'Castle Park lights don't go off': Doncaster Knights seek revenge over Chinnor after light-gate

When they trailed Chinnor by five points with 12 minutes remaining in December, Doncaster’s bid to salvage something from the game was hit by a floodlight failure at the small Oxfordshire ground.

When power was restored to all other areas of the ground but not the pitch, Doncaster smelt foul play and lodged an appeal that after investigation, the Rugby Football Union’s disputes committee rejected.

The result stood. It came amid a run of win one, lose one, that Doncaster just could not break.

Until now. And as Chinnor head to Castle Park today they face a buoyant Knights side riding a six-game winning streak.

“I won’t lie, it’s been mentioned a couple of times this week in team meetings,” head coach Joe Ford told The Yorkshire Post. “The lads will be ready for this.

“We don’t have any history of lights going off at Castle Park.”

The way they are playing at the minute, an expansive, free-scoring style that had co-benefactor and president Steve Lloyd purring in The Yorkshire Post earlier this week, they shouldn’t need anyone stood by the light switch.

“When you’ve got people in that backline like Telusa (Veainu) and Roko (Semi Rokodugni) and Jordan (Olowofela), etc, it’s quite exciting,” said Ford.

"We’re just trying to get them the ball as much as we can.”

Even with six games to go, though, their four-game Championship winning streak has come too late. They might have beaten Ealing Trailfinders twice this season but no one else has, meaning the West Londoners are destined for the title, though not promotion as they don’t meet the RFU’s minimum standards criteria.

Doncaster Knights do and Lloyd said this week they’re going for it next season.

Retention has begun, and for Ford, preparations are already under way for next season along with Sir Ian McGeechan as his director of rugby, with lessons learned from this campaign.

“The 21 changes at the start of the season and probably under-estimated how much time it takes to get everyone on the same page,” said Ford, whose team has already announced Thom Smith and Zach Kerr as returning for next season.

“We’re really pleased with how this squad has developed over the year and the togetherness of them.

“Geech and I were saying this week, training is almost running itself, the lads know what we’re looking for, how our week runs.

“So I think a bit of continuity next year will stand us in good stead.

“We’re going to add four, five, six players to it but I’d have thought nothing dramatic like last year and hopefully those players will add a bit of quality and depth in certain positions and we’ll hopefully be in a good place.”