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Leeds Tykes v Doncaster Knights on Saturday 2.30pm
Even during the historic rise of Doncaster through the English league system, this was one fixture that could only be dreamed of!
When the Tykes were formed by the merger of the Roundhay and Headingley clubs in 1991, Doncaster were playing seven league levels below them in the Yorkshire regional leagues and what is now Castle Park was not even on the drawing board.
Saturday’s meeting will be the first in league rugby, and at kick off the Knights lie three points and two places ahead of the Tykes in the league table, although both have five wins and two losses in their opening seven games. Bonus points account for the difference. Last weekend saw the Tykes lose a thriller in injury time at Bedford, and their other defeat was on the opening weekend at home to London Welsh.
The Knights make the short trip in good heart after last weekend’s win against Coventry, and ready for the challenges the Tykes will certainly throw down on home turf. The Knights won last week without firing on all cylinders and Clive Griffiths has been working hard with his players this week to sharpen up the latent cutting edge in the side. He was satisfied that enough chances were created and that only little improvement was needed to convert those chances into points. After work on the training field, he names an unchanged starting line up giving the same players the opportunity to prove their capability.
Leeds have made three changes to the side that lost out to Bedford last week. Former Leicester and Rotherham winger John Holtby will make his Headingley debut after making his first appearance at the Tykes off the bench last Saturday. He replaces Tom Rock, who moves to the bench. Michael Cusack (a former Doncaster junior) replaces Colin Noon at tight head prop, the latter missing out with a medial knee ligament strain. And finally, Jon Dunbar returns to the side in place of Richard Bryan in the back row, Bryan suffered a dislocated finger against Bedford and is ruled out altogether.
Doncaster: Davies, Bailey, Hunt, Davey, Van Vuuren, Woodrow, Jones, Bunting, Boden, Tau, Kenworthy, D Cook, Earnshaw, Forster, Wilson.
Bench: List, Phillips, Gross, Talei, O Cook, Scully, Benson.
Leeds: Hinton, Welding, A. Rock, Hepworth, Holtby, Humphreys, Rauluni, MacDonald, Nilsen, Cusack, Bouza, Myal, Dunbar, Lock, Oakley.
Bench: McGee, Isaacson, Paul, Schusterman, Edwards, Stitcher,T. Rock.
Referee: Dale Newitt (RFU)
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KNIGHTS 9 V NOTTINGHAM 18
