Rotherham Titans v Bedford Blues: Rotherham urged to be more ruthless by Blackett

The Titans have rarely gone through such a poor sequence on home soil and it does not get any easier today against a Bedford team who have recovered from a stuttering start.

Rotherham, by contrast, started strongly but have won just one of their last four games in the league and will be overtaken by Bedford today if they are beaten.

Their latest defeat came at Clifton Lane last Saturday, when top-four rivals Nottingham won without allowing the hosts to take a losing bonus point.

Blackett said: “We were really disappointed with how things went against Nottingham last week, particularly with our lack of discipline.

“We’ve had some honest words with the boys this week in terms of that.

“The yellow cards we’ve picked up recently have cost us massively and it has to stop.

“Against Bedford we can’t afford to not have 15 players on the field, they are a really good side who are one of the in-form sides in the league.

“There’s also no doubt they have one of the most improved scrums in the division, they’ve made themselves a real force in that area. If you look at them now they are clearly dominating sides when it comes to scrum-time.

“So we know how tough it’s going to be against them, it always is.

“We’ll need to stick to our principles and systems; if we do that I know we’ll create opportunities and then it’s about making sure we take them.

“You’re never going to get a lot of chances against Bedford, so it’s important we take the ones we create.”

To that end, Rotherham have been strengthened by the return of Jack Roberts who is back at the Lane as part of a dual-registration deal with Leicester Tigers, the club he left the Titans for in the autumn.

Jordan Davies partners Roberts in the centres, one of four changes made by Blackett.