February 28, 2007

Doncaster Knights have been beaten twice this season in league encounters with Penzance & Newlyn, ‘The Cornish Pirates’, so they will be hoping that it’s a case of ‘third-time lucky’ when the pair meet at Castle Park on Saturday (March 3, 2007) in the quarter-final of the EDF Energy Trophy.

Barring some extreme results in the closing stages of the National Division One programme, the South Yorkshire club will have to be content with a top-end placing as the most reliable barometer of their improvement this season under the direction of Clive Griffiths.

Promotion ambitions were virtually extinguished when they lost at home to Leeds Tykes recently, but a trip to Twickenham – now just a couple of wins away – would provide a memorable conclusion to an undoubted season of progress.

Ironically, the Knights are are still the top-ranked team remaining in the EDF Energy National Trophy competition.

Top-of-the-table Leeds Tykes went out in the previous round at home to the Cornish Pirates and second-placed Earth Titans fell at the first hurdle when they were beaten by last season’s losing finalists Bedford.

All of which leaves Clive Griffiths team, third in the table and two points ahead of the Pirates, as the form side.

“By 4.30 on Saturday we’ll either be in the semi-final or the Pirates will be our bogy side,” said Doncaster coach Clive Griffiths. “We’ve lost to them twice, but both times we came away thinking ‘what might have been’. We led in both matches into the last quarter, but handed the games over on a plate.

“We are going into the game with a full team, the only issue being a check on Ben Gollings. We have a home tie, which is all you can ask for at this stage and if we can get into the semis, then anything can happen.

“I think promotion is beyond us now, but we have made a lot of progress this season and to get to Twickenham would be the icing on the cake.”

And are there any special plans to combat the infamous 15-man maul which has been proving a very potent weapon for the Pirates – and a source of discontent among their many victims.

“I saw the game at Leeds and the way it finished and I wouldn’t have been a happy man to be beaten that way,” says Griffiths. “But they’ve done it to us twice already and it’s very difficult to stop. It’s just 15 men round a honey pot and if you try to bring it down you end up getting penalised and having someone sent to the sin-bin.

“It’s a technique that requires strong refereeing and it’s one of the aspects of the game that needs looking at, otherwise we’ll finish up with 30 men in the corner of the field in one big bunch.”

Pirates' coach Jim McKay saw the visit to Headingley as a major step forward for his team that will stand them in good stead on Saturday.

“We showed at Leeds that we can produce big results away from home.” he said. "That was certainly a big win for us and one that was perhaps pivotal in our development as a club. The character we showed in coming back was not just created on that night. It has taken a while to develop and we need to build on that."

It all points to another close encounter at Castle Park.