Doncaster Knights warned 'to keep eyes on the ball' at Hartpury

Doncaster Knights will be looking to put Hartpury to the sword in their opening Championship game of the season at the Gillman’s Ground on Saturday (2.30pm).
Ben Hunter will line up against his former team HartpuryBen Hunter will line up against his former team Hartpury
Ben Hunter will line up against his former team Hartpury

It will be the second meeting of the two sides, who met on the opening day of the season in their Pool 2 Championship Cup clash at Castle Park, a game which Knights won 44-22.

“We won with plenty to spare in the end following a dominant second half display but we could have made it easier for ourselves had we taken our chances when we led 17-5 midway through the first half,” said director of rugby Clive Griffiths.

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“They are certainly a side who never go away and they can take advantage if you take your eye off the ball.”

Whereas Knights won two of their opening block of Championship Cup games, Hartpury lost all three.

“We targeted two wins from our two home games in the competition so we are pleased with how things have gone so far but we’re now fully focused on the start of the Championship campaign and we’ll be looking to get off to a winning start,” said Griffiths.

Hartpury have rotated their squad during their Championship Cup campaign and Griffiths admits that has posed the coaching staff a problem in the build-up.

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“You never know who you are going to be up against when you play Hartpury because they can call on players from local Premiership clubs,” he said.

“But we’ll travel down there in a confident mood after showing great character to beat Jersey and we’ll also have several players who missed that game available for selection.”

“It’s never easy down there and they’ve made some good signings during the summer after battling against relegation for most of last season.

“They are certainly a stronger side last season and they play the game at pace and ping the ball from side to side as we saw in the game at Castle Park but we’ve prepared for that.”

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