Nottingham Looking Forward to Rotherham Visit

Nottingham Rugby welcomes the Rotherham Titans to Meadow Lane on Sunday (9th March) in the Greene King IPA Championship, in an early kick off (1pm) due to the Six Nations match between England and Wales.

The Green and Whites went down 22-12 away to Plymouth in their last outing but will take confidence from their last home performance, where they pushed league leaders Bristol all the way in a 25-24, last minute defeat.

Nottingham Head Coach Martin Haag said, "We didn't play as well as we could against Plymouth so that was disappointing, especially given the level of performances we've been putting in of late.  On the positive side, we pushed a good team like Plymouth all the way even when not playing well, so that shows the development in the team.  Our set piece was outstanding in that match and provided a lot of ball and territory but we let ourselves down by not holding on to the ball and testing Plymouth often enough when we had it.

"We know that Rotherham will be a big test for us this weekend.  They've done very well all season and deserve to be where they are in the league.  They are one of the most physical sides in the division, with strong ball carriers and good line speed in defence.  Their 10 and 12 like to play the game and their back three are strong runners – so they have threats all over the park.

"As we have shown consistently in recent weeks, we're a match for anyone, particularly at home, so we'll go into this match confident that if we up our performance we can get something out of Sunday'smatch.”

Three changes are made in the pack for Rotherham's visit.  Campese Ma'afu and Jon Vickers come into the front row in place of Ryan Bower and Alun Walker while captain Brent Wilson returns in the back row with Rupert Cooper making way.

In the backs, Javiah Pohe comes in at inside centre with Joe Munro moving to 13.  George Catchpole makes way.  Ryan Hough comes back in on the right wing in place of Henry Purdy while Rory Lynn replaces the injured Ed Styles at full back.

Nottingham team to face Rotherham Titans:

15) Rory Lynn
14) Ryan Hough
13) Joe Munro
12) Javiah Pohe
11) Olly Woodburn
10) Matthew Jarvis
9)   Sean Romans

1)   Campese Ma'afu
2)   Jon Vickers
3)   Michael Holford
4)   Toby Freeman
5)   Dan Montagu
6)   Will Skuse
7)   Brent Wilson (c)
8)   Alex Shaw

Replacements:

16) Ryan Bower
17) Alun Walker
18) Harry Williams
19) Tom Price
20) Rupert Cooper
21) Harrison Lee-Everton
22) Alfie Molloy