Confidence high among Titans after Codling settles in quickly

The reality, of course, is that the head coach has only been at the helm for a month, yet the welcome he has received has helped him hit the ground running.

Since his watching brief for the club’s defeat to Leeds Carnegie on November 24, Codling has overseen a precious win at Moseley in the league and two very credible performances against Munster A in the British and Irish Cup.

Now they head to high-flying Bedford Blues today, knowing a surprise victory can keep alive their top-four hopes.

“The biggest compliment I can pay to everyone at the club is that I feel like I’ve been here 10 years,” said the one-time England lock.

“I still maintain what I thought about the squad when I first arrived. There’s a lot of potential here. It’s an ongoing process but I just want the boys to express themselves and be comfortable on the ball.”

Bedford are known for their own brand of expansive rugby, which Codling hopes will be reflected by his own side.

“Bedford are one of the form teams,” said Codling, who has to make do without Rory Pitman today. “They play with a lot of confidence on their own patch.

“But we can take what we have done in the previous three games and go into the game with a lot of self-belief.

“The league game away against Moseley was a great result for us.

“Then at home against Munster we played well in patches. To then go to Munster and be leading late on and end up with a draw was a very credible performance.

“So we need to be very committed today and we need to be disciplined.

“We’ll go there and give it a real go. There’ll be a big crowd down there on Boxing Day and the atmosphere will be electric, but we have prepared well and are fully focused on the job at hand.”

Rotherham haven’t won at Goldington Road since 2006. A crowd of 4,000 is expected today.