Doncaster Knights: We don’t fear big-spending Bristol, declares Tyson Lewis

But flying wing Tyson Lewis is not daunted by the prospect of taking on the league leaders at their new base.

“We know that they are a very strong side but we’re not over-awed going into the game and we intend to be very competitive at the very least,” said the club’s top try-scorer for the last two seasons.

“We’ve done our homework on them, as we’ve done on every side we’ve played this season.

“If we go there and play as well as we know that we can, we will give ourselves a chance.

“Things are going well. Who’d have thought that we’d be fourth in the table and top of our group in the B&I Cup in our first season back at this level?

“But I echo what Clive [Griffiths] says in that it is all about keeping our heads down and picking up wins whenever we get them.

“As I say, we’ve made a good start but a lot of the boys understand that it’s a tough league and they’ve got their feet firmly on the ground.

“A good start to the season doesn’t always equate to a good finish.

“What I will say is that although we’ve given ourselves a bit of breathing space we aren’t going to rest on our laurels.”

Lewis points to last season’s title joy as a key factor in the way Doncaster have started the new campaign.

“I think the fact that we kept the nucleus of last season’s squad has definitely helped,” he said.

“A lot of the boys learnt a lot about themselves playing in National One last season.

“It was almost like a cup final for a lot of sides when they played us and they all wanted to beat us and they all raised their game.

“The back division is playing really well and there is competition all over the place when everyone is fit,” he added.

“All the boys have got different attributes and that’s what you need. Provided we get good set-piece ball we’ve got the back division to test anyone at this level.”