Doncaster R.F.C.

For the Royal Flying Corps airfield, see RFC Doncaster.

Doncaster Knights

Full name

Doncaster Rugby Football Club

Union

Rugby Football Union

Nickname(s)

Knights

Founded

1875

Ground(s)

Castle Park (Capacity: 5,000)

League(s)

RFU Championship

2014-15 RFU Championship

9th

Team kit

Official website

www.drfc.co.uk

Doncaster Rugby Football Club are a rugby union club representing the town of Doncaster, England. The first XV are known as the "Doncaster Knights", and play in the RFU Championship. Being the most promoted side in English history has led to huge changes at the Castle Park ground and within the team structure.

Castle Park Conference and Function centre is a multi million pound development and is among the top conference venues in Doncaster, while remaining a supportive place for amateur rugby in the Borough. The club motto "rugby for all" sees amateur side Doncaster Phoenix compete at the same ground, as well as the ladies side Doncaster Demons and every age group from U7 to U17s.

History

The rise to National League One, from amateur status led to the rebranding of Doncaster RFC to Doncaster Knights for the 2006–07 season, and that season saw their highest placed finish to date under Clive Griffiths as Director of Rugby. Doncaster also won the Yorkshire Cup.

After the departure of Griffiths to Worcester, the current DOR Lynn Howells joined the club on the eve of the 2007–08 season. Justin Bishop, signed from London Irish, had acted as DOR during the pre-season.

Howells inspired the Knights to almost repeat the 3rd place finish in his first season in charge, and has moulded the squad in his own image for the 2008–09 season. 9 January saw the opening of the new De Mulder-Lloyd Stand at Castle park, a £3m state of the art 1650 seater stand. Driven by CEO James Criddle and funded by Tony De Mulder and Steve Lloyd this has seen Castle Park develop into undoubtedly the best rugby facility in South Yorkshire.

The home of the Knights, Castle Park, featured in and won "4 Weddings" and also hosted the Northern BBC TV news coverage for Remembrance Day during 2009 showing how for the operational side of the club has come supporting the on the pitch success.

The 2009–10 season saw the squad decimated by injuries, with no fewer than 15 unavailable players at one stage from a squad of 32. Despite this, and an inhuman 9 games in 27 days (of which they won 8) the Knights managed the Semi Final of the British and Irish Cup and a promotion Play Off finish. The result of the season being the defeat of Bristol at Castle Park, who like Leeds Carnegie before them underestimated the Knights as home.

The 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons were very average seasons with the Knights managing mid table status and avoiding the relegation playoffs with a reduction in playing budget meaning a shuffling of the pack which saw several long serving players move on to other clubs. The captures of the likes of Tristan Roberts and Paul Devlin hinted at a more creative side than the powerhouse forward game Doncaster are known for traditionally.

The 2012–13 season saw the Knights have a disappointing season with only three wins and a draw out of twenty two league matches and two wins from six in the British and Irish Cup competition which resulted in relegation (for the first time in Doncaster history) back to National League 1. One of the few highlights being a win over local rivals Leeds Carnegie 23 – 17 in February 2013.

For the 2013–14 season DOR Clive Griffiths signed a variety of new and returning players including Mat Clark, Paul Jarvis, Bevon Armitage, Roberto Santamaria and Bruno Bravo who would all feature as regulars in the coming season. The season looked to begin badly for the Knights as they were once again plagued by injuries particularly in the forwards but still with an intention to be the first team to secure promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking. The Knights started strongly recording seven straight wins before losing away to Henley Hawks 11–10 ^[1] in a close fought game. The Knights campaign continued strongly at home although with away losses to Blaydon and Wharfedale they could not fully pull away from the following pack. With further signings during the year, such as former British Lion Darren Morris,^[2] London Irish back row Danny Kenny,^[3] Argentinian-Italian prop Santiago Sodini^[4] and the return of former Knight Richard List from RC Narbonne^[5] to bolster the injury prone team, the Knights continued to be the team to beat having been top of the table for the majority of the season.

In late March 2014 with only four games left to play of the season there were only two teams (Rosslyn Park & the Knights) left with the potential to win the league and with them due to meet on 29 March many thought this could be the most important match of the season. The game resulted in a win for Rosslyn Park^[6] and meant the Knights would need to win all three of their remaining matches to guarantee promotion. With a win over Wharfedale (57–17) at home to secure a 100% home win record for the season followed by away wins against Coventry (17–18) & Blackheath (20–38) the Knights secured promotion back to the Championship despite having lost one more game than Rosslyn Park (having achieved more bonus points to be three points clear).

During the 2013–14 season Tyson Lewis was the top try scorer for National League 1 with 22 tries and his team mate Mat Clark was equal second on 20 tries. Tyson also achieved Guinness World Record fame for "The fastest time to score a try in a rugby union match".^[7] The try was scored direct from the opening kick off in 7.24 seconds (Doncaster Knights vs Old Albanians at Wollam Playing Fields, St Albans, UK, on 23 November 2013).

Club honours

Doncaster Knights

Yorkshire Cup winners (4): 1999, 2000, 2007, 2008
North 2 champions: 1996–97
North Division 1 champions: 1998–99
National League 3 North champions: 2001–02
National League 1 (formerly National Division 2) champions (2): 2004–05, 2013–14

^[8]

Doncaster Phoenix (amateur side)

Yorkshire 6 champions: 1999-00
Yorkshire 1 champions: 2014-15
North 1 East champions: 2015-16

Current standings

2015–16 RFU Championship Table

Club

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points for

Points against

Points diff

Try bonus

Loss bonus

Points

Bristol Rugby (Q)

718

397

321

Doncaster Knights (Q)

588

470

118

Yorkshire Carnegie (Q)

655

466

189

Bedford Blues (Q)

623

599

London Welsh

442

528

-86

Jersey

465

466

-1

Nottingham Rugby

494

483

London Scottish

463

453

Cornish Pirates

530

570

-40

Rotherham Titans

454

621

-167

Ealing Trailfinders

523

605

-82

Moseley (R)

416

715

-299

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Number of matches won
Difference between points for and against
Total number of points for
Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Green background are promotion play-off places. Pink background is the relegation place.
Updated: 23 April 2016
Source: "Greene King IPA Championship". NCA Rugby.

Current squad

For player movements leading up to the 2016–17 season, see List of 2016–17 RFU Championship transfers § Doncaster Knights.

2015-16 Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player	Position	Union
Ben Hunter	Hooker	England
Ted Stagg	Hooker	England
Viliame Veikoso	Hooker	Fiji
Jake Armstrong	Prop	England
Jack Bergmanas	Prop	England
WillGriff John	Prop	Wales
Richard List	Prop	England
Colin Quigley	Prop	Scotland
Joe Sproston	Prop	England
Matt Challinor	Lock	England
Tyler Hotson	Lock	Canada
Glen Kenworthy	Lock	England
Jon Phelan	Lock	Canada
Michael Hills	Flanker	England
Latu Makaafi	Flanker	Tonga
Alex Shaw	Number 8	England
Ollie Stedman	Number 8	England

Player	Position	Union
Sam Edgerley	Scrum-half	England
Brad Field	Scrum-half	England
Michael Heaney	Scrum-half	Ireland
Declan Cusack	Fly-half	Ireland
Simon Humberstone	Fly-half	England
Bevon Armitage	Centre	England
Andrew Bulumakau	Centre	Scotland
Mat Clark	Centre	England
Dougie Flockhart	Wing	Scotland
Will Hurrell	Wing	England
Tyson Lewis	Wing	England
Paul Jarvis	Fullback	England
Jim Wigglesworth	Fullback	England

Past performance

Year	Tier	Division	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Notes
2014/15	2	English Championship	22	8	1	13	429	481	-52	3	6	43	Finished 9th
2013/14	3	National League 1	30	25	0	5	943	487	456	18	4	122	Promoted to Championship as champions
2012/13	2	English Championship	22	3	1	18	364	592	−228	2	7	23	Relegated to National League 1
2011/12	2	English Championship	22	9	2	11	467	524	−57	7	3	50
2010/11	2	English Championship	22	9	0	13	572	576	−4	7	8	51
2009/10	2	English Championship	22	10	0	12	394	386	8	2	6	48
2008/09	2	National 1	30	21	2	7	895	571	324	14	3	105
2007/08	2	National 1	30	21	0	9	796	551	245	12	2	98
2006/07	2	National 1	30	22	1	7	855	474	381	16	4	110	1st Season as Doncaster Knights
2005/06	2	National 1	26	10	1	15	555	699	−144	5	5	52
2004/05	3	National 2	26	23	1	2	818	379	439	11	1	106	Promoted to National 1 as champions
2003/04	3	National 2	26	17	0	9	692	487	205	–	–	34
2002/03	3	National 2	26	14	0	12	630	551	79	–	–	28
2001/02	4	National 3 North	26	25	0	1	1074	357	717	–	–	50	Promoted to National 2 as champions
2000/01	4	National 3 North	23	16	1	6	584	364	220	–	–	33
1999/00	4	National 2 North	26	12	2	12	656	539	117	–	–	26
1998/99	5	North 1	22	18	1	3	550	214	336	–	–	37	Promoted to National 2 North as champions
1997/98	5	North 1	22	17	2	3	489	285	204	–	–	36
1996/97	6	North 2	22	22	0	0	690	259	431	–	–	44	Promoted to North 1 as champions
1995/96	6	North 2	12	4	2	6	183	168	15	–	–	10
1994/95	6	North 2	12	7	0	5	136	155	−19	–	–	14
1993/94	7	North East 1	12	11	0	1	232	70	162	–	–	22	Promoted to North 2
1992/93	8	North East 2	12	11	0	1	294	39	255	–	–	22	Promoted to North East 1
1991/92
1990/91
1989/90
1988/89
1987/88	10	Yorkshire 2

References

↑ "Unbeaten run comes to an end for Knights at Henley". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk.
↑ "Former British Lion joins the Knights". www.thestar.co.uk.
↑ "Back row Danny Kenny arrives from London Irish". www.thestar.co.uk.
↑ "Santiago arrives at the Castle". www.thestar.co.uk.
↑ "Return of Richard List". www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk.
↑ "Rosslyn Park 21 Doncaster Knights 18". www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk.
↑ "Fastest time to score a try in a rugby union match". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
↑ "History". www.drfc.co.uk.

External links

Official website

RFU Championship

2015–16 Teams

Former clubs

Future clubs

Richmond

Seasons

National Division Two	1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97

Premiership Two	1997–98 1998–99 1999–00

National Division One	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09

Championship	2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Representative team

RFU Championship XV

British and Irish Cup

2015–16 Teams

English	Bedford Blues Bristol Rugby Cornish Pirates Doncaster Knights Ealing Trailfinders Jersey London Scottish London Welsh Moseley Nottingham Rugby Rotherham Titans Yorkshire Carnegie

Irish	Connacht Eagles Leinster A Munster A Ulster Ravens

Welsh	Cardiff Blues A Newport Gwent Dragons A Ospreys A Scarlets A

Former clubs

English	Birmingham & Solihull 2009–10, 2010–11 Coventry 2009–10 Esher 2010–11, 2011–12 Exeter Chiefs 2009–10 Newcastle Falcons 2012–13 Plymouth Albion 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 Worcester Warriors 2010–11, 2014–15

Scottish	Ayr 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14 Currie 2010–11, 2011–12 Dundee HSFP 2012–13 Edinburgh Academicals 2013–14 Gael Force 2009–10 Gala 2012–13, 2013–14 Heriot's FP 2009–10 Melrose 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 Stirling County 2012–13, 2013–14

Welsh	Aberavon 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 Bedwas 2012–13 Bridgend Ravens 2012–13 Cardiff 2009–10, 2012–13 Carmarthen Quins 2012–13, 2014–15 Cross Keys 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 Llandovery 2010–11, 2012–13 Llanelli 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 Neath 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 Newport 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13 Pontypridd 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 Swansea 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13

Seasons

Winners

Rugby union in England

Governing body

National teams

Men's	England England Saxons 7's U-20 U-21 U-19 U-18 Schoolboys British and Irish Lions England Counties XV

Women's	Women's 7's

International Competitions

Competition divisions

European competitions

National competitions

London and South East
competitions

Midland competitions

Northern competitions

South West competitions

County competitions

Doncaster Knights squad

Forwards	Armstrong Bergmanas Challinor Hills Hotson Hunter John Kenworthy List Makaafi Phelan Quigley Shaw Sproston Stedman Stagg Veikoso

Backs	Armitage Bulumakau Clark Cusack Edgerley Field Flockhart Heaney Humberstone Hurrell Jarvis Lewis Wigglesworth

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