Darren Fearn has warned players and fans of Doncaster Knights not to get too far ahead of themselves as the prospect of gatecrashing Champ Rugby’s top six hones into view.

Doncaster have endured a poor season in a campaign in which they were not shy about proclaiming their ambitions to compete for promotion to the Prem. At their lowest they sat 11th of 14 teams, 14 points adrift of the top-six teams that qualify for the end-of-season play-offs.

With promotion to the Prem still not guaranteed for the winner given the ongoing discussions at RFU level over the top flight, getting into the top six still remains a worthy motivation

And memories of last year when they won 11 straight to storm to a third-place finish are also fresh.

Watching brief: Doncaster's head coach Darren Fearn is concerned about only the present rather than the chase for the top six.

placeholder image — Watching brief: Doncaster's head coach Darren Fearn is concerned about only the present rather than the chase for the top six.

Since announcing in January they would be pivoting away from a full-time model next season to align themselves with more of their second-tier rivals, Doncaster’s form has been transformed. They have won three out of five, including thumping home wins over Cornish Pirates and Bedford, and a key victory over sixth-placed Chinnor that Fearn hopes is a “turning point”.

But he is refusing to look too far ahead, especially today when unbeaten league leaders Ealing Trailfinders come to Castle Park.

“We’re not good when we look too far ahead, we’re just not,” said Fearn, whose side cut the gap on the top six to seven points with eight games remaining.

“With Ealing coming to town it’s important we back up the performance at Chinnor and take it to another level against a team that’s unbeaten all year, got 18 bonus points and will be comfortable favourites.

“We’ve got to be in the right mindset to go after them and back it up. I’ve got full belief we’ll be in the right mindset, we’ve just got to go and deliver it. Honestly, all the talk this week has been well done last weekend, pat on the back, now we move on to Ealing. Nothing more.”

For much of the season, Doncaster have been a team with a target on their backs for the ambitions they laid out in the summer. But against Ealing they are underdogs.

“For us the challenge is backing up what we’ve done the last four weeks and getting excited about what is going to be a big crowd at Castle Park,” said Fearn.