Dons star hoping to make up for lost time against league leaders Toulouse

The former Super League star, who had been the pick of the Doncaster pack in the opening games of the season, sat out the club’s home game against the French side at the end of March following a midweek knee operation.

Despite fears that the Dons would miss him, they ground out a hard-fought 10-6 win over last season’s beaten play-off finalists but Pauli saw enough to recognise the size of the task the club would face in the return.

“They probably weren’t at their best on the night but they still looked a very good team as Toulouse teams always are,” he said. “We still had to turn up on the night and play well to beat them because if we hadn’t we’d have lost.”

He added: “We are going into the game on the back of successive wins but we’ll need to be better on the night than we were in the second half of the win against Sheffield Eagles last time out.

“We played very well in the first half but we made far too many errors in the second half and our last tackle plays needed to be better, which they will need to be on Saturday – especially if the game is played in a 30 degree heat!”

Although the club didn’t try and rush Pauli back from his surgery – the form of the recalled Sam Smeaton and Jacob Jones in the second-row meant that they didn’t have to – he admits that he pushed himself too quickly.

“I played (off the bench) against Oldham and that resulted in another four weeks on the sidelines because I aggravated the knee,” he said.

Pauli made his return off the bench in the big win at Batley during which he made several trademark bursts.

“I played 30 minutes in that game and 50 minutes in the Sheffield game so I’m gradually building up to playing a full game and getting back to the form that I was in at the start of the season even though the knee was causing me problems back then,” he said.

Saturday’s game represents the club’s third game in a run of five successive away games – the results of which could prove crucial come the end of the season.

“We’ve already won two and if we can pick up more wins in the next three then that would set us up for the run-in during which time we’ve got six of our last eight games at home where were proving hard to beat,” he said.

“I’m 100 per cent confident that we’ll make the play-offs this year because we are getting better week by week.”