Doncaster Knights v Rotherham Titans: Doncaster too good to go down, insists Titans star Keating

The Irishman left Castle Park after they suffered the drop at the end of 2012-13 and joined their South Yorkshire rivals.

Doncaster immediately bounced back from National One but Clive Griffiths’s side are currently second bottom in the Championship with just three wins so far.

Keating, who originally joined Knights from Leinster in 2011, said: “I had good and bad times at Donny.

“Obviously, there was a real low when we got relegated and I’d spent a lot of that year injured, too, so it was disappointing not being able to really help when the boys were in that fight.

“But obviously there were plenty of highs as well. It was the first time I’d ever moved away from home and everyone at Doncaster was really welcoming and receptive.

“Some of the players I played with are still there – great guys like Matt Challinor who was my captain and is someone you just want to follow – and I’ve still not left South Yorkshire now.

“They’ve definitely got enough quality to stay up and they’ve shown that with some of their results this year.

“With Clive as coach they’ll definitely be all right and well-structured, well-organised and hard to beat. I think they’ll surprise quite a few teams in the second half of the campaign – just hopefully not us on Sunday.”

Rotherham are hoping to move back into the top four after a disappointing home loss to Moseley on Boxing Day.

“If you take away the fact it’s a derby it’s a massive game for us anyway,” added Keating.

“We need to get back on the horse as the last few results have been poor and we have let ourselves down. It’s massive for us.”