Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565

In-form Doncaster RLFC face a stern test of their top-six credentials in Sunday’s South Yorkshire Betfred Championship derby against third-placed Sheffield Eagles at the Olympic Legacy Park.

But despite Eagles already having beaten his charges twice at home earlier in the season, Dons’ boss Richard Horne isn’t fazed by the game.

“Their players obviously had a kick up the backside following successive defeats against Swinton and Barrow and they bounced back with a big win over Whitehaven at the weekend,” he said.

“They are a good team and although they’ve beaten us twice this season both were really close games with only four-point winning margins so we are looking forward to going there.

Doncaster’s Brad Hey and Bureta Faraimo in action against Barrow. Picture: Andrew Roe/AHPIX LTD

“It’s the first time we played them there in a competitive match but we did play them in a pre-season game last year so we know what to expect on their artificial pitch.

“We know we can compete with them and it could all come down to such things as who gets the bounce of the ball on the day. It would lay down another marker for us where we go there and beat them because it is always a bonus when you beat teams higher up the table like we did against Featherstone a fortnight ago.

“Having said that our main focus is on beating those teams in and around us who we need to be beating to stay in the top half of the table.”

Asked whether he was surprised to see the Dons holding down sixth spot – their highest placing at this level for a decade – so late in the season, Horne said: “No, not with the group of players we have.

“In house we believed we could be competitive at the start of the year provided we didn’t have a lot of injuries. But at this stage of the season it is still about surviving in this division and that is still not assured though we are now five points clear of the second-bottom side with only nine games to go.

“We’ve won four of our last five games and although we made it hard for ourselves at times against Barrow I was really happy with the character we showed when coming from behind at the end because it shows that we can do that and that’s good to know.”

Stand-off Watson Boas is expected to be fit despite picking up a knock in Sunday’s game.

Sheffield Eagles clash holds no fear for in-form Dons - Richard Horne