Harvey Biljon wants his Rotherham Titans players to strike the right balance between expressing themselves with caution when bottom-markers Hartpury visit Clifton Lane today.

After making such a strong start to life back in Champ Rugby with wins over Coventry, Bedford, Caldy, Richmond and Nottingham in their first seven games, Rotherham have transformed themselves from expected newly-promoted fodder to a team opponents are starting to take seriously.

Today’s fixture pits them against a team nine places below them in the league - some effort for a part-time club new to the division.

That they are fifth and occupying a play-off place owes as much to their ability to raise their game against the full-time outfits, as it does their propensity to withstand teams that are desperate to kickstart their season - as was the case against Richmond and Nottingham last Friday night.

Rotherham Titans director of rugby Harvey Biljon.

placeholder image — Rotherham Titans director of rugby Harvey Biljon.

“Let’s put these three games into context,” said Biljon, when analysing those two games and the challenge bottom-club Hartpury present today.

“It was a huge game for Richmond, needing a win to get their season on track. We had to go down there and get a result.

“We had the same scenario against Nottingham, they had one win in six, and you could see their energy and their emotion. They had to really go at us. That is a dangerous place to be, when a team is putting it on the line. And we’ve got the same again this weekend.

"We know Hartpury are a good team, they took Worcester to the last minute of a game, and you know that if there’s a game they’re going to target it’s going to be against a Rotherham team that’s just been promoted. So it’ll be a serious test.

“It’s another game against a team looking for a turning point, so we have to be on it. Look at Richmond pulling off a result away from home at Pirates, that shows you how competitive the league is.”

So how does it affect Rotherham’s mindset going into the game? Do they approach the fixture as favourites?

“For us, we don’t shy away from that, we talk about it, we know what’s coming, but we also focus on where we need to be,” said Biljon.

“It gives us an opportunity to go and enjoy playing at home in front of our crowd and if we get the chance to implement a few things, definitely do that.”

Rotherham are without scrum-half Cameron Kelemeti who is in the Fiji squad to face Ireland.