Tonga'Uiha

Doncaster Knights finished the inaugural RFU Championship first stage in 7th place, secured on the final day by a Warnock Penalty to stay above Plymouth Albion and secure a place in group B of the Playoff Competition. Winning 10 and losing 12 of their 22 games the Knights suffered through an injury crisis which at one stage saw 13 players sidelined. At one stage having to “un retire” assistant coach Brett Davey who laced up his boots in the 7th game of the Championship campaign and the Knights first win.

Having only a draw against Pontypridd to show for the Pre Season Friendlies the Knights went on to lose their first six competitive games of the season barely able to field a full 22 on most occasions. From mid October until mid December Howells men went on a run of 7 wins in 9 games, losing out only in a Yorkshire Derby game away at Clifton lane and to the Chiefs in a close fought home battle. As the Knights found form what was needed was games to apply it too, but unfortunately “the big freeze” saw the 19th of December victory of Moseley as the last game for a month. Doncaster would not play a game until the 20th of January due to the weather conditions, losing any momentum they had gained and with the ominous approach of 9 games in 27 days to catch up with the rest of the league.

From the 7th of February until the 6th of March the Castle Park side were to embark on a campaign of 9 games, 1 every 3 days, to satisfy the British and Irish Cup and League structure. With discussions based around player welfare and what effect it would have on an already weakened squad the players went out an won 8 of the 9 games in a show what could be achieved with the right attitude. During this period they only lost out to eventual table topping side Bristol and secured the first British and Irish Cup Semi Final place with bonus point wins in each round.

Alas it seemed this feat of heroics drained the side of energy. Qualifying for the Promotion Play Offs seemed near impossible early season with only 1 win in the first 7 making the Relegation playoffs more likely. Despite a display that highlighted the tired minds of the squad the Knights managed to qualify for Group B of the Promotion Playoffs in the last game of the regular season against Plymouth Albion.
 

Some first stage facts.

Most starts.

Hudson Tonga'Uiha had the most starts with 21 , supplemented with one off the bench. He was followed by Simon Grainger with 19 starts and 2 games off the bench and in third place came Glen Townson with 18 and 4.

Top points scorers

As is predictable the two Fly Halves topped the scoring charts. Ali Warnock came in with 122 points from 14 starts 6 replacement appearances,  James Brooks scored 65 points from 10 starts.  Stevie McColl came in 3rd with 27 points from 11 stats and 8 games from the bench.

Top Try Scorer

Hudson Tonga'Uiha finished as top try scorer in the first stage with 5.

Discipline

During the first stage Doncaster recived 9 yellow cards and 2 red.A large portion of the Knights disciplinary problems occured in the two flash point games v Nottingham. These two games accounted for 4 yellow and 2 red cards.

Andy Boyde collected the most yellow cards in the season with 3, Adam Kettle was the only player to receive both red and yellow (1 of each).

Record against top 4

Won 2, lost 6

Record against bottom 4

Won 5, lost 3

Top Try Scorer

 Hudson Tonga'Uiha with 5 tries