Griffiths takes the positives from frustrating weekend

Along with Rotherham Titans’ game against Cornish Pirates and Leeds Carnegie’s trip to Moseley, their match at Bedford Blues was called off at the weekend due to the snow.

Bottom-placed Doncaster had to watch as nearest rivals 
Jersey lost 29-23 against Bristol, but picked up a losing bonus point to cast the South Yorkshire club seven adrift.

There is no date yet for Knights’ rearranged game with Bedford and it may have to be played midweek, which will not help Doncaster’s cause as they seek the points needed to survive.

But Griffiths maintains they can still pull clear and said: “It could have been worse after that Jersey game as they were winning 23-16 at one point.

“Thankfully, they did lose and, though they got a losing point, we’re still there fighting.

“It’s still a mountain to climb but it’s not as bad as it could have been. We know we have to win three games and one of them has to be the match at Jersey.”

Doncaster head there for the crucial contest on April 13 and are scheduled to finish off with a home game against ninth-placed Plymouth Albion a week later.

However, before that they entertain second-placed Nottingham on Good Friday and Griffiths said: “We might be better off as we’ll have a few players back for that game and we should be picking from strength.

“It’s going to be another tough one. Nottingham need to win for their play-off spot and, let’s face it, they want second rather than fourth as no one wants to play (first place) Newcastle away.

“But we’re in there fighting and until it’s mathematically impossible, we’ll keep doing that.”

Wales made history by reaching their first HSBC Sevens World Series final before being controversially denied by Fiji at the Hong Kong Sevens.

Paul John’s men saw off Canada 28-14 and Kenya 19-0 to earn their tilt for a historic title and then raced into a 19-0 first-half lead with two tries from Cardiff Blues centre Cory Allen and Ystrad Rhondda’s Alex Webber.

The Pacific islanders then produced a stunning comeback with Asea Kolinisau completing a hat-trick of tries to clinch the 26-19 victory.

But Wales could argue they should have played the second half against six men as Ilai Tinai was lucky not to receive a red card – rather than a yellow one – for his spear tackle on Lee Williams.

England recovered from their pool stage problems by hammering France 42-7 and South Africa 26-14 before overwhelming hosts Hong Kong 42-7 in the Bowl final.

John Brake scored twice with Dan Norton, Mike Ellery, Rob Vickerman and Sam Edgerley touching down against Hong Kong.

Scotland’s 14-5 pool stage win over England had tipped Ben Ryan’s side out of the cup competition, but they collapsed on day three. The Scots went down 21-14 to the USA and then 12-5 to Argentina.