Doncaster Knights 38 Hartpury 22: Joe Ford's men produce 'complete performance' in front of watching Tier 2 chairman

A victory by six tries to three that would have been wider had Russell Bennett not missed five of six conversions on a rare off day for him, gives Doncaster a platform on which to build in what could be a crucial 2025 in the history of English rugby’s second tier.

The Rugby Football Union have invited applications from clubs wanting to be a part of the second division in the 2025/26 season. Championship mainstays Doncaster have applied, but so too have Wasps, Worcester and London Irish, three clubs who went bust in the Premiership that are hoping to make the most of a way back in.

Gillham comes to the Championship with 20 years experience in French rugby and was a guest of the Doncaster board for their final Castle Park appointment of 2024.

Off the field, there is no more professional operation than Doncaster at this level - indeed it is only they and Coventry that have applied for promotion this season. But on it they have flattered to deceive, winning at reigning champions Ealing Trailfinders one week, losing at home to London Scottish the next.

A record of four wins and five defeats (that could be switched if they win their appeal over the abandonment of their game at Chinnor for floodlight failure earlier this month) is the epitome of inconsistency.

But this was something more like what they expect, particularly with ball in hand through the twin threats of Telusa Veainu at full-back and Jordan Olowofela, who scored three tries between them, on the wing.

“It was a very important win,” said Knights head coach Joe Ford. “We’d spoken a lot in the week of how we’d shown signs of being brilliant at times and then inconsistent, but we’ve got to start showing now what we’re about.

“I thought that we did that today because we stuck to our gameplan for 80 minutes.”

After an early trading of penalties between Bennett and Hartpury’s Harry Bazelgette, Doncaster made life hard for themselves when prop Logovi’i Mulipola was sent to the sin bin.

Hartpury made the man advantage count, when after stout defence, Alex Forrester finally punched a way through for the visitors on the left.

Once Doncaster were restored to 15 men, they took control with two tries in six minutes.

Firstly, Joe Jones snaffled a fumbled Hartpury lineout deep into the visitors’ territory and when the ball was moved to the left, Olowofela fed Veainu for the score.

Jones was involved in the second try as well. He may only stand at 6ft 1in, but built like a brick outhouse, the prop proved impossible for Dale Lemon to knock off his feet even with an illegal high tackle that led to the Hartpury man being sin-binned, and two phases later, flanker Smith showed the footwork of a winger to jink one way, then the other and crash over.

“It was just pure panic, that’s all it was,” laughed Smith afterwards.

They should have scored again when Veianu broke from inside his own half but Olowofela couldn’t finish off the move.

“What I was pleased with was we had a lot go against us in the first half,” said Ford.

“We had a HIA, a yellow card, had to make a couple of changes, so to go in leading 16-8 after they’d thrown everything at us, was massive, and just shows we’re a good team with ball in hand and we want to be tough as well.”

Which team scored first after the break was always going to be key and it was Doncaster who obliged.

Veainu was the architect, keeping alive a clearing kick and beating four men to catch Hartpury on the backfoot. When the ball was moved right, Ollie Fox released Arthur Green who sidestepped the last defender on his way to score under the posts.

Jones was involved in a third try, Doncaster’s bonus clinching effort on 55 minutes, when he penetrated the gainline before Olowofela danced through in the inside right channel.

Hartpury weren’t done though, and after Veainu was sin-binned for a high tackle, the visitors again made use of the extra body as Forrester wriggled over for his second try.

But any hopes of a comeback were extinguished when Doncaster raced straight up the other end, Olowofela this time turning provider for Connor Edwards to crash over..

Olowofela had his second and Doncaster’s sixth as Ford’s men stepped on the throttle in the closing stages.

Smith said: “It’s pretty handy having guys like Jordan on the field.

“We’ve had some honest conversations this week. From a table perspective we’re not where we want to be, and I think we put on the field what we wanted to today.

“We’ve been guilty of looking at the table a little too much at the start of the season. Don’t get me wrong, we know where we are, but if we focus on ourselves a bit more now, be a bit more process-based, and keep working hard, then we know how good we can be.”