Doncaster Knights have named their squad for the first away trip of the Championship season. Round three sees the Knights face Ealing Trailfinders away.
With a few changes to this weeks starting line up, Lewis Thiede replaces Logovi’i Mulipola in the front row due to Mulipola picking up calf injury during the Nottingham game. Conor Davidson and George Roberts remain 1 and 2. Fred Davies is still the replacement hooker with front row replacements Joe Jones and Jasper McGuire.
Cory Teague earns his first start moving Thom Smith to the back row. Teague will be part of a second row pairing with captain, Ben Murphy. While Smith is joined in the back row by Rhys Tait and Morgan Strong.
Josh Williams, Archie Smeaton and Arthur Green are the other forwards amongst the replacements.
The backline remains exactly the same as last week, Alex Dolly and Morgan Bunting as half backs, Connor Edwards and Zach Kerr in the centre and Maliq Holden, Semesa Rokoduguni and Jordan Olowofela at back three. The two replacements, Ollie Fox and George Wacokecoke also staying the same.
Starting XV | 15, Jordan Olowofela. 14, Semesa Rokoduguni. 13, Zach Kerr. 12, Connor Edwards. 11, Maliq Holden. 10, Morgan Bunting. 9, Alex Dolly. 1, Conor Davidson. 2, George Roberts. 3, Lewis Thiede. 4, Ben Murphy (C). 5, Cory Teague. 6, Thom Smith. 7, Rhys Tait. 8, Morgan Strong.
Replacements | 16, Fred Davies. 17, Joe Jones. 18, Jasper McGuire. 19, Josh Williams. 20, Archie Smeaton. 21, Arthur Green. 22, Ollie Fox. 23, George Wacokecoke.
Morgan Bunting joined Doncaster Knights this season, but his name is no stranger at Castle Park because his Dad, Simon Bunting has 96 caps for the Knights.
Morgan explained how he has settled into Castle Park: “I’ve really loved it here. It’s quite close to home, so it’s a pretty big deal for me to come into a club like this.
“Obviously, with being a new player, settling in can always be a little bit difficult, but now there’s such a big group that have come together, it’s been pretty easy to integrate into the squad with the lads that were already here.”
The fly-half said he and his family are “very proud” to have joined his Dad’s former club, “I’ve always looked up to my dad. It’s massive to come to a club he was a part of and successful at.
“It’s a club that I remember a lot from growing up. I remember being four or five years old and spending a lot of time at this club. So it’s a big deal for me to come here.”
At the weekend, The Knights suffered their first defeat of the season to Bunting’s former club, Nottingham. He reflected on the performance: “I think just the harsh reality is we probably weren’t good enough on the day. There’s a lot of pride and aspiration in the group, and I think we all let ourselves down a little bit.
“But, when you look back at the game, there were some positives to take away from it. I feel we spent a lot of time in the Nottingham half, credit to them, they defended. But if you play that game again, I feel like we know now what to do to come away with points and turn that pressure into points.”
Bunting said: “It was strange to play against Nottingham, but good to see a lot of the lads, I do have a lot of close friends there so it was good to see them.”
The Knights are heading into a very important game this weekend, against current Championship winners, Ealing Trailfinders.
Bunting said: “We had a tough Monday review, worked out what we need to do and I think we are all focused towards the next challenge, which is going away to reigning champions Ealing. There is no bigger test really at the minute. We’re just taking it week by week.”
“There’s always some additional little challenges with away games. Obviously the travel can affect you, but I feel at this level you have to go to a lot of different places, so I think it’s more just getting used to having two games at home then being on the road. We will see how we react to that.”
Doncaster Knights fall short to a determined Nottingham side at Castle Park.
Nottingham Rugby opened the scores early on as a Doncaster penalty allowed them to kick for the line out. They executed the line out well, with their hooker going over the line from the rolling maul.
Despite missing the conversion for the first try, the visitors extended their lead shortly after by kicking three points off the tee, the penalty was given because Doncaster were offside.
After Nottingham’s first score, Doncaster manage to keep the majority of the possession for the remainder of the first half, but errors mean they came away with very few points.
There were a handful of positive moments, including a turnover in the line out. This then led to the ball being fed down the line to Zach Kerr who put in a brilliant grubber kick to keep Doncaster in the attacking 22. They spent a while close to the try line but handling errors meant they came away without a score.
Morgan Bunting placed a good cross field kick which was dropped into touch by Nottingham’s 15, Ryan Olowofela. Allowing them another chance to attack from the line out. The line out was unsuccessful but the visitors knock the ball on meaning Doncaster were back in possession.
The Knights continue to push in attack and Morgan Strong finally cracks the defence. The Number eight picked the ball from the back of the scrum and showed brilliant strength to carry the ball over the line. Alex Dolly comfortably slotted the conversion.
Doncaster come close to scoring a second try just before the half time whistle as the ball was shipped to Jordan Olowofela who gained a lot of ground. However, another handling error meant it was lost forward at the line.
Half time score 7-8.
It was a more positive start to the second half from the home team as the half backs linked up nicely to set Olowofela up for a try under the posts. The forwards made a series of carries which drew the defence in and opened up the space for the backs, Dolly then shipped the ball to Bunting who perfectly timed his pass to Olowofela. Dolly added the extras again.
Doncaster continued to dominate the next few phases, until Nottingham’s winger Harry Graham intercepted the ball and ran the whole length of the pitch. Maliq Holden softened the blow with a brilliant chase down on the conversion, keeping Doncaster in front at the time.
However, following the intercept, Doncaster Knights struggled to get their momentum back and Nottingham scored two more tries and a penalty.
The first of the tries was scored by their second row, Tom Manz, who found a gap in the Doncaster defence after Nottingham spent a while making carries. The second was scored out on the wing when Nottingham moved the ball quickly to create the overlap. Both the tries were converted meaning the final score was 14 – 30 to Nottingham.
Maliq Holden was awarded our man of the match, showing dedication and fight in defence, as well as making some great carries.
Doncaster Knights now focus on their first away game of the season next week, against Ealing Trailfinders.
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Joe Ford and Sir Ian McGeechan have made a few tactical changes to their starting line up since last week’s win against Ampthill.
In the pack, the only changes are to the front row. Logovi’i Mulipola moves across to tight-head prop, making way for Conor Davidson at loose-head. This will be Davidson’s 50th cap for Doncaster Knights.
George Roberts remains to be the starting hooker. Joe Jones and Andrew Turner are on the props on the bench, while Fred Davies remains as the replacement hooker.
The rest of the forwards pack stays the same. Thom Smith and captain, Ben Murphy at second row, with Archie Smeaton, Rhys Tait and Morgan Strong on the back row.
Morgan Bunting comes in for Russ Bennett at fly-half. The remainder of the starting back line stays the same. Alex Dolly as scrum-half, Zach Kerr and Connor Edwards in the centre, with Maliq Holden, Semesa Rokoduguni and Jordan Olowofela at back three.
Both Morgan Bunting and Jordan Olowofela have joined the Knights this season, from Nottingham and will therefore be going head-to-head with their previous club.
There is a couple of other tactical changes to the bench – Bath loanee Arthur Green comes in for Jasper McGuire and second row, Cory Teague also gets a space on the bench. Ollie Fox remains the scrum-half replacement, but George Wacokecoke replaces Harry Davey on the bench.
Starting XV | 1. Conor Davidson , 2. George Roberts, 3. Logovi’i Mulipola 4. Ben Murphy (C), 5. Thom Smith, 6. Archie Smeaton, 7. Rhys Tait, 8. Morgan Strong, 9. Alex Dolly, 10. Morgan Bunting, 11. Maliq Holden, 12. Connor Edwards, 13. Zach Kerr, 14. Semesa Rokoduguni, 15. Jordan Olowofela
Replacements | 16. Fred Davies, 17. Andrew Turner, 18. Joe Jones, 19. Taniela Ramasibana, 20. Arthur Green, 21. Cory Teague, 22. Ollie Fox, 23. George Wacokecoke
Full back Jordan Olowofela previews the Nottingham fixture this weekend and explains his feelings about facing his brother.
Olowofela was a star man during last weeks performance as his scored a hat-trick on his Doncaster Knights Championship debut.
He said: “it was good. We had a long preseason. I think it was 10 weeks of training hard. It was good to get out for the first home game and win like that.”
The 26-year-old is one of the new additions to the squad this season. He explains how he is finding the team: “it’s a really tight group of lads. Everybody makes you feel welcome. Good coaches and staff too. It’s really good.”
Nottingham are the team that Olowofela was part of before joining Doncaster Knights.
“It’ll be strange to play against them, but it’ll also be good, obviously it’s a new team now, it will be good to go against some old and new faces.”
As well as facing his old team, he will also be facing his twin brother, Ryan Olowofela.
“I have played against him before, a long time ago, maybe five years ago, but it’ll be good to play against him.”
“It’s a tricky one for the family and friends not knowing who to support. We’re both competitive, but not in a hindrance way. Growing up we’d all support each other.”
Finally, Olowofela reflects the mood in the squad heading into the weekend, “we are buzzing to go again, especially at home. Training’s been very good as well.”
If you want to catch Jordan and the rest of the team in action, you can secure your tickets here.
Bury St Edmunds defeated Oxford Harlequins 61-33 in their first home game of the season. Doncaster Knight’s loanees Will Metcalfe (wing/scrum half), James Harrison (second row) and Calvin Mitchell (prop) featured in the starting line up for the winning side.
James Harrison being lifted
Both Metcalfe and Mitchell got their names on the score sheet – with Metcalfe earning man of the match.
Bury opened the scores just two minutes in as their scrum half Elliott McPhun scored. Shortly after, Mitchell scored after a series of powerful drives.
Mitchell scoring a try
Metcalfe scored two tries during his ‘man of the match performance’ – starting on the wing and moving to scrum half in the second half.
Doncaster Knights began their Championship season with a 45-31 home win against Ampthill. Captain Ben Murphy spoke post game about how he felt the performance went:
“To get five points from the first game is always a positive. Obviously there’s parts of the game that we can improve on and there’s probably certain times where we lost control of the game. But like I said, five points from the first game is all you can ask for really.”
Murphy explained how despite being a very new squad, this did not effect their coherence on the pitch. “It’s probably one of the closest groups I’ve been in. We had a complete turnover, basically more than half the squad left. Everyone who’s come in, they’ve bought into the culture.
“And credit to the back room staff and the coaches that gave us the opportunity to bond, like the weekend in Bury which was very beneficial. Everyone seemed to gel. And from that moment forward we’ve become a team, really.”
The second row briefly looked ahead to the rest of the season: “Like anyone, you don’t play to come second. You always play to come first. So we’re taking it one game at a time. We’re not looking too far ahead, but we’d be lying if we weren’t looking for the top.
“It’s as realistic as you want to make it, I think. If you believe in it, then we can go on to do it. But like I said, we’re taking it one game at a time. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”
“Our back’s were very dangerous and our forwards have operated well with a couple of maul tries. We’ve got a few injured players coming back next week but other than that, we’ve not really looked too far ahead.”
The Knights have been back on site training with their attention now on Saturday’s fixture against Nottingham. You can secure your tickets here!
Doncaster Knights started off their Championship campaign on the right foot as they beat visitors Ampthill 45-31 in the first round of the Championship.
The Knights lit up Castle Park almost instantly as a turnover in the breakdown from Thom Smith gave the hosts a penalty. Russ Bennett then kicked to touch before a successful Doncaster line out followed.
George Roberts threw a long ball in the line out to Connor Edwards, which allowed Doncaster to move the ball between the backs and open up the space for Jordan Olowofela to score the first try of the day.
Maliq Holden showed incredible work rate to set Donny up for a second try. Zach Kerr put in a kick up the wing which Holden chased, before tackling the Ampthill player who received the kick and then turning over the ball in the breakdown.
Following the penalty, Bennett kicked to touch, and George Roberts worked his way over the try line off the back of the rolling maul. Bennett added the extras.
George Roberts Try
Alex Dolly received a yellow card and Ampthill began to show some fight. The visitors spent a long time in the 22 before stretching the ball out wide and scoring in the corner. Their fly half Josh Barton added the extras.
Around 10 minutes later, with Dolly back on the field, Rhys Tait claimed the next five points for Doncaster. Dolly assisted the flanker’s try as he shipped the ball out to Tait, allowing him to squeeze over the line mid-tackle. Bennett slotted the conversion again.
The backline then worked together beautifully as Zach Kerr tipped the ball to Jordan Olowofela while being tackled. Olowofela then sent the ball back inside to Russell Bennett, who used his footwork to beat Ampthill’s final defender and score. Bennett then added the extra two points to his own try, leaving the half time score 26-7.
Russ Bennett try
Ampthill continued to show some fight heading into the second half, they come close after a series of pick-and-go’s within the 22. However, when they won a penalty and kicked for touch, Doncaster turned the ball over in the maul.
Olowofela then showed incredible skill and speed to claim his next try. Bennett put in a cross field kick which Olowofela chased and caught brilliantly before showing real pace to get the ball over the line. Bennett scored the conversion.
Ampthill answer back as they score two tries in quick succession. The first came from a rolling maul, allowing their hooker over the line. The second was scored out on the wing as the visitors found an overlap. Neither tries were converted.
Full back, Olowofela then claimed his hat-trick try. Morgan Bunting, who had replaced Bennett, threw a long ball out to the wing, where Jordan received the ball and exploited the gap that had opened in front of him. Bunting’s conversion went slightly wide.
Jordan Olowofela scoring his hat-trick try
Ampthill add another seven points when ex-Knight Fraser Strachan chased a grubber kick from Barton and scored by the posts. Barton converted successfully.
The visitors continued to close the scores as Barton found a gap in Doncaster’s defence and scored under the posts. He added the extras.
In the 80th minute, Semesa Rokoduguni reminded Castle Park who was in charge with fantastic decision making. Bunting’s attempt at the sticks for a penalty went to the right, however Rokoduguni chased the kick, caught the ball and scored in the corner.
Morgan Bunting then added the extras in the final kick of the game, meaning Doncaster won 45-31 and Jordan Olowofela was named man of the match.
Doncaster Knights are back in action at Castle Park again next week. We will be hosting Nottingham on September the 28th, kick off 2:30PM.
