Doncaster Preview

Earth Titans

V

Doncaster

National Division 1

19th November 2005

Earth Arena

Kick Off 2.00pm

Andre Bester has not finalised his starting 15 for the home clash with Doncaster, but he has announced the 22 that will be involved.

The only change to the 22 from last week is the inclusion of John Holtby for ND Monye. Holtby has been plagued by injury so far this season and has yet to make his debut for the club.

Rotherham 22

Backs:

Carter, Brear, Mitchell, Blackett (Capt.), Claassens, WP Strauss, Bedford, Kirkwood, Whitehead, Holtby.

Forwards:

Golding, Conroy, Rawson, Bornman, McComb, Fourie, Cochrane, Donald, Hanna, Carey, Pienaar, McGowan.

The Doncaster squad includes no less than 8 former Roth men, 7 of which make the starting 15. In the backs are John Cannon, Michael Wood, Jon Benson and Charlie Harrison and up front are Glen Kenworthy, Dan Cook and Russell Earnshaw.

All time Roth legend Simon Bunting starts from the bench.

Doncaster

15 J Boden, 14 D Van Vuuren, 13 J Cannon, 12 B Hunt, 11 M Wood, 10 J Benson, 9 C Harrison, 1 R List, 2 S Boden, 3 N Tau, 4 G Kenworthy, 5 D Cook, 6 S Grainger, 7 R Earnshaw, 8 D Montagu.

Replacements: S Bunting, S Plevey, S Barretto, R Peacey, D Storey, R Liley, J vd Berg.

The only two games Rotherham has lost in their last seven outings are against the only two unbeaten teams in the division. At home to high-flying Harlequins where they were not disgraced and away at Bedford, a game that could have gone either way.

Week on week Rotherham has been gelling as a squad and performances have been improving all the time. However last week’s performance against Pertemps Bees will be one they‘d like to quickly forget. For whatever reason – maybe the early start – it was a disjointed effort, nevertheless they still came away with the points.

Doncaster on the other hand has found their first season in National 1 difficult so far, losing five of their first nine matches. But when you consider what a tough start the fixture list threw up, it’s not surprising. They’ve lost away at Otley, Bedford and Quins and at home to Exeter and Cornish Pirates.

But recent form suggests they are now coming to grips with the division, their 26-16 win last week over 5^th placed Newbury indicates an upturn in form. And with a host of ex-Roth players involved this week, it promises to be a close and keen fought contest.

If Rotherham however return to their best form, their first ever Doncaster derby should prove to be a winning one!

Roth Admin Prediction: Roth by 8

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