Title-winning Rotherham Titans spread net wide in search for new talent

Titans sealed the National One title and with it promotion back to the Championship for the first time since 2018 by beating Sale FC in front of a packed house at Clifton Lane last week.

And with the club having looked a good bet for promotion for weeks, forward planning has been done, led by Director of Rugby Harvey Biljon, to bring in new blood to compliment the existing talent in the camp.

“Harvey has identified various players he wants to pursue, be they be from universities, National One or even Champ sides or abroad,” CEO Martin Jenkinson told the Advertiser.

"He’s has a board in his office ram full of names.”

Rotherham will now be among the top 24 clubs in the country and the move up will pit them against bigger names like Coventry, Worcester and Bedford as well as near neighbours Doncaster Knights.

But unlike the past, the end game will purely be to go up and consolidate because the pathway for promotion up the Premiership has effectively ended for clubs of similar size.

"We don’t have the stadium or the finance to go any higher. This is as high as we can go,” added Jenkinson.

"It is going to be very hard. We have to adapt and up our game but it is great to be back in the Champ and we are all looking forward to the challenge.”

Rotherham amassed 111 league points, winning 22 of their 26 games.

They scored more than 1,000 points and had their section’s top individual points scorer for the fourth straight year in goal kicker Lloyd Hayes.

Jackson Barling’s total of 24 tries is the most in a single season by any Rotherham player, beating the 22 scored by Michael Wood in the 2002/03 campaign.

Spectators at Clifton Lane last week were able to see the work that is going on to turn the pitch 90 degrees.

The existing playing area isn’t big enough for new regulations by World Rugby.

Other changes are also taking place to meet Champ standards.