If you are looking for a fix of Doncaster Rugby this weekend, both Phoenix and the Demons will be wrapping up their pre-season preparations this weekend with home friendly matches at Castle Park.
Phoenix kick-off the weekend on Saturday 31st August when they host Tupton, and will be hoping to follow up on their recent impressive performance against Paviors.
Tupton are coached by Rob McGeechan, son of Sir Ian and to our knowledge are playing at Castle Park for the first time – we look forward to the game.
On Sunday 1st September the Demons also have a pre-season friendly against Mansfield – another side travelling to Armthorpe for the first time.
Both fixtures will give the relevant coaching staff an opportunity to give players a last run out before the new season start in earnest next weekend.
Kick-off for both games is at 2.30pm and with the weather looking decent on both days it’s the perfect excuse to get down to Castle Park to enjoy some rugby, the bar will of course be open and the BBQ will be fired up.
Last night the gates to Castle Park were opened to the public for an open training session. The fans were able to watch an hour of the Knights training, before heading over to the concourse bar for a player/coach Q and A.
Throughout the evening our players were around for signatures and pictures. The night was a great way for the fans to meet the players and get to know our brand new squad!
Current DRFC members (Season Ticket Holder for a minimum of 3 years) are invited to apply for tickets for England Rugby’s 2025 Guinness Six Nations home fixtures.
Please kindly complete and submit this form before the 14th September 2024 if you would like tickets for the England Men’s Six Nations Series 2025 matches to be played at Twickenham.
Ticket prices are for category two and prices will vary per game. The Club receives a relatively small ticket entitlement for all games and when demand outstrips supply, tickets will be allocated via a ballot system. Please read the important information and select ONLY the games you wish to attend as payment is required promptly.
The dates of the games are as follows:
England Vs France – Saturday 8th February 2025 – KO 4.45pm
England Vs Scotland – Saturday 22nd of February 2025 – KO 4.45pm
England Vs Italy – Sunday 9th of March 2025 – KO – 3:00pm
The deadline for securing tickets for England Rugby’s 2025 Guinness Six Nations home games is 14th September 2024! Please complete our online form via the link below: https://forms.gle/rHGDtHsnjZRmtp3D6
As always, the Club receives a limited number of tickets for each game, so should demand outstrip supply, tickets will be allocated via a ballot and successful applicants will receive a confirmation email.
Through popular demand, the start of season lunch will be going ahead for our first league game of the season against Ampthill on the 21st September. This event is a brilliant way to bump into old friends, make new ones, and revel as you enjoy your shared love for the Knights. This is a beloved day in the calendar, so we would love for you to join us as we kick-start the season.
Our famous cow pie will be on offer, with a cheeseboard to tuck into afterwards. Complimentary coffee and tea will be served throughout the day, and you will be treated to some delicious cakes at half-time.
Of course the bar will be open as usual and you will also get to enjoy a player Q&A, and a fun quiz with a special prize on offer! All this from the comfort of your own private room. To watch the game, you can watch it from the privacy of the balcony viewing area.
If you would like to upgrade to this package, buy your tickets NOW by clicking this link. Tickets for the lunch are only £22.50, but you must have a match day ticket in order to purchase this experience.
We look forward to welcoming you all in a couple weeks time to cheer on the boys!
Joe Ford and Sir Ian McGeechan have appointed Second Row, Ben Murphy as this seasons club captain.
Ben is now one of the longest serving members of the current squad, and on 43 caps for the Knights, will surely hit his half century for the club this season. Everyone in the squad looks up to Ben (literally!), setting an exemplary standard in training.
Born in Wales, Murphy was a product of the regional pathways in Wales, beginning his rugby career at Abercynon for their junior squads, and played there until he was 18.
In 2014, he then signed for Merthyr RFC, who at the time, were in the Welsh Championship. Murphy had a successful 3 years at the South Walian side, aiding in their epic success by winning the Championship in his second season and immediately winning the Welsh Premiership the season after.
In 2017, Ben was spotted by URC team, Cardiff Blues, and that was where he spent a lengthy period of his career. It was part-way through the 2021/22 season that Murphy ended his contract early with the Welsh capital, and made his way up to Doncaster in the November after only making 19 appearances for Cardiff.
‘Murph’ will no doubt bring a strong, determined and ambitious leadership to the team.
From the 4th to the 7th of September, the Knights will be travelling down to the West-Country for a training camp with Bristol Bears. This will be the second weekend trip that the team will do as part of the preparation for the season. Doncaster’s camp in Bury St Edmunds was a brilliant learning and bonding opportunity for the team and the visit to Bristol will no doubt be the same.
This is another opportunity for the Knight’s to test themselves against a Premiership team to help ensure they perform at the highest standard possible when the Championship begins.
If you would like to witness the Knights in action again, before the season starts. You can book a FREE ticket to our open training session at Castle Park! There will be a player Q&A as well as entertainment for younger children.
Doncaster Knights showed an exciting performance against Bury St Edmunds. Despite Bury scoring the first try of the game, the Knights scored an almighty nine tries in the first 40 minutes.
Bury secured the first points when their outside centre placed a lovely cross field kick to one of the wingers. They also added the conversion.
However, the Knights answered back very quickly. Semesa Rokoduguni showed his experienced footwork up the wing, before offloading to Adam Hopkinson. Hopkinson carried over the line for a composed finish. Alex Dolly added the extras.
Adam Hopkinson
Moments later, the home team extended their lead as Zach Kerr showed fantastic skill with a grubber up the wing. Kerr collected comfortably and carried the ball over the line. Dolly successfully converted.
The forwards then spent a few phases carrying into contact around the 5m, before Archie Smeaton managed to stretch the ball over the line, mid-tackle. Dolly added another successful conversion.
Bury’s winger, George Loose breaks the Doncaster defence and ships the ball to full back, Gabe Jones. Jones dove over the whitewash to close the scores. Bury added the extras with the conversion.
The Knights soon reminded Castle Park who was in charge as Ben Chapman carried hard and hustled his way under the posts. Dolly added another two points.
Bury’s discipline caused them to give away seven points in the form of a penalty try with a deliberate knock on from their centre, Christian-Goss.
Chapman then claimed his second try for the Knights as he went over the line from the back of a strong driving maul. Dolly continued his clean form off the T with another successful conversion.
Smeaton impressed again with a second try. The flanker pushed his way through the gap in Bury’s defence and showed great pace to get over the line. Dolly converted again.
Zach Kerr scored another as he moved the ball swiftly with Sai Tobeyaweni to create the space for attack. Dolly narrowly missed.
Superstar Smeaton earns a hattrick as he showed great strength to carry over the line. Dolly added the extra two points for his final conversion of the game. This meant the half time score was 61-14.
In the second half, Bury showed moments of flare as their brilliant ball handling aided them to score three tries.
However, it was the home team that scored almost instantly after half time. Hooker Fred Davies replaced Ben Chapman at the break and quickly scored from a driving maul. Our guest player James Blackett slotted the conversion.
It was at this point in the game when Bury seemed to light up. Scrums switched to uncontested, which allowed the visitors more possession.
Bury’s Alex Earnshaw showed good pace and footwork to swerve the Knights, before offloading to his teammate to score. Bury’s conversion was unsuccessful.
Bury then worked their way back to the 5m line and their forwards got busy carrying the ball. After a few phases, their flanker Ewan Guy managed to squeeze his way over. Another unsuccessful conversion followed.
Doncaster opted to remain with 14 men, by choice, and Bury scored the final try of the game. The ball is moved nicely between the visitors’ centres before they gave the ball to a teammate to finish. Their final kick of the game was unsuccessful. Leaving the full-time score 68-31.
Despite the Knights scoring significantly less tries in the second half, there was some impressive stand out performances throughout.
Returning Knight, Thom Smith disrupted Bury line outs in the air and carried hard. Academy player Max Woolgar-Norton slotted in confidently with some brilliant high balls and well placed kicked.
Finally, captain Morgan Strong was selected as man of the match after a dominant and physical performance.
The Knights will now continue their preseason prep before the championship campaign starts on September the 21st with Ampthill at home.
Doncaster Knights are delighted to announce that our brand new kit supplies for the next three seasons will be SAMURAI sportswear.
We are pleased to share that this will be our kit for the 2024/25 season…
Thom Smith, Semesa Rokoduguni, Morgan Bunting, Jordan Olowofela
The 2024/25 season marks the 150th year anniversary of Doncaster Knights Rugby Club. To shed light on the celebration, we have included some gold embellishments on the kit, an ‘1875’ located on the collar and a ‘150th anniversary’ written beneath the logo.
In honour of it being our 150th anniversary season, we have stuck to tradition and opted to bring back our iconic hoops. The historic hoops are a key part of the Doncaster Knights’ brand as it highlights the heritage of the club.
For 28 years, SAMURAI has been at the forefront of rugby apparel innovation, creating elite products for athletes worldwide. They continuously push the boundaries of performance and comfort, earning a reputation for unrivaled quality and excellence.
Today, SAMURAI draws inspiration from the rich rugby traditions of the past and the dynamic culture of the present. They redefine rugby style – blending high performance with contemporary off-field fashion.
As a club, we are very excited for the next three seasons with SAMURAI.
You can pre order your Doncaster Knights kit for this season NOW!
Joe Ford and Sir Ian McGeechan have put out the first Doncaster Knights team of the season.
The squad will face Bury St Edmunds in a pre season friendly fixture at Castle Park, tomorrow night at 7:30PM.
The team is as follows:
Jasper McGuire
Ben Chapman
Lewis Thiede
Adam Hopkinson
Josh Williams
Archie Smeaton
Rhys Tait
Morgan Strong (C)
Will Metcalfe
Alex Dolly
Harry Davey
Sai Tobeyaweni
Zach Kerr
Semesa Rokoduguni
Jordan Olowofela
Fred Davies
Drew Turner
Joe Jones
James Harrison
Thom Smith
Taniela Ramasibana
James Blackett*
Max Woolgar-Norton
James Blackett is a guest player who was previously part of Newcastle Falcons and Max Woolgar-Norton is one of our Academy members.
Jacob Odams, is in his third year of the Doncaster Knights academy and often features for the Phoenix team. Odams will be featuring for Bury St Edmunds.
Head Coach Joe Ford shares his feelings heading into Friday’s game:
“It’s exciting, we’ve obviously got a lot of new players who have joined us, so getting to see them for the first time at Castle Park is exciting.”
Pre-season has been brilliant but it does get to a stage where you’re ready for a game, and I think the lads are, so i’m looking forward to what they’re going to look like on the pitch what they can bring.”
Ford explains the importance behind the pre season training camp at Bury and the training session at Sale:
“They’ve been everything. As staff and a group of coaches, the number one thing we wanted was to be tight as a team. Because we have had a lot of turnover, we knew we were probably behind a little bit on that, so we spent a few days on a camp in Bury which was invaluable for that. We had some pretty deep conversations that didn’t involve rugby.”
We have been trying to connect a little bit more and get to know each other, which we feel, if we can get that right, we’ll obviously turn up on field for each other a little bit more. That’s been the number one thing and we’re really happy with how that’s gone. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Friday will be the first time the brand new Knights squad will play a game as a team. The squad contains a real mixture of exciting young talent, and experienced and skilful players. Ford said:
“We’ve got Geech [Sir Ian McGeechan] here, who is so experienced and he said to me, ‘you won’t understand the impact they’ll have on the young lads until they’re actually here’ and it’s proven to be right.”
We’ve obviously got Logo who’s won the Premiership a number of times, Roko has played for England, Joe Jones has been about the Premiership, George Wacokecoke, people like that. It’s been brilliant for the young lads and the lads whohave been here for years just to see what it looks like at the very top.
Ford explains how the Prem Cup fixture announcement has added an extra boost to the pre season training:
“We are really excited. A Battle of the North. Obviously with Sale, we’ve got connections, can’t wait for that one. We’ve got connections with Newcastle through Darren Fearn and a couple of signings.
And then Caldy are obviously the other Northern team in the Championship. I love the way they’ve done that. It’s going to add a little bit to the games and really excited for them.”
You can still purchase tickets for tomorrow’s pre season friendly against Bury St Edmunds. The tickets are significantly discounted, season tickets are valid for the game and U16s (as usual) go free!
Old Rivals will meet in a new-look Premiership Rugby Cup for 2024/25.
The ten Premiership Rugby clubs are joined by the same amount from The Championship – with regional pools serving up some historic clashes for fans.
With five pools of four, there are some enticing away-days up and down the country with fixtures taking place across the Test windows in November and February, with a minimum of one match per Round broadcast live on TNT Sports.
Doncaster Knights will be part of Pool One – a pool that will host a battle of the northern teams! The group consists of Newcastle Falcons, Sale Sharks, Caldy and ourselves.
The competition will begin on the weekend of 1-3 of November, and the Knights will kick off their cup campaign by hosting Sale Sharks at Castle Park on Friday November 1 (7:30 KO).
The following week, we travel up to Newcastle Falcons in our first away fixture of the competition for a 3pm kick off on Sunday November 10. Following this, Doncaster will round up the November block with another away trip across to Caldy on Saturday November 23 (2pm KO).
The next block of the Premiership Cup will take place in February. Where Castle Park will host two home games. On February 1 Newcastle Falcons will visit us for a 2:30KO.
The Knights will head to the Salford Community Stadium on Sunday February 9 to face Sale Sharks in the return fixture.
Finally, Doncaster will round up the pool stages of the Cup with Caldy at home, on Saturday February 15 (2:30 KO).
What happens after the group stages?
The leading eight will progress to the quarter-finals, composed of the five group winners plus the three best runners-up.
The knock-out stages will then take place on consecutive weekends in early March with the Premiership Rugby Cup Final scheduled for the weekend of March 15, live on TNT Sports.
Phil Winstanley, Rugby Director at Premiership Rugby, said: “It’s great to once again open up the Premiership Rugby Cup to Championship clubs.
“By regionalising Pool games the narrative, and stakes, are even more intense with some old rivals set to produce plenty of new stories for fans.
Conor O’Shea, Executive Director of Performance Rugby at RFU, said: “We are very excited to see the Gallagher Premiership Rugby and Championship teams battle it out again in the 2024/25 Premiership Rugby Cup.
“The success of last year’s competition was clear to see and the start of a competition that we all believe will continue to grow and thrive with each season.
“Winning silverware in any professional sport is no easy feat, but the opportunity to do so in the Premiership Rugby Cup is a fantastic motivator for players, staff, and supporters. This competition has given valuable minutes of playing time to players against new opposition and we’ll see more of the same in this year’s tournament.”
You can purchase your ticket to our first Premiership Cup fixture ( v Sale Sharks) here!
