Australian-born Conor began his rugby career playing at semi-professional New South Wales club, Manly Marlins, in 2016, who play in the Shute Shield.
Davidson then was scouted out and had a season stint at Yorkshire Carnegie, where he played alongside Head Coach, Joe Ford, in his final year of professional rugby before becoming a coach. Conor then returned to Australia for another season at Manly.
Due to an injury crisis at the Knights, Conor was recruited in October 2021 to make the move to Castle Park. Since then, he has devoted all his time and effort into this club, becoming a real fan favourite. Despite injuries here and there during his tennure at Doncaster, Davidson came into his own last season, playing every single match of the Championship season.
Tighthead prop Lewis Thiede joins the Knights from Championship competition, Ealing Trailfinders, having first been a Knight back in 2008.
Moving from Donny colours to those of Wasps in 2011, Lewis spent his time at the London club on dual registration with London Scottish, ultimately moving on a permanent basis to the Richmond Athletic Ground ahead of the 2013/14 season.
Making the switch to Ealing Trailfinders in 2016, Lewis made just shy of 100 appearances for Ealing in two stints for the club having moved to the Premiership with Bristol Bears for two years before returning to London and the Championshp in 2020.
Named in the Championship team of the season for 2021/22, whilst at Ealing Lewis won the British and Irish Cup in 2018, the Trailfinders Challenge Cup in 2021 as well as the Championship league and Championship Cup in 2021/22.
The 32-year-old returns to Doncaster as a strong scrummager looking to continue his set-piece strength amongst Steve Boden’s pack.
Andrew Turner is one of our loan players for this season, coming from Premiership side Bristol Bears, where he began in the academy aged just 15 before signing his first professional contract with the club in 2020.
Turner’s love for rugby started from a young age when he started playing at Weston-super-Mare RFC at the age of 13, standing out from the crowd as a determined and powerful player from the offset.
Andrew featured in the 2022 U20s Six Nations with England where he made 3 appearances for his country. Putting in some impressive displays, he was called to the other side of the world to join New Zealand club Crusaders on loan in the 2022/23 season after they experienced an injury crisis.
Having such experience at the age of 22 should help the Knights this season, but this loan stint should also improve Turner’s game with the experience of the other props in the squad.
Hooker Ben Chapman is not your conventional, old-school front-rower; mobile and good with his feet, he impressed the Knights coaching staff before joining the club this season, which became his first professional rugby contract.
He started his rugby at just 4-years-old, starting at his home team, Crowborough RFC. He worked his way through the ranks there, and pursued his rugby while at school at Skinner’s School in Tunbridge Wells, becoming 1st XV Captain in his final year.
Chapman has been fortunate enough to be part of the England set-up on multiple occasions, for the U18s Counties squad in 2019. He was also a leading player in the Cardiff University 1st team, who had their highest BUCS Super Rugby finish with Chapman as vice-captain, and this season display earned him a spot in the England Students squad.
After his university studies, he joined Ampthill as a consistent starter in their 2023/24 campaign, before joining the Knights for the proceeding one. We look forward to watching Ben flourish in our system, and hope his experience and skills lead us to new heights.
Hooker Fred Davies is one of the new kids on the block, but he’s well-versed in playing rugby as shown by his impressive career, starting at Northampton Saints academy at the age of 17 for a two year period.
Davies then spent a year at Cambridge in 2017 before moving to Australia for a season with Shute Shield side Eastern Suburbs District in Sydney to hone in on his skills.
At the age of 20, Fred decided to turn his focus to his academia at the established rugby university, Durham. Here, he accumulated many accolades with the Palatinates, captaining the side to a BUCS Super Rugby title win in the 2021/22 season, while also picking up the Player of the Year award. He is also the record try scorer for the league, scoring 39 in 53 apps. After the end of his university year, he was chosen to captain the England Students team in their fixtures.
After leaving university, he signed his first professional contract with Bristol Bears, making 15 appearances and scoring 4 tries. He carried on his captaining duties when he was chosen to lead the Bears out in the Premiership Cup against Exeter in September 2023.
His evident leadership and experience at such a young age will hopefully aid the Knights this season as they push for new heights.
Born in Wrexham, North Wales, George Roberts is considered somewhat of a veteran within the Doncaster Knights first team squad, as the 2024/25 season will be his fifth at Castle Park, culminating 67 caps during his tenure.
Roberts started his career for his birthplace rugby club, Wrexham RFC, where he played at junior level. He also made multiple appearances for the senior squad, before joining RGC 1404’s academy in 2016. He then signed his first club contract with the Colwyn Bay side and spent a successful season with them in 2019/20 in the Super Rygbi Cyrmu league.
After the COVID break, George was back playing rugby and was snapped up by Doncaster Knights in 2021 and made his debut for the club in March 2021 against Ampthill, and since then has been a constant within the squad, and we look forward to help George improve his game even more.
