Rotherham Titans on the brink of promotion ahead of final away game

A victory away to struggling Sedgley Park Tigers tomorrow, combined with defeats for nearest chasers Plymouth and Blackheath, could see Titans finish top of the pile in National One and claim promotion back to the Championship for the first time in eight years.

Four coachloads of supporters will follow their team across the Pennines hoping the scenario plays out.

Director of rugby Harvey Biljon and his players will put potential distractions to one side and concentrate on taking care of business against the relegation threatened Tigers.

Sedgley aren’t as strong as they used to be. They’ve had a season of struggle and have lost their last six matches, the latest a 66-24 reverse down at Plymouth Albion last weekend.

Although a four-try bonus point provided some consolation, it wasn’t enough to haul them out of the bottom two.

They need a good result to make up a gap of two points to Clifton and a further couple to fourth-bottom Birmingham Moseley.

On paper, the Titans should win but the ever diligent Biljon is wary.

“This is a tricky fixture and we need to go again in training so we are ready,” he said.

"We will do our due diligence on Sedgley Park Tigers because as we all know, this league can throw up lots of surprises and when people are competing at the top and the bottom of the league even more so.

"Sedgley have lots play for. It’s going to be emotional for them so we are going to have to be on it.”

Plymouth have a hard long-distance away match at fourth-placed Sale FC on Saturday while Blackheath have a more winnable one at Leeds Tykes.

For their part, Rotherham played their best rugby of the season to trample over Rams last weekend, running in a dozen tries to win 80-7 and taken their league points tally to 101.

With Plymouth and Blackheath both picking up five-point victories, Titans’ lead at the top remains at four.

Whatever the permutations, Biljon just wants his players to take back up last weekend’s thumping win.

"I want us to build on how we played against Rams,” he said. “Our defensive performance against a team that wanted to play and how we stuck at our defence until the transition opportunity came about was pretty special. It was part of our preparation through the week and our players executed it really well.”

Promotion talk is also on hold for scrum-half JB Bruzulier.

"We can think ahead but we can’t afford to,” he said. “We’ve got training and a big game on Saturday to focus on.”

Kick off is 2.30pm.

Rotherham end their season at home to Sale FC next Saturday.