Rotherham Titans enjoying making Leeds Tykes look over their shoulder but Huddersfield are dangerous opponents

Unbeaten league leaders Tykes decimated their opponents Hull Ionians 66-15 at The Sycamores, while second-placed Titans ensured the gap remained at six points after 15 games apiece with a hard-fought36-22 away victory over Lymm.

The South Yorkshire side today head to rock bottom Huddersfield, and captain Zak Poole sees no reason for the former Premiership club to feel pressure ahead of the fixture – with plenty of rugby still to be played this season.

“We’ve got no pressure,” Poole told The Yorkshire Post.

“We’re just going out and playing rugby. That’s all we’re doing, and (Leeds) are going to have to be looking over their shoulder, aren’t they?

“I just think we’ve got nothing to lose, and they’ve got everything to lose, and that’s not a bad place to be.

“We’ve still got to go to Fylde away, and they’ve got to go to Wharfedale away – that’s no easy task and we’ve done that.

“The big one is, they’ve still got to come to Clifton Lane and it comes at a nice stage of the season, so hopefully there’ll be lots riding on that game.

“There’s a lot of rugby left to be played.”

The first pressure-free hurdle to be jumped before that bumper fixture in March, however, is a tough visit to Lockwood Park.

Huddersfield – who are nine points from safety – have recently seen a resurgence in form via a win in their last home game against fellow strugglers Billingham and the securing of bonus points against Lymm and Hull, respectively. This revival and desperation for points on the home side’s behalf is a factor Poole hopes his team will manage to quell.

He added: “It’s never nice to play a ‘dog’ when they are in that position, because they’ve always got one or two performances in them when they’re fighting for survival.

“It’s not a nice place to go. No game is ever easy, but I’d say they have an added edge compared to a team that’s in midtable and probably safe.

“They’ve won their last game at home, which as you know goes a long way. It keeps a bit of momentum. They’re going to want to win, aren’t they?”

Huddersfield director of rugby Neil Ryan would certainly answer that question in the affirmative.

Despite falling to a severe 60-26 away defeat to eighth-placed Hull last weekend, the former Sale fly-half saw enough from the match to hold a degree of positivity going into Saturday’s game.

Ryan said: “I think before the game, the objective was to take something from it which we did.

“Our second-half performance was really encouraging and our defence improved and we had a real eagerness with the ball and scored four good tries.

“Since the Billingham game, we’ve played three games now and managed to pick up some points.

“I think it’s important on Saturday that we have a good performance and use everything we can to get something out of the game, whether that’s one point or five against a very powerful side.

“We are under no illusions about how difficult the game is going to be.”

Another big game in the fourth tier this weekend is Sheffield RUFC’s hosting of Billingham, as the third-placed side aim to continue a remarkable seven-game winning streak.