Rotherham Titans v Cornish Pirates: Coach Rouse looking for rare hat-trick of wins

They host Cornish Pirates having lost all 13 league games so far but, crucially, having picked up successive victories over Richmond and Connacht Eagles in the British & Irish Cup.

That has done wonders for confidence in the South Yorkshire club who have certainly shown clear improvement since Nic Rouse took over just before Christmas.

They ran out 27-3 winners away in Ireland at Connacht last Friday, securing a try bonus point for only the second time this season.

Tellingly, the only other game this season in which they did so was against Cornish Pirates in September when, in a remarkable game, they ran in seven tries but still lost 62-48.

Unsurprisingly, Rouse has kept the same matchday 22 as last week and made only one change to the starting XV, Adam Peters starting at blindside flanker as Tom Burns drops to the bench.

“We know Pirates are a good Championship team who have improved massively as the season has gone on,” he said.

“They are quite a laid-back team but they can turn it on in the blink of an eye. They can be trailing by some margin but have the ability to flick the switch and before you know it they’ve gone over three times.

“They will look to get penalties and kick for the corners; they’re no different to most Championship sides in that regard and we’ll need to be strong in that area.

“I think we have been in the last few weeks, which is good, but we can always improve and get better.”

Rouse added: “We can’t worry too much about what the opposition may do; we need to focus on what we want to do in the game.

“We need to impose ourselves on them and put them under pressure and when teams are put under pressure that’s when mistakes can happen.

“Our defence will have to be super tight this week and when we get into their 22 we need to be clinical and take our chances; if we do that I think we can be on the right side of the result.”