Griff's rallying call for derby clash after Doncaster Knights' opening day defeat

Doncaster Knights boss Clive Griffiths didn't pull his punches reflecting on the club's 19-0 defeat away to relegated London Irish on the opening day of the Championship season.
Clive GriffithsClive Griffiths
Clive Griffiths

“What I said in the changing room after the game was blunt and straight to the point,” he said yesterday.

“We can make excuses about them (and how good they are) but on the day we didn’t perform to how we can play.

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“We had too many people off form and we made too many mistakes at crucial times and it really cost us.

“They capitalised on our errors to race into an early 9-0 lead on the back of three penalties and we trailed 14-0 at the interval though we still felt we were in the game.

“It was particularly disappointing not to score a point and I can’t remember when that last happened.

“But we missed a penalty and created two or three chances including one right at the end when Glen Young made a break only for Will Owen to throw out a wild pass (to Simon Humberstone) and that summed up our day.

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“It could have been 19-10 but it wasn’t and we were nilled and we’ve got to recover ahead of Saturday’s derby against Rotherham Titans at Castle Park.”

He added: “It wasn’t all negatives and the pack, especially Richard List, WillGriff John, Glen Young and Dave Nolan all played well.

“We also defended well to restrict them to two tries, although full-back Paul Jarvis had to make two or three try-saving tackles.”