Doncaster Knights are pleased to confirm the appointment of Tom Foy as General Manager of Doncaster Knights.
Tom steps into the role with a clear vision to strengthen the club’s commercial and operational performance, working closely with Director of Rugby Sir Ian McGeechan and Head Coach Joe Ford to ensure alignment between the club’s strategic ambitions and rugby operations.
Having previously served as the club’s Head of Commercial, Tom brings a wealth of experience in partnership development, matchday operations, and stakeholder engagement. Under his leadership, the Knights have seen a significant uplift in commercial growth, including the successful renewal and expansion of key sponsorships and partnerships across the board.
Speaking on his appointment, Tom said:
“I’m incredibly proud to step into the role of General Manager at Doncaster Knights. It’s a privilege to represent a club with such strong heritage, ambition, and support from our community. I’m excited to lead the commercial and operational side of the club as we align our off-field strategy with our on-field goals. With a strong team around me and a clear vision ahead, I’m confident we can take the Knights to the next level.”
Club Chairman, Tony De Mulder added:
“Tom has shown outstanding commitment and capability in his time with the Knights. His leadership, drive, and deep understanding of the club make him the ideal person to take on this role. We are confident he will play a key part in shaping a successful future for Doncaster Knights.”
Tom’s appointment comes at a pivotal time as the club looks to build towards ambitious goals, including the proposed expansion of Castle Park’s capacity to support potential promotion opportunities and an enhanced matchday experience.
Tracey Owen who has been a fantastic addition to the commercial department over the last 2 years has been promoted to Head of Commercial and the club has recently appointed Joanna Finucane as Head of Events & Hospitality to lead our events and conferencing business here at Castle Park.
The club would like to congratulate Tom on his new role and look forward to continued progress under his leadership.
THE leading connectivity and business managed services partner Connectus is investing an additional £500,000 at Doncaster Airport Business Park, the company announced today.
The investment will see Connectus turbocharge its work in and around the site’s Innovation – which consists of 140 business units for start-ups and growing businesses.
Connectus’ cash-injection comes just days after the Government announced it will plough £30m into the newly-reopened Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
Roy Shelton, the CEO of Connectus, said one key focus of the investment would be to create additional technical solutions designed to safeguard the airport in event of a Heathrow-style outage.
Mr Shelton said: “This new investment underlines our commitment to provide the very best connectivity services to Doncaster Airport Business Park and the businesses based there.
“Connectus is the leading managed services provider around the City of Doncaster, and this investment will further strengthen this.
“We’ve already invested £1m over several years at the Business Park, which has helped to ensure all businesses on the park can enjoy access to our gigabit full fibre network. Now we’ll go further and faster to give lift off to even better services.”
The £500,000 of investment pledged by Connectus, which has offices in Doncaster , Salford and Grimsby, will focus on:
Creating two diverse links for increased connectivity to the site. This will help ensure that if there is an outage at one telecoms exchange, the site remains live unlike what recently happened at Heathrow;
Developing new engineering roles to manage and support an increased demand for services;
Rolling out additional renewable and alternative power solutions to further mitigate the risks of a replay of the Heathrow incident, feared to have unfolded due to an over-reliance on one supplier;
Building new AI based diagnostics and tooling via our partner Kaseya;
Investing in more community outreach including continued support to Doncaster Knights Rugby Union and other grassroots sports clubs.
Earlier this month the Prime Minister confirmed a total of £30m would be released by the government to support the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
On a visit to Doncaster, Sir Keir Starmer said the previous government’s decision in January 2024 to block South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard spending the regional funding to relaunch the site would be reversed.
The airport closed in 2022 and since then South Yorkshire politicians and business groups have campaigned to reopen it as a keystone of wider development plans for the region.
During a visit to the site, Starmer said he was “really delighted” to be able to support the airport’s reopening with the multi million-pound investment.
“We are backing this region as a sustainable aviation hub in South Yorkshire and giving lift-off for growth here in Doncaster,” Starmer said.
The Airport is located seven miles from Doncaster and 25 miles from Sheffield, serving passengers across Yorkshire, the Humber and North Midlands.
Formally the home of RAF Finningley, DA commenced commercial operations in April 2005 and by 2011 handled over 840,000 passengers, with flights to over 30 destinations.
Adjacent to the Airport, is the Gateway East/Doncaster Airport Business Park.
Covering an area of around 62 acres, the Business Park has planning consent for over 2,000,000sq ft (186,000sq m) of commercial development. Opportunities exist for new builds ranging in size from 7,500sq ft (796 sq m) up to 245,000sq ft (22,760sq m). Today, the Business Park consists of a number of business units, with over 180 businesses occupying in excess of 500,000sq ft (46,000sq m). Also located on the site is a 100 bed Ramada Encore hotel, a Children’s Nursery, Health & Fitness club and a private fee-paying school catering for 5 -18-year-olds.
Doncaster Knights are delighted to announce that Thom Smith has extended his contract for the 2025/26 season.
25-year old Thom Smith returned to Doncaster Knights this season after departing the club in 2023 to join Jersey Reds. The club is ecstatic that he will be remaining at Castle Park again next season.
Despite having picked up a shoulder injury in January, Smith had a stellar first half of the season, scoring three brilliant tries and proving his skills at not just back row, but second row too.
Smith started his professional Rugby career for Premiership club, Leicester Tigers, back in the 2018/19 Season, becoming their youngest captain at age 19.
Mid-way through the 2021/22 Season, Smith signed a full contract for the Knights, after being on loan here from Leicester. During his first stint at the club Smith played a total of 2254 minutes, scoring a total of 25 points.
The end of the 2022/23 season saw him sign for Jersey Reds, but unfortunately they fell into liquidation right on the cusp of the 2023/24 season opener. Which then resulted with Smith returning to us the following season.
Forwards coach Darren Fearn said:
“We are delighted Smithy is staying, he’s such a good lad and has got such good character. He works hard, he’s got an edge about him and he’s got the bit between his teeth, both individually and to bring success to the club.”
“You saw his impact at the start of the season. Before his injury, he was one of our standout players, he was integral to that forward pack. And the skill set Smithy has, which he’s continuing to develop, fits the philosophy of how we want to play as Doncaster Knights, which is really exciting and why we as a team are delighted he’ll be staying and having a big impact next season.”
“It is easy to forget with Smithy that he’s 25 years of age. He’s got so much of his career in front of him, he has such a high ceiling and because he’s so coachable and so open to get better, that’s really exciting. So, delighted that Tom will be with us next season.”
Head of recruitment and analysis Matt Harland said:
“We have been delighted to have Smithy back at the club this year, what he has given both on and off the pitch has been brilliant. Up until his injury he’s shown what a key player he is and will be for the club going forward.”
Doncaster Knights kicked off the scores early as top try scorer Jordan Olowofela added another to his tally. Ollie Fox sent a long ball out to Telusa Veainu, who sent another big pass out to Olowofela, setting him up to finish in the corner. Russell Bennett added the extras 0-7.
Doncaster carried the momentum into the next re-start as Cambridge kicked the ball dead, giving Doncaster a mid-field scrum, where they showed great dominance to win a penalty.
Bennett kicked us into the 22 and the Knights continued to attack. Morgan Strong broke through the defence to carry up to the line, before popping the ball across to Rhys Tait. Tait stretched the ball over the line to finish the job. Bennett added another two, 0-14.
Cambridge then worked their way up to the line and their centre ran a hard line to score their first. 5-14.
Minutes later, the Knights reacted with another score. Bennett broke the line and shifted the ball across to Lewis Thiede. Thiede carried into open space before quickly moving the ball across to a supporting Ollie Fox. Fox showed brilliant speed to run the try in from 20m out. Bennett extended the lead, 5-21.
Fox
There was no score for the next ten minutes, but some great defensive efforts from the Knights, including a whole handful of scrum penalties.
An overthrown Donny line out gave the hosts a chance to attack. Their fly half chipped the ball through and managed to gather it over the line. They added the conversion, 12-21.
The Knights soon ensured they scored the final try of the half. The visitors put the ball through the hands of nearly all the backs, before Fox carried up to the line. Veainu popped the ball off the base of the ruck to Strong, who does a little spin to get over the whitewash. Bennett added the conversion. Half time score, 12-28.
Bennett
Donny began the second half with fantastic work rate. Cambridge found themselves with a line out on their attacking 22, but Adam Hopkinson disrupted the ball, allowing George Roberts to catch it.
Roberts carried the ball into our half and Bennett then followed it up with a nice chip through to the try line. Cambridge beat us to the ball but at the next phase, Hopkinson turned the ball over at the breakdown.
Just a few phases later, we moved the ball out wide to Aidan Cross, who displayed a superb single-handed finish, while avoiding the touchline. Bennett added another two from a difficult kick out wide, 12-35.
Cross
Ben Murphy picked the ball from the back of a breakdown and carried into space. Fox ran the support line again, which meant he could carry half the pitch to score his second of the game. 12-40.
Cambridge then displayed the strength of their backline to score a nice try. They distributed the ball between countless players, before going over in the corner. 17-40
Bennett spotted nobody in the back field for Cambridge, so placed a nice kick up to the 5m line, gaining big territory for the Knights. Cross soon found a second try as Alex Dolly threw a well timed pass out to open the gap. Bennett added the conversion, 17-47.
Cambridge continued to fight for more points and worked their way up to the try line, but a turnover from Morgan Strong meant the Knights could attack again.
Donny worked up to the opposing try line, and a huge maul from the forwards meant Fred Davies could get himself onto the score sheet. Full time score, 17-52.
Davies
The Knights will look for another win next week as we host Chinnor at Castle Park.
Doncaster Knights are back on the road this weekend as they travel to Cambridge for Round 16.
A few changes in the front row, with Lewis Thiede coming into the starting line up to join Conor Davidson. George Roberts remains the hooker for the weekend. On the bench, loan players Andrew Turner and Patreece Bell will be ready to replace the props. Fred Davies remains our replacement hooker.
Josh Williams comes back into the starting line up to join Ben Murphy in the second row. This means Adam Hopkinson moves back into the back row, with Rhys Tait and Morgan Strong.
Cory Teague and Archie Smeaton remain the replacement forwards. Ollie Fox comes in to start at 9, with Alex Dolly on the bench. Russell Bennett remains the starting fly half, with Morgan Bunting amongst the reserves.
Our back three stays the same with Jordan Olowofela and Semesa Rokoduguni on the wing and Telusa Veainu at Full Back. Our centre partnership is also unchanged, Zack Kerr is partnered with George Wacokecoke on the outside.
Obi Ene is the final replacement on the bench.
Starting XV | 15, Telusa Veainu. 14, Semesa Rokoduguni. 13, George Wacokecoke 12, Zach Kerr. 11, Jordan Olowofela. 10, Russell Bennett. 9, Ollie Fox. 1, Conor Davidson. 2, George Roberts. 3, Lewis Thiede. 4, Ben Murphy (C). 5, Josh Williams. 6, Arthur Green. 7, Rhys Tait. 8, Morgan Strong.
Replacements | 16, Fred Davies 17, Andrew Turner. 18, Patreece Bell. 19, Cory Teague. 20, Archie Smeaton. 21, Alex Dolly. 22, Morgan Bunting . 23, Obi Ene
Unavailable For Selection |Thom Smith, Harry Davey, Joe Jones, Maliq Holden
Front of House Manager – Doncaster Knights Castle Park, Doncaster | 30 hrs/week | £13.60/hour |
Join Yorkshire’s top rugby club as we grow on and off the pitch. We’re looking for an experienced and motivated Front of House Manager to lead our hospitality operations across matchdays, events, and conferences at Castle Park.
What You’ll Do
Lead front of house service for events, matchdays, weddings, and conferences
Manage and support hospitality and catering teams
Ensure high-quality customer experiences and operational excellence
Oversee set-ups, guest-facing tech, and day-to-day logistics
Maintain safety, hygiene, and licensing compliance
Liaise with suppliers, manage budgets, and drive service improvements
What You’ll Need
Proven experience in hospitality or events management
Strong leadership, organisation, and communication skills
Good knowledge of food & beverage operations and relevant legislation
Commercial mindset with attention to detail
Flexibility to work evenings and weekends around events
A formal qualification is a plus, but passion, professionalism, and people skills matter most.
A close and exciting game at Castle Park, where tensions were high and yellow cards were frequent, resulted with Donny excelling to victory.
From the first whistle it was evident that every point would count in this battle, which meant Donny opted for three at their first chance for points. Alex Dolly slotted the first three after a Bedford high tackle resulted in a yellow card. 3-0
The visitors answered back moments later, moving the ball out wide quickly to open a gap in the corner. Will Maisey added the extra two. 3-7
Another yellow followed the try, this time for the hosts as Semesa Rokoduguni was sent off for a late tackle. Bedford fed off the momentum from the card and quickly scored another. The penalty allowed them to kick for a line out and drive the maul over the whitewash. 3-12
Donny worked brilliantly to regather some momentum, Adam Hopkinson snatched an overthrown Bedford line out and George Wacokecoke made a brilliant carry up the wing. After a few more phases, Ben Murphy stole the show by putting boot to ball, chasing the kick and offloading to Logovi’i Mulipola. The tight head ran a brilliant support line before driving over the line. 8-12.
Mulipola continued his brilliant work during the next play as Doncaster won a scrum penalty, putting the home team on the front foot again. Bennett put in a great kick to touch, bringing the Knights up to the line. Moments later, Arthur Green made a dominant drive to score the second Donny try. Dolly extended the lead with another two. 15-12.
Green
Wacokecoke is given a yellow for a high tackle and Bedford took the three points to level the scores. 15-15.
Bedford regained possession and the wind assisted them a 50:22. Doncaster do well initially to drive Bedford away from the try line, but a string of penalty advantages meant Bedford were given multiple chances. The away side eventually drive over and add the conversion. 15-22.
On the 40th minute, Jordan Olowofela ensured the Knights went to the break with the final say. Bennett kicked the ball to Bedford, but it slipped through their full backs hands. Olowofela, who was chasing the kick, managed to chip the loose ball towards the line, before following it over and dotting it down. The wind interfered with Dolly’s conversion, sending it wide. Half time score 20-22.
From the start of the second 40 Doncaster came out with energy and were up in the 22 almost instantly. Olowofela was held up over the line, but the Knights received the ball from the goal line drop and continued to attack. Bedford’s winger Garside was shown a second yellow, which meant he was in the bin for the remainder of the game. We capitalised on the overlap with another try. Wacokecoke put in a lovely chip up the wing, which was chased and gathered by Bennett. Dolly added the extras. 27-22.
Bennett
Telusa Veainu was next to be shown the yellow and a Bedford try in the corner levelled the score. 27-27. In quick succession, Bedford scored another with Fred Tuilagi driving over. 27-32
Tuilagi was then denied a second try as Rhys Tait put in a huge tackle, driving the number 8 into touch just 5m out from the line.
Doncaster then switched on to get down the other end of the pitch. Veainu made a speedy break up the wing before offloading to Ene. Ene was swamped by Bedford players so kicked the ball up to the line, relieving the pressure well. However, he was beaten to it by the finest of margins and Bedford dotted down the ball for a goal line drop.
The Knights had managed to work their way up to the 5m line again, but it was Bedford’s ball in the line out. Bennett then claimed his second try of the game with super speedy reaction time! Bedford overthrew their line out and our fly half caught the ball before crossing the line and carrying the ball under the posts. Dolly added the two to put us back in front. 34-32
Zach Kerr carried hard before shipping the ball to Veainu. Veainu drew in the defence before darting the ball across to Ene. Ene shook off a Bedford defender before taking off for the line, scoring his second try in just two games for the Knights. Dolly slotted another conversion 41-32.
Ene
Ene was chosen as our player of the match for fantastic impact off the bench.
In the final moments of the game, Bedford attempted a penalty kick to get a second losing bonus point, but the kick went wide, meaning the full time score was 41-32!
Here are your Doncaster Knights to face Bedford Blues at Castle Park on tomorrow! There are a handful of changes to this weekend’s team due to a big group of players returning to the squad.
Jordan Olowofela returns from injury to slot back in on the wing, with Semesa Rokoduguni returning from Army duty to make up the opposite wing. Telusa Veainu keeps his spot at full back. Last weekend’s loan debutant Obi Ene, moves to the bench.
Fly Half Russell Bennett shifts into the starting line up to join scrum half Alex Dolly. Morgan Bunting and Ollie Fox are the half back replacements.
Our centre partnership remains the same with both ex Newcastle Flacons, Wacokecoke and Kerr. Hear what Wacokecoke had to say ahead of the game here:
Conor Davidson comes in to the starting front row, moving Logovi’i Mulipola to tighthead. George Roberts keeps the number 2 shirt after scoring our first try last weekend. Adam Hopkinson moves from the back row to join captain Ben Murphy in the second row.
Prem Cup winning loan player Arthur Green returns from his stint at his parent club, Bath. He slots straight into the starting line up at 6, joining Rhys Tait and Morgan Strong in the back row.
Fred Davies returns to be our replacement Hooker, with Andrew Turner and Lewis Thiede replacement props. Cory Teague and Archie Smeaton make up the rest of the bench.
Starting XV | 15, Telusa Veainu. 14, Semesa Rokoduguni. 13, George Wacokecoke 12, Zach Kerr. 11, Jordan Olowofela. 10, Russell Bennett. 9, Alex Dolly. 1, Conor Davidson. 2, George Roberts. 3, Logovi’i Mulipola. 4, Ben Murphy (C). 5, Adam Hopkinson. 6, Arthur Green. 7, Rhys Tait. 8, Morgan Strong.
Replacements | 16, Fred Davies 17, Andrew Turner. 18, Lewis Thiede. 19, Cory Teague. 20, Archie Smeaton. 21, Ollie Fox. 22, Morgan Bunting . 23, Obi Ene
Unavailable For Selection |Thom Smith, Harry Davey, Joe Jones, Maliq Holden
That’s a wrap on week one of our kids rugby camps here at Castle Park! However, you can still book your child onto next week’s sessions!
The Knights Foundation is excited to be bringing another week of Knights Rugby Camp to the Home of the Knights, Castle Park during these Easter Holidays.
These rugby camps take on a familiar format to the traditional Knights camps and will bring together a perfect blend of experience and knowledge to focus on the key elements of rugby in a fun and safe environment.
Additionally, there will be numerous team building, resilience, friendship building and enrichment segments across all days, delivered through a variety of fun games and activities.
Former Knight, Kendo will be leading the programme alongside the community coaching team.
Week 2 – Monday 7th April – Thursday 10th April
Times: 10am – 3pm Daily
Ages: 7 – 14 Years old
Lunch/Refreshments: Lunch is provided but you are more than welcome to provide your own lunch and snacks if you prefer. Please supply them with a refillable water bottle.
Cost: FREE to children and families in receipt of free school meals or special educational needs. We also have a limited amount of places you can pay for those children not on free school meals, these are chargable at £12 per day.
How many places do we have: We have limited places available at each camp so please book ASAP for the best chance to secure your child’s place – Please complete a form for each child you want to book on.
What next?: You will receive a confirmation email to confirm your child’s place. Please contact Doncaster Knights Foundation immediately if you decide your child will no longer be attending.
If you require any further information about our camps, please do not hesitate to contact us:
We have now added turnstiles to the ground allowing easier and quicker match day access! It is as simple as scanning your ticket at the gate to trigger entry through the turnstile!
We have worked with the engineers to speed up the function of the turnstiles. To help with a smooth entry to the ground, where possible, please distribute e-tickets so that each fan has their own ticket on their own device. If this is not possible – please can the ticket holder scan everyone through before entering the ground last.
Parking:
Parking is available on site and operates on a first come, first serve basis.
Parking is also available for £3 at Outwood Academy Danum, which is just a short walk away from the ground.
Food and Drink:
We will have a variety of Food and Drink options available on match day. All bars will be open!
BRAND NEW DONUTS! We have now started selling donuts on all of our bars!
Our famous Cow Pie will be available at the Knights Fayre, along with a selection of other hot food. You can also purchase pasties and hot drinks at the end of the concourse bar.
CAM Coffee will be on site for hot drinks and you can purchase your sweet treats from the sweet van!
Live Sport:
We will be showing the following games in the concourse:
Doncaster Knights are looking to make it five wins in a row at the weekend. The Yorkshire team will face Bedford Blues at Castle Park on Saturday.
Centre, George Wacokecoke explained how important it was that the Knights backed up their win against Ealing with a big win at London Scottish: “It was very important. I think, with how the results have gone through the season, it was quite easy for us to get up for the so-called big games.
But in the Championship, you know, we’ve had to learn that every single game is a big game. And, it was very nice to see that, come to fruition against Scottish.”
He also discussed how the team’s form has boosted their confidence recently, “I think the biggest thing for us is not looking too far ahead, it’s just thinking about the next day and the next game. I think we’ve, had a good patch at the moment and we’re just focusing on our drills and things that we can control. It’s really boding well and hopefully we can continue that on for the rest of the season.”
Wacokecoke explained what he believes is required to go well against Bedford:
“I think it’ll just be a quick start more than anything else, It’s at home and they want to play a good brand of rugby. So for us you know, it’s about fronting up physically as well as still playing the brand of rugby that we want to impose on them. And to mainly just keep doing the same thing we did against Scottish.”
Doncaster Knights lost 35-18 to Bedford earlier in the season, Wacokecoke said, “Last time I think we were just caught off guard more than anything else, we didn’t give the best account of ourselves. We are going into it focusing on the things that we can control so hopefully it’ll be a different result.”
He also highlighted the importance of having our fans behind us this weekend. “The impact is massive to be honest with you. Even the crowd who came to the away game at Scottish, you know, that was very much appreciated and we really felt that as well.”
Any noise, makes a massive difference to the boys on the pitch, especially when you’re getting tired. It makes a massive difference.”
