Tests will be good for us, says Titans ace

A LOCALderby plus two matches against teams above you may not sound like the easiest end to a season, but Rotherham Titans flanker Jack Preece believes the scrutiny on such fixtures will aid his team's quest for a play-off place.

The fifth-placed Titans take on Doncaster Knights on Saturday, before a trip to fourth-placed Nottingham and a final day visit from third-placed London Scottish at the end of the month.

But with the south Yorkshire club having suffered defeats to the Greene King IPA Championship's bottom two Moseley and Plymouth Albion earlier in the season, Preece feels tougher tests will bring out the best in his team.

"You concentrate more in a derby," he said. "It's easier to keep level-headed than in a cup game, for example, or one with not a lot riding on it. If you get caught messing around, someone is going to call you up on it.

"The directors came in to see us and said 'make sure you play to 100 per cent in this one'. It's a game that means a lot to a lot of people.

"It's a big game, a derby, and there is a lot riding on it.

"We've got three tough games left to come. If we lose to Nottingham then we have got a big job on to get in the top four.