Doncaster Knights 45 Ampthill 31: Joseph Olowofela announces his arrival in style for Knights

They beat the Bedfordshire side by seven tries to five in a competitive contest which, at one stage, became too close for comfort for the Knights.

However, they survived, and the collective view from players and coaches afterwards was one of genuine satisfaction, but that improvements needed to be made as the squad prepare for this Saturday’s clash at home to Nottingham.

With seven summer signings in the line-up, and five on the bench, the new recruits shone, none more so than full-back Jordan Olowofela, the former Leicester Tigers and Nottingham back scoring a hat-trick on his debut as his speed shot through Ampthill’s defence.

With tries on one, 46 and 58 minutes, Olowofela clearly has the potential to be a match winner for the Knights.

“It’s a bonus for me to score, but it was the efforts of everyone which helped me,” he said. “It wasn’t a difficult decision to leave Nottingham once I’d spoken to coach Joe Ford.

“The facilities here are excellent and the pitch at Castle Park is the best in the league. The experienced players who’ve been signed like Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath and England) and prop Logo Mulipola (Samoa, Leicester and Newcastle Falcons) have really boosted the team.”

Doncaster led 26-7 at half time having scored four tries, but had to resist an Ampthill recovery producing four tries in the second half on 53, 57, 71 and 76 minutes that cut the gap to 38-31.

Doncaster had lost concentration, and arguably so did replacement fly-half Morgan Bunting when he sliced a penalty attempt just before the end which led to the luckiest of tries for Rokoduguni.

Instead of bisecting the posts, the ball, unintentionally, flew to the star signing out on the wing who had the simplest of tasks of touching it down.

New captain, second row Ben Murphy, said: “This is one of the closest groups I’ve been in. We’re not playing to come second. You play to come first, and I’d be lying if we were not looking to come top.

“We are not looking too far ahead and there are parts of our game where we can improve.”

Doncaster Knights: Olowofela, Rokoduguni, Kerr, Edwards, Holden, Bennett (Bunting 51), Dolly (Fox 49), Mulipola (Turner 47), Roberts (Davies 47), Jones (Thiede 47), Murphy, Smith, Smeaton, Tait (Ramasibana 60), Strong (McGuire 60).

Ampthill: McNulty, Joseland, Hall, Strachan, Qorowale (Cullen 73), Barton (Mitchell 76), Morgan, Barrington (Courtney 61), Isaacs, Johnston (Beaton 43), Sylvester (Parkinson 74), King, Main (Adejimi 46), Eke, Ravuvu.

Referee: Mike Hudson (RFU).