Spy in the Rotherham Camp, Team and stop press
By Frank Stormont
November 3 2006
This Saturday sees the match of the season so far. With a close result last time Albion will be looking at repeating the result but with a wider margin and getting that all inportant bonus point.
Squad to play Rotherham
Martin Rice
Richard Oxley
Scott
Zimmerman
Colin Stewart
Ben Gulliver
Federico Genoud
Danny Thomas
Tom Hayes
Nigel Cane
Ed Barnes
Nic Sestaret
Keni Fisilau
Regardt Van
Eyk
Ed Lewsey
Wihan Neethling
Jon Fabian
Nat Saumi
Tim Mathias
James Owen
Chris Lowrie
Tom Arscott
Brett Stroud
Mike Lewis
Francisco
Deformes
Arran
Cruickshanks
Bench
Spy in the Rotherham Camp
Whatever the result on Saturday plenty of fans will be going away upset. Rotherham have been sitting top of the table since Albion took that fateful trip to Sandy Park. The only match they have lost was also at Sandy Park so we have something in common.
A win for Albion will probable see no change to the table positions as long as Titans get a bonus point where as a win to Titans could see Albion drop to 6th in the table. If Albion win it could mean the top 6 clubs in the league only having 3 points between them and 4 teams on 8 wins from 10, how import will those bonus points be then?
Of their 45 tries26 have been scored by the backs and 16 by forwards with 3 penalty tries. Albion on the other hand have only scored 28 tries with 9 coming from the forwards 17 from the backs and 2 penalty tries. Titans conversion rate is 71% where as Albion's is 79%.
Titans have scored 308 points with119 against. Albion have scored 235, 108 from Wihan Neethling and have conceded 140 points. Neither team have lost at home but Albion have one more lose away.
Titans have used 30 of their squad with only 2 players starting all 9 matches. Albion squad has been a bit smaller with 24 used and 12 starting all 9 matches. Of Titans 1st XV 16 have made their debut this season where as Albion only have 6 debuts this season.
Their youngest is 20 where as Albion have 2 players in the squad under 20. The average age of Titans is 24.5 and Albion's is nearly a year older due to the fact that 4 of our players are over 30.
Not counting Irish as foreign Albion have 6 foreign born players where as Titans have 8, 6 of them from South Africa. 11 of Albion's squad were born in Devon were as Titans have only 11 of their larger squad born in England.
On the Titans unofficial website prediction league one 3rd who have put their predications in do not expect the Titans to win. On the alllbion website only one person is predicting a Titans win.
Titans top scorer is 24 year old Gareth Steenson who has kicked 62 points for his side and although he has taken part in all their league games he has only started 6 of them. Born in Ireland he joined Titans during the summer.
Top try scorer with 8 tries is 26 year old centre Brian Touhy who is one of two players to have started all 9 matches. He too joined the club over the closed season.
The other Player to have started all league matches is Jannie Bornman South African backrow/lock who joined the club back in 2004 and has played a total of 48 matches for the club.
Last 3 results/reports
Sedgley Park 20-25 Earth Titans
Earth Titans 47-6 London Welsh
Last time Titans were at Brickfields Albion came away with a close victory 15 - 14. Tries by Tom Hayes and Regardt van Eyk and with Nat Saumi kicking the extras in front of a crowd just short of 3,000. Report from Sheffield Star
Only 5 of Titans who started last time Rotherham visited Brickfields are still regulars in the starting line-up this season. Albion still have 10 of the the starting line-up in the current starting line-ups.
It is possible that there could be 8 South African Players on the pitch on Saturday. That is our own Regardt van Eyk and Wihan Neethling, and Rotherham's Jan Bornman, Hendre Fourie, Bernard Hennessey, Barry Jacobsz, Showan Smith and Errie Claassens.
Rotherham official site & unofficial site
This from the "RugbyRugby"
site
Plymouth Albion vs Earth Titans
Referee: Dean
Richards
Touch judges: Eric Woodmason, Lloyd
Jackson
Assessor: Paul Bridgman
(Dean Richards
also was the referee last time
Titans visited brickfields)
BetFred.com are predicting a narrow win to Albion (by 2 points!)
Terrace Talk - National One
Plymouth Albion v Earth Titans
Top clash of the day as the leaders, Earth Titans, travel to fourth placed Plymouth Albion.
Albion need to win this to close the gap on the Titans who otherwise could find themselves 12 points behind the Yorkshire outfit whilst a win could see them close to within a couple of points.
At home this season they have won
four out of four with
The Titans are top of the Form Guide with five straight wins and are four points clear at the top of the table. They have picked up seven four try bonus points which is the most in the division and it their only defeat of the season they picked up a losing bonus point.
On the road they have won four out of five with their only defeat coming at Exeter Chiefs.
At Brickfields last season this was a closely fought match with Albion running out 15-14 winners in a low scoring match. Over the season it was honours even with the Titans winning 35-30 at Clifton Lane
Prediction: Tough call but will go with home advantage and an
STOP PRESS
There is still no decision yet on the starting line up and Keni Fisilau will have a late fitness test on Saturday morning. The Evening Herald reported that Keni will not appear on the bench - if he is fit to play he will start.
Chilean Francisco Deformes is a possibility to be on the bench after signing last week and playing in the Warriors side against Glamorgan last Saturday.
Graham Dawe is expecting a very wing mentality performance from Rotherham Titans.
Graham is asking fans to come along and enjoy themselves, the team will be giving 100% and we will see where it takes us come 4 o'clock.
There is no Warriors match on Sunday against the Cornish Pirates development side!
The condition of the pitch which caused the planned under 18 county matches to be cancelled last Sunday is up to scratch.