Titans

V

Coventry

National Division 1

14th January 2006

Earth Arena

Kick Off 2.00pm

Andre Bester makes five changes to the starting fifteen that were knocked out the cup at Exeter last week.

John Holtby returns from injury and will start on the wing, allowing Joe Bedford to return to scrum half at Morne Jonker’s expense. David Strettle will start again at stand-off as Rotherham look to develop him as a ten.

The front row rotates once again and Golding, Hanna and Rawson get the nod. Worryingly for Roth Jarleth Carey sustained a neck injury at Exeter and had a scan yesterday at the hospital. Bester added, “I am very concerned about Jarleth and we won’t know the extent of the injury until we get the results back!”

The only other change sees Neil Cochrane return at open side. Positional changes mean Jannie Bornman returns to the 2^nd row and Scott Donald to number 8. Chris Hala’ufia returns from injury with a bench spot.

Earth Titans: 15 Errie Claassens, 14 Anthony Carter, 13 Lee Blackett (Capt), 12 WP Strauss, 11 John Holtby, 10 David Strettle, 9 Joe Bedford, 1 Jon Golding, 2 Neil Hanna, 3 John Rawson, 4 Jannie Bornman, 5 Gareth McComb, 6 Hendre Fourie 7 Neil Cochrane, 8 Scott Donald

Replacements

16 Morne Jonker, 17 Mike Whitehead, 18 Ledowyk Strauss, 19 Adam Hopcroft, 20 Nigel Conroy, 21 Chris Hala’Ufia 22 Louie McGowan.  

Coventry Squad TBA

Rotherham’s form of late has been mixed, good wins at home to Sedgley Park and away at Otley have been tainted by the disappointment of losing at London Welsh and being knocked out of the cup at Exeter.

Last weeks decision by Andre Bester to play David Strettle at stand off and Joe Bedford on the wing due to injuries within the squad didn’t quite work out. Bester will be looking for a marked improvement this week.

Coventry’s recent form has been disappointing to say the least; they have lost their last five in all competitions. In there however, they have only lost by 5 points to the Pirates and Exeter and by 7 points to Bedford. Their biggest disappointment though came last time out with a 22-19 defeat away to Sedgley Park.

Coventry’s head coach is former Roth legend Mike Umaga and there’s no doubt Mike will have his Coventry side “up” for this one. Umaga is 7^th on Roth’s all time league appearances, scoring 570 points in a six year spell and he’s assured a warm welcome on his return to Clifton Lane.

Roth have played Coventry 17 times in league, they haven’t played a higher number against any other side. Roth edge the contests 9-8 and recent games have proved to be close.

Recent games between the two have also served up a fair amount of controversy. Last seasons game at the Butts Park Arena was won by the hosts, but due to Coventry not having sufficient front row cover, the game was subsequently awarded to Rotherham.

Previously under Mike Schmid back in 2002, Rotherham were accused of wearing earpieces under their scrumcaps to receive illegal coaching at Coundon Road. The ridiculous protest was quite rightly thrown out by the RFU.

There’s certainly not a lot of love lost between the two clubs and this always ensures a keenly fought contest. Providing Roth can find some of their best form they should complete their first double of the season.

Roth Admin Prediction: Roth by 6

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