Blackett is wary of Plymouth’s threat

Rotherham visit Plymouth fresh from a heavy defeat against Leinster A in the British and Irish Cup quarter-final at Clifton Lane, when they shipped 51 points.

Plymouth, by contrast, go into the fixture buoyed by a first win since last March earlier this month, and a losing bonus point gained at improving Nottingham last time out.

They have also been galvanised by a stay of execution from the administrator, after the club recieved £250,000 this week to keep them in business until the summer.

The Titans claimed a much-needed win against Bedford two weeks ago to keep their top-four hopes alive, but despite the two teams having differing priorities in the league, Blackett is expressing caution ahead of the Brickfields test.

“If people look at the league table and assume Plymouth are a poor side, they couldn’t be more wrong,” he said.

“Other than a couple of games in the league no-one has beaten them heavily, they are always in games right up to the end and they’ve just come up short in a few of them. On another day they could have been halfway up the league.

“We know from when they came to Clifton Lane earlier in the season, you could have argued that they deserved to win that day.

“It was only in the final quarter that we managed to get on top and sneak the win. Since then they’ve turned a corner.

“So we’ll go down there fully expecting to be in a real tough game and if someone offered me a one-point victory now I’d grab it with both hands.”

The returning fly-half James McKinney is one of four changes made by Blackett.