By Roth Admin
November 11 2004

Rotherham entertain high flyers Bristol in National League Division 1at Clifton Lane this Saturday, kick off at 2.30pm. Rotherham can be certain of their biggest crowd of the season with an estimated 400-500 travelling up from the South West. However it would take a brave man to predict the outcome! Rotherham won’t announce their squad until Friday at the earliest. There’s been a raft of new recruits since Roth last played, that being the 30-12 home win over Pertemps Bees. The newcomers are, Oriol Ripol, Brendan Haami, Opeta Palepoi, Jannie Bornman and Peter Cook. Providing all the relevant paperwork is completed in time – all are expected to play some part against Bristol.

This week Titans backs coach Andy Northey described Bristol as, “The best balanced side in the league!” No one at Rotherham is underestimating the size of the task as Bristol visit Clifton Lane as probable favourites to win the division.

Bristol are bang in form and since losing against Plymouth in September, Bristol have won six straight matches, scoring 66, 31, 32, 41, 53 and then 61 points in the process. Head Coach Richard Hill said, “While it's lovely to win by 40, 50 or 60 points, you always want a challenge for your players, this is a big game for us and we are excited about the prospect of being able to test ourselves against a better side."

Three Rotherham old boys will be on display for Bristol. Jon Pritchard at centre, Jason Strange at fly half – who appears to have found his kicking boots – and last season’s player of the year and fans favourite Bernardo Stortoni.

Both clubs have faced each other four times in league history with each team wining on two occasions. However the last time the clubs met was in the 6th round of the Powergen Cup back in December 2002. On that day Roth who were in National 1 upset the Premiership club with a 24-19 win. I’m sure all at Roth would readily accept the same score Saturday.


Roth Admin Prediction: Roth by 3


Bristol:
15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Sean Marsden, 13 Rob Higgitt, 12 Jonathan Pritchard, 11 Luke Nabaro, 10 Jason Strange, 9 Ross Blake, 1 Alex Clarke, 2 Saul Nelson, 3 Darren Crompton, 4 Ed Pearce, 5 Ollie Hodge, 6 Matt Salter (capt), 7 Joe El' Abd, 8 Jim Brownrigg.

Replacements: 16 Greg Nicholls, 17 Danny Gray, 18 Sam Cox, 19 Dave Hilton, 20 Neil Clark, 21 Sean Fox, 22 Chris Morgan



Roth Squad TBA