'I'm excited where Rotherham Titans can be next season': Harvey Biljon outlines Rotherham Titans recruitment plans

The Channel Islander has been a revelation since arriving at Clifton Lane in October 2023, initially as a consultant before taking on the role of director of rugby on a full-time basis.

In his first half-season he helped Rotherham ambush Leeds Tykes and snatch promotion from National Two North, then in their first full season in National One, steered them to a third-place finish, their hopes of a second successive promotion only ended earlier this month.

Last summer Biljon showed no fear in rebuilding a promotion-winning squad to steel them for the demands of the nationalised division, and despite their success in that campaign, is once again not letting loyalty or sentiment stand in his way of putting the club in the best possible position to progress.

“We can’t rest,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“We’ve realised what a tough league it is this season, but we can’t rest on what we’ve done this season because the next season will be a whole new challenge.

“We’ve been working behind the scenes from December, January time on next season.

“We’re a way to go, but the important bits are that from a retention point of view, I’m really pleased with that.

“And then with the players coming on board, they’ll each contribute something to the team next season.

“What we’ve managed to achieve is a balance.”

A large overhaul of players can often disrupt the momentum of a squad and will frequently be used by coaches across all sports as a reason why they started a season slowly.

But despite last year’s turnover, Rotherham flew out of the blocks in National One, and Biljon sees no reason why changing personnel should halt the upward trajectory the club is currently on.

“We’ll have a fair bit of continuity but we have to have that injection of new players, so we are potentially going to have a big turnover again but that for me is something that’s exciting, rather than something that will hold us back,” he said.

“We’ve got to evolve as a team again so bringing those players in will be a smooth transition.

“You’ve got to embrace it, you’ve got to get excited about it.

“I’m very excited for where Rotherham can be next season, I believe we should be in a position where we could be stronger next season, again.”

Given what he has achieved at Rotherham, and previously at Jersey Reds who he led to the Championship title, Biljon is arguably the biggest piece of the Titans jigsaw right now, and is frequently linked with other coaching jobs, most notably at Worcester recently ahead of their return to the Championship.

But all indications are Biljon is invested in and wants to continue the project at Rotherham.