Doncaster Knights: Flanker aims to make starting spot a Shaw thing

It's all to play for as Doncaster Knights chase both league and cup glory - and flanker Alex Shaw wants to be in the thick of the action.
Alex ShawAlex Shaw
Alex Shaw

But with the club boasting some of the best back-rowers in the Championship, Shaw faces some stiff competition for a starting place in the Doncaster pack.

“We’ve got four good back-rowers who all want to start so whenever you get an opportunity you have to try and take it,” said the former Nottingham forward.

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“At the start of the season I didn’t play a lot of games due to injury, and now that I’m back playing and starting games I want to keep on starting games,” he said.

With Knights, who face back-to-back B&I Cup games, hoping to go one better than last year’s runner-up spot, as well as cementing their place in the top four in the Championship, boss Clive Griffiths is delighted to have both competition for places and cover in his squad.

Shaw is hoping to get another chance to stake his claims on the west coast of Ireland in this weekend's penultimate Pool Five game against Connacht Eagles.

Despite looking forward to the game, Shaw is not sure what to expect.

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“Because they are a representative side it all depends on what side they put out on the day,” he said.

“It all depends on how many senior players are available but the fact that they are at home might probably help in that respect.

“I hope that’s the case if I play because it would be a great experience to play against some of Connacht’s senior players.

“If you remember, when we played Munster last season they had a British & Irish Lions player in their side.

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“But irrespective of the side they put out we treat every game the same.

“We do our previews, we look at how our opponents like to attack and how they defend and we put a game plan together and we go out there and try and put it into action.

“The fact that it’s the B&I Cup and not the Championship makes no difference. We just go out there and try to win every game we play.”