Titans

V

Sedgley Park

National Division 1

10th December 2005

Earth Arena

Kick Off 2.00pm

To say Andre Bester had made a few changes this week has to be a bit of an understatement. In fact there are only two players in the starting 15 that will wear the same shirt number they wore at London Welsh last Saturday!

In the backs David Strettle and Joe Bedford return. Errie Claassens moves to full back, Lee Blackett to outside centre, WP Strauss to inside centre, John Holtby to left wing and Mike Whitehead to fly half.

In the forwards, Carey, Conroy and Hopcroft complete the front row. Gareth McComb is in for Louis McGowan at Lock, Scott Donald reverts to blindside flank and Chris Hala’ufia returns after a bout of flu and International duty at number eight.

The only two unchanged from last week being Jannie Bornman at lock and Neil Cochrane at openside flank. The latter is one of only two players to have started every league game so far this season, the other being skipper Lee Blackett.

Two ex-Roth Players are in Sedgley Park’s starting fifteen. Richard Hopkinson is on the left wing and Phil Jones starts at fly half. Jones made 17 appearances for Roth in the 03-04 Premiership season, scoring 74 points. On his day Jones is a fine player, particularly at this level.

Earth Titans: 15 Errie Claassens, 14 David Strettle, 13 Lee Blackett (Capt), 12 WP Strauss, 11 John Holtby, 10 Mike Whitehead, 9 Joe Bedford, 1 Jarleth Carey, 2 Nigel Conroy, 3 Adam Hopcroft, 4 Jannie Bornman, 5 Gareth McComb, 6 Scott Donald 7 Neil Cochrane, 8 Chris Hala’Ufia

Replacements

16 Morne Jonker, 17 Ledowyk Strauss, 18 John Rawson, 19 Neil Hanna, 20 Jon Golding, 21 Louie McGowan 22 Hendre Fourie.

Sedgley Park: 15 Arno De Jager, 14 Jon Feeley, 13 Shaun Woof, 12 Ian Voorthan, 11 Richard Hopkinson, 10 Phil Jones, 9 Dave McCormack, 1 Gerallt Evans, 2 Richard Oxley, 3 Huw Thomas, 4 Chris Rowe, 5 Erik Lund, 6 Richard Senior, 7 Jimmy Ponton (Capt), 8 Tim Fourie

Replacements

16 Gareth Roberts, 17 Paul Keys, 18 Phil Gazzola, 19 Sam Anania, 20 Jon Skurr, 21 Chris Wilkinson, 22 Tom Albinson.

You’d have to say Roth are the form side, simply because Park haven’t won a game in their last five attempts and have only won two league games all season. Its form like that why Sedgley Park are currently laying at the bottom of the pile. But Rotherham, although having won four out of the last five, can’t really claim to be playing at the top of their game at the moment.

Last week’s defeat at London Welsh may turn out to be a blessing in disguise in the long term, particularly if it inspires the team to re-capture the form that was shown earlier in the season. The players commitment and pride cannot be questioned and they will be looking to put things right this week against Sedgley Park.

The two sides have met only twice in league rugby, the first time being Roth’s first match of last season after the trauma that gripped the club just before the season started. That day Roth put 40 points on Park, but most in attendance were just relieved to witness rugby at Clifton Lane.

The second encounter between the two was back in January earlier this year. It was possibly the darkest hour results wise of last season and ultimately cost Head Coach Mike Schmid his job!

Andy Northey took the helm at Roth and subsequently moved to Sedgley in the summer to make way for Andre Bester. Northey, now second in command at Park believes if his side can capture their best form, then an upset could be on the cards.

However I believe Roth will bounce back against Sedgley and send Andy home with nothing more than fond memories.

Roth Admin Prediction: Roth by 12

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