Doncaster Knights

Doncaster Rugby Football Club are a rugby union club representing the town of Doncaster, England. The first XV are known as the "Doncaster Knights", and play in the RFU Championship. Being the most promoted side in English history has led to huge changes at the Castle Park ground and within the team structure.

Doncaster Knights
Full nameDoncaster Rugby Football Club
UnionYorkshire RFU
Nickname(s)Knights
Founded1875 (1875)
LocationDoncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Ground(s)Castle Park (Capacity: 5,000 (1,650 seated)
Director of RugbySteve Boden
League(s)RFU Championship
2019–2010th
Team kit
Official website
www.drfc.co.uk

Castle Park Conference and Function centre is a multimillion-pound development and is among the top conference venues in Doncaster, while remaining a supportive place for amateur rugby union in the Borough. The club motto "rugby for all" sees amateur side Doncaster Phoenix compete at the same ground, as well as the ladies side Doncaster Demons and every age group from under-7 to under-17s.

History

The rise to National League One, from amateur status led to the rebranding of Doncaster RFC to Doncaster Knights for the 2006–07 season, and that season saw their highest placed finish to date under Clive Griffiths as Director of Rugby. Doncaster also won the Yorkshire Cup.

After the departure of Griffiths to Worcester, the current DOR Lynn Howells joined the club on the eve of the 2007–08 season. Justin Bishop, signed from London Irish, had acted as DOR during the pre-season.

Howells inspired the Knights to almost repeat the 3rd-place finish in his first season in charge, and has moulded the squad in his own image for the 2008–09 season. 9 January saw the opening of the new De Mulder-Lloyd Stand at Castle park, a £3m state of the art 1650 seater stand. Driven by CEO James Criddle and funded by Tony De Mulder and Steve Lloyd this has seen Castle Park develop into undoubtedly the best rugby facility in South Yorkshire.

The home of the Knights, Castle Park, featured in and won "4 Weddings" and also hosted the Northern BBC TV news coverage for Remembrance Day during 2009 showing how for the operational side of the club has come supporting the on the pitch success.

The 2009–10 season saw the squad decimated by injuries, with no fewer than 15 unavailable players at one stage from a squad of 32. Despite this, and an inhuman 9 games in 27 days (of which they won 8) the Knights managed the Semi Final of the British and Irish Cup and a promotion Play Off finish. The result of the season being the defeat of Bristol at Castle Park, who like Leeds Carnegie before them underestimated the Knights as home.

The 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons were very average seasons with the Knights managing mid table status and avoiding the relegation playoffs with a reduction in playing budget meaning a shuffling of the pack which saw several long serving players move on to other clubs. The captures of the likes of Tristan Roberts and Paul Devlin hinted at a more creative side than the powerhouse forward game Doncaster are known for traditionally.

The 2012–13 season saw the Knights have a disappointing season with only three wins and a draw out of twenty two league matches and two wins from six in the British and Irish Cup competition which resulted in relegation (for the first time in Doncaster history) back to National League 1. One of the few highlights being a win over local rivals Leeds Carnegie 23 – 17 in February 2013.

For the 2013–14 season DOR Clive Griffiths signed a variety of new and returning players including Mat Clark, Paul Jarvis, Bevon Armitage, Roberto Santamaria and Bruno Bravo who would all feature as regulars in the coming season. The season looked to begin badly for the Knights as they were once again plagued by injuries particularly in the forwards but still with an intention to be the first team to secure promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking. The Knights started strongly recording seven straight wins before losing away to Henley Hawks 11–10 [1] in a close fought game. The Knights campaign continued strongly at home although with away losses to Blaydon and Wharfedale they could not fully pull away from the following pack. With further signings during the year, such as former British Lion Darren Morris,[2] London Irish back row Danny Kenny,[3] Argentinian-Italian prop Santiago Sodini[4] and the return of former Knight Richard List from RC Narbonne[5] to bolster the injury prone team, the Knights continued to be the team to beat having been top of the table for the majority of the season.

In late March 2014 with only four games left to play of the season there were only two teams (Rosslyn Park & the Knights) left with the potential to win the league and with them due to meet on 29 March many thought this could be the most important match of the season. The game resulted in a win for Rosslyn Park[6] and meant the Knights would need to win all three of their remaining matches to guarantee promotion. With a win over Wharfedale (57–17) at home to secure a 100% home win record for the season followed by away wins against Coventry (17–18) & Blackheath (20–38) the Knights secured promotion back to the Championship despite having lost one more game than Rosslyn Park (having achieved more bonus points to be three points clear).

During the 2013–14 season Tyson Lewis was the top try scorer for National League 1 with 22 tries and his teammate Mat Clark was equal second on 20 tries. Tyson also achieved Guinness World Record fame for "The fastest time to score a try in a rugby union match".[7] The try was scored direct from the opening kick off in 7.24 seconds (Doncaster Knights vs Old Albanians at Wollam Playing Fields, St Albans, UK, on 23 November 2013).

Club honours

Doncaster Knights

[8]

Doncaster Phoenix (amateur side)

Current standings
2020–21 RFU Championship Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Tries for Tries against Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1Ampthill000000000000
2Bedford Blues000000000000
3Cornish Pirates000000000000
4Coventry000000000000
5Doncaster Knights000000000000
6Ealing Trailfinders000000000000
7Hartpury University000000000000
8Jersey Reds000000000000
9London Scottish000000000000
10Nottingham000000000000
11Richmond000000000000
12Saracens000000000000
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background is the promotion place. Pink background is the relegation place.
Source: "Greene King IPA Championship". England Rugby.

Current squad
For player movements before or during the 2020–21 season, see List of 2020–21 RFU Championship transfers § Doncaster Knights.

The Doncaster Knights squad for the 2020–21 season is:[9] Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Will Holling Hooker England
Ben Hunter Hooker England
George Roberts Hooker Wales
Gareth Denman Prop England
Andrew Foster Prop England
Tom Hill Prop New Zealand
Robin Hislop Prop Scotland
Joe Jones Prop Wales
Marc Thomas Prop Wales
James Wayland Prop Australia
Matt Challinor Lock England
John Kelly Lock England
Matt Smith Lock England
Jack Davies Back row England
Sam Graham Back row England
Conor Joyce Back row Ireland
Jack Rouse Back row England
Player Position Union
Reiss Cullen Scrum-half Scotland
James Mitchell Scrum-half England
Sam Pocklington Scrum-half England
Charlie Foley Fly-half England
Billy McBryde Fly-half Wales
Sam Olver Fly-half England
Mark Best Centre Ireland
James Newey Centre Ireland
Harry Strong Centre England
Kyle Evans Wing Wales
James Kane Wing Australia
Jack Spittle Wing England
Howard Packman Fullback England
  • Internationally capped players in bold. Their nationality is fixed to international team (World Rugby regulations).
  • Players qualified to play for England on residency or dual nationality. *
  • In all cases nationality shown is the country that the player represents in international rugby union.
  • Notes:

    Past performance
    YearTierDivisionPWDLPFPAPDTBLBPtsNotes
    2016/17 2English Championship20*1208514424909158Finished 4th
    2015/16 2English Championship22152558847011810579Finished 2nd
    2014/15 2English Championship228113429481-523643Finished 9th
    2013/14 3National League 1302505943487456184122Promoted to Championship as champions
    2012/13 2English Championship223118364592−2282723Relegated to National League 1
    2011/12 2English Championship229211467524−577350
    2010/11 2English Championship229013572576−47851
    2009/10 2English Championship221001239438682648
    2008/09 2National 1302127895571324143105
    2007/08 2National 130210979655124512298
    2006/07 2National 13022178554743811641101st Season as Doncaster Knights
    2005/06 2National 12610115555699−1445552
    2004/05 3National 2262312818379439111106Promoted to National 1 as champions
    2003/04 3National 2261709692487205––34
    2002/03 3National 2261401263055179––28
    2001/02 4National 3 North2625011074357717––50Promoted to National 2 as champions
    2000/01 4National 3 North231616584364220––33
    1999/00 4National 2 North2612212656539117––26
    1998/99 5North 1221813550214336––37Promoted to National 2 North as champions
    1997/98 5North 1221723489285204––36
    1996/97 6North 2222200690259431––44Promoted to North 1 as champions
    1995/96 6North 21242618316815––10
    1994/95 6North 212705136155−19––14
    1993/94 7North East 112110123270162––22Promoted to North 2
    1992/93 8North East 212110129439255––22Promoted to North East 1
    1991/92
    1990/91
    1989/90
    1988/89
    1987/88 10Yorkshire 2
    * Season shortened to 20 games due to London Welsh going into liquidation and being removed from the league by the RFU.
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    References
    1. "Unbeaten run comes to an end for Knights at Henley". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk.
    2. "Former British Lion joins the Knights". www.thestar.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
    3. "Back row Danny Kenny arrives from London Irish". www.thestar.co.uk.
    4. "Santiago arrives at the Castle". www.thestar.co.uk.
    5. "Return of Richard List". www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk.
    6. "Rosslyn Park 21 Doncaster Knights 18". www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk.
    7. "Fastest time to score a try in a rugby union match". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
    8. "History". www.drfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014.
    9. "The Squad". Doncaster Knights. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
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