Talking Sport Now & Then: Doncaster Knights start the year searching for consistency

The two sides were due to meet at Mennaye Field just before Christmas but the game was called off due to the state of the pitch meaning that Knights must make the18-hour round journey again this weekend.

The Penzance ground is traditionally one of the toughest places in the Championship to pick up points.

But Pirates have had a mixed season to date and Knights will fancy their chances if they can repeat the form they showed in their 52-14 win over visiting Caldy on Boxing Day.

Despite being disappointed that the Pirates game couldn’t go ahead - a decision he had no argument with - head coach Steve Boden says it wasn’t an entirely wasted journey with a lot of team bonding taking place on the long trip back to South Yorkshire.

Although Knights haven’t yet reached the heights of the previous two seasons - where he feels the club ‘probably overachieved’ - Boden claims there are extenuating circumstances.

“We lost a few players (at the end of last season) and we’ve had a lot of injuries and I think any club would find it hard in those circumstances,” he said. “We ended the year in fifth place with a game in hand over three of the clubs above us so I’m happy with where we are.”

Although the Castle Park faithful will be looking for Knights to kick on this month, which also sees them entertain Hartpury and Nottingham as well as visiting Richmond, Boden is known for just taking it one game at a time.

“I don’t set targets and I never go into a game saying that we are definitely going to win it,” he told me. “What I will be looking for on Saturday, and going forward, is consistency because we know that we can give anyone a game if we play well.

“We’ve got some good players and we pride ourselves on playing a brand of rugby that people want to watch and I think we are doing that most weeks in both the league and the Championship Cup. Obviously we sometimes have to adapt to the conditions as could be the case this weekend if the pitch is heavy.”

Boden was critical of his charges in the big defeat at Coventry at the start of last month and admits that Knights made hard work of beating bottom club London Scottish a fortnight later but preferred to give credit to the Exiles, who he felt played well on the day.

Knights have never won the Championship Cup but have given themselves an excellent chance of not only qualifying for the knock-out stages but also earning themselves a favourable draw after winning all three of their first round of group games despite being in the same pool as Coventry and Bedford Blues – two of the four sides above them.

I always enjoy my visits to Castle Park and it was good to catch up with the likes of former team manager John Lowe, former captain Howard Thompson and long-serving volunteer Harry Potts.

*New Year’s Eve marked a decade since I retired from The Star – my last game covering Doncaster Rovers being a 3-0 win against Championship rivals Preston North End at Deepdale two days earlier.

Goal-keeping coach Lee Butler – the man with the firmest handshake I’ve ever come across – interrupted my final post-match interview with manager Dean Saunders to hand me the match programme signed by all the players and staff.

I’ve still got that and a signed shirt presented to me a few days earlier by former vice-chairman Stuart Highfield. Along with hundreds of press cuttings, which I often refer to when writing this column, they serve as a reminder of my time covering the club during a roller coaster period of their history.

*Next season’s Betfred League One campaign will once again be down to just ten clubs following West Wales Raiders’ decision to pull out of the league last month.

Although it is probably too late to change things for next season, it does, to me at least, seem ridiculous to have a promotion play-off featuring teams which finish as low as sixth in such a small league.

Several teams have dropped out of League One in recent years and the viability of a third division would have to be discussed were another side to follow suit.

I have to admit to having a soft spot for the Raiders having covered the Dons during the time when they found wins hard to come by.

In the games that I saw them play against the Dons, which often resulted in huge wins for the Eco-Power Stadium side, their players hardly ever reverted to foul play and never gave up trying and on more than one occasion I congratulated individual players I thought had performed well as they came off the field ahead of a long journey home.

But any team which only won two out of 86 games isn’t going to bring a lot to the competition and it’s fair to say that they would have struggled in the amateur National Conference League.

If they do come back at some stage under a new owner they certainly need to be better resourced both in terms of finance and playing strength.

Raiders are but the latest club outside of the game’s traditional heartlands to struggle to field a competitive side, in what is quite a tough division, due to the lack of homegrown talent and difficulties in attracting players from established clubs.

The Dons are in action on Sunday week against York in their first pre-season friendly.