The Exiles’ 36-15 defeat at Plymouth Albion saw them knocked off top by the inform Titans, whose victory over Moseley was their tenth straight win in all competitions.
Rotherham go into Sunday’s eagerly anticipated Round 15 meeting three points clear of second placed Welsh, who’ll be keen to wipe out the memory of their defeat at Brickfields and snatch back top spot.
“It’s huge; we want top spot back,” said Kirwan, who spent two seasons at Rotherham before joining Welsh last summer. “We feel we should never have lost it and we let it slip at Plymouth. The whole squad has a point to prove
“Our first day back at training this week was a lot more intense than normal – there was a lot more contact and physical work done.
“Rotherham are the number one side in the league and we know they’ll come at us. They’ve good ball carrying forwards and when they move it wide they’re really quick.”
For Kirwan, who was brought to the Titans by former head coach Andre Bester, it comes as no surprise to see the Clifton Lane club vying for a place in the play-offs.
“Lee Blackett came in and he changed the type of side they are and they’re looking really good, really threatening,” he said.
Kirwan in particular will be keen to draw a line under the events Brickfields. Following the late withdrawal of team captain Tom May, head coach Justin Burnell turned to Kirwan, who spent a year working as an offshore scaffolder in the North Sea before getting his big break in rugby at Rotherham, to lead the side.
“It was a huge disappointment for me personally. I was delighted when Justin called me in in the morning for a small meeting to award me the captaincy. It was a massive honour for me to captain London Welsh,” he said.
Welsh conceded three tries in the opening 14 minutes and five in all. It was only the third time this season the Exiles had given up a try scoring bonus point to their opposition – the other occasions coming at Rotherham and Pontypridd.
“It was massively out of character and it comes down to individual errors. Ollie Smith won’t be happy with the defensive performance; a lot of things have been addressed and I can guarantee we won’t play like that in defence again,” said Kirwan.
“It was a really tough day at the office, but it was all our mistakes. We’ve only got ourselves to blame and Plymouth took their chances – chances that we gave them.
“In fairness to Plymouth they played well but from our own point of view we really need to step it up.
“We got good momentum from the games against Jersey, Ponty, Scottish, and the Leeds game was massive. Plymouth threw everything at us and rightly so they won the game.
“We look at everything that went wrong. A lot of it was individual errors and as individuals we need to put that right and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
