Doncaster Knights: Why Rory Pitman has rejected offers from France to stay at Castle Park

Pitman became the latest player in the current squad to put pen to paper on a new contract this week after impressing the coaching staff since moving to Castle Park in November.

“It was Clive Griffiths’ silver tongue which brought me up here,” recalled the 29 year-old Welshman.

“I’ve known Griff for a long time and when we spoke the club were struggling a bit with injuries and I agreed to come up here for two months to help out.

“I also spoke to several players about Doncaster and it has proved as good as they said it would be.

“Tony (De Mulder) and Steve (Lloyd) are brilliant. They are real gentlemen and so humble.

“They put money into the club not for any personal glory but because they love the club.

“The club have done everything to help me while I’ve been up here and I settled in quickly.

“It’s like a home from home and for my part I feel as though I’ve given everything out on the pitch.

“I had a few offers to play in France but I didn’t want to go anywhere else.

“I missed the London Scottish game with a neck injury I picked up in the game at Jersey but I’m determined to get back out there before the end of the season.

“I need to play and I want to be involved. I just love playing rugby at the moment.

“When everyone is fit there is a lot of competition for places and training is really competitive which helps me.

“As I get older and I see the youngsters coming through my attitude is: If you want the shirt come and try and get it. That’s the way it was for me when I was coming through.”

Pitman admits that results, though better in 2019, haven’t been as good during his time at the club as everyone hoped they would be.

“We’ve got a good squad but the problem this season has been the fact that we’ve had a lot of pivotal players out,” he said.