The 2pm Saturday kick off at Castle Park signifies the end of stage 1 of the Championship and has the Knights placed in 6th place, so Group B of the promotion play offs. Having finished in a better position than last season the Knights will take the season as a positive and a step forward with a much younger squad.
The Pirates will travel with a strong squad for the game , that will be shown over the internet on Pirates TV, knowing that the result could influence whether they face Worcester Warriors or not in their promotion play off group. The Knights are settled in 6th so know they face the teams that finished in positions 2,3,6 and 7. The only variable Doncaster have in their group is who they face as Rotherham, Bristol, London Welsh or Cornish Pirates could join Bedford or themselves in play off Group B.
A creeping injury problem at Castle Park has influenced the team selection for Lynn Howells, the Knights’ D.O.R had no issues with squad selection as he had 22 players fit to select a squad of 22 from.
Christian Lewis-Pratt retains the number 10 shirt after entertaining the crowd with his 4 try and 36 point midweek demolition of Rotherham Titans., while other “young guns” Lewis Thiede and Dom Parsons also claim starting positions. Tom Doughty, who put in an impeccable performance against our South Yorkshire members begins the game from the bench. Oli Goss returns to partner PJ Gidlow at centre and the combative back row of Farivarz, Cochrane and Jackson will look to provide the industry.
Stevie McColl, Matt Williams, Oli Goss, PJ Gidlow. Dougie Flockhart, Christian Lewis Pratt, Nathan Jones
Lewis Thiede , Steve Boden, Michael Cusack, Matt Challinor , Dom Parsons, Zack Farivarz, Neil Cochrane, Ed Jackson
Tom Doughty , Stuart Corsar, Chris Walker , Craig Hampson, Chris Briers, Paul Devlin, Andy Gates
Rob Cook, Rhodri McAtee, Matthew Hopper, Tom Luke , Wes Davies , Jonathan Bentley, Gavin Cattle
Alan Paver , Dave Ward , Carl Rimmer , Ian Nimmo , Ben Gulliver , Samuel Betty, Tyrone Holmes , Kyle Marriott
Hugo Witney , James Campbell, Karl Rudzki, Richard Mayhew, Darren Clayton , Thomas Loizides , Jamie Gibbs
Doncaster Knights vs Cornish Pirates at Castle Park
Referee: Terry Hall
Assistant referees: Ross Campbell, David Grashoff
Assessor: M Carr