated and any team who loses the inspirational Martin Johnson is going to be badly affected. But when you consider the likes of Back, Kay, Moody and Corry are also on World Cup duty, and then you can understand why the Tigers are languishing near the foot of the Premiership.

Although Rotherham have yet to trouble the scorer in the League Table, they will see this game as one they can definitely win. If they can build on the last 25 minutes of the second half against Newcastle last week and keep it going for the full 80 minutes, we may just witness the Titans first points of the season.

According to the provisional squad announced earlier in the week, Saturday will mark the return of Mike Umaga. He has been pencilled in for a place on the bench. It will be interesting to see how Mike readjusts to the playing side, if given the opportunity. There’s no doubt Mike is one of the most popular players ever to pull on the Rotherham shirt and he’s assured the biggest cheer of the day. Rotherham will be hoping to see some of his legendary tackling and great defence that is his hallmark. But Mike is not getting any younger and his fitness levels must raise a question mark. Nevertheless, we all wish Mike the very best of luck.

Umaga’s return is a result of the clubs decision to appoint South African Alan Zontak as a consultant backs coach. Alan is well known to Rotherham’s new South African head coach Steph Nel and will come in for a three game period. The club have not announced as yet whether it’s possible Alan could be kept on for the remainder of the season. Time will tell.

The kick off is at 4pm and there is an estimated 1,000 travelling fans from Leicester expected. They will no doubt generate a lively atmosphere around Millmoor and hopefully the Rotherham faithful can respond and really get behind the team. Hopefully everyone will be in good spirits having watched England Lift the World Cup, earlier that day.

What a fitting end to the day it would be if Rotherham also got their first Premiership win of the season.

The Rotherham Sport Network prediction: Rotherham by 5.