From Castle Park to Saracens - and back - a Doncaster Knights tale from Robin Hislop

Robin ‘Bomber’ Hislop is talking about his brief spell with the then European and Premiership champions Saracens last autumn.

With his Championship club furloughed and out of action due to the pandemic, the loosehead prop had been given an unexpected opportunity to spend a six-week loan spell at Allianz Park.

Injuries in the Saracens ranks had prompted the emergency deal and it proved a richly-rewarding experience for Hislop who, at 28, had spent the last seven seasons in the second-tier but always hoped to progress to the elite level.

In fairness, he had been there before with Edinburgh but, at the age of 21, frustrated by only sporadic first-team appearances, the eager Scottish front-row headed south, initially to Rotherham Titans and then on to Doncaster where he has become a force in the Championship.

Hislop should have been locking horns against Saracens with Knights at Castle Park today in the pre-season Trailfinders Challenge Cup.

However, the illustrious visitors – who were already condemned to relegation due to salary cap breaches when Hislop headed there in September – had to cancel on Thursday night due to a Covid outbreak.

Doncaster have not played a game since last March but he told The Yorkshire Post: “Nothing’s set in stone this year. It is disappointing – we were looking forward to taking on Sarries up here – but we’ve prepared for these sorts of things happening.

“Now we just get ready to get up and running for Ealing next week – and we’ll look forward to taking Sarries on down there in three weeks’ time.”

He speaks fondly of his stint with Mark McCall’s side, which included three Premiership appearances off the bench.

Perhaps an even more invaluable experience was working on a daily basis with the likes of Springbok World Cup winning tighthead Vincent Koch and England and British Lions hooker Jamie George.

Hislop, who also coaches Sheffield Tigers in National League Two, soaked it all up and was also impressed by the famous positive culture at Saracens, a club whose squad list is to die for with England captain Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, the Vunipola brothers et al.

He said: “Even from just the short time I was there I could sense that. They just put a massive emphasis on investing in you as a person and not just as a rugby player; if you have a wife, girlfriend, children, they put a massive emphasis on making sure they’re happy, too.

“I was lucky enough to be there when a lot of long-time serving staff and players were leaving and, when they spoke, they had such a huge emphasis on memories off the pitch and having a good time. Obviously, there’s a balance in getting things serious and doing the job.

“But, going into my coaching, I’ll take that wherever I go as no matter where you are playing – Sheffield Tigers second team or Saracens – we all started off the game to have fun didn’t we?

“I guess you could add that it’s easy when you have a lot of money to go on things like those amazing trips to Oktoberfest they do. We didn’t do anything like that when I was there but they are small things that make the boys feel valued.

“And, as you can see, even with what happened to them (relegation), all those players want to stay. Why would they leave? They absolutely love it there. The highlight for me was that last Premiership game when I got 30 minutes off the bench against Bath as we came back in a 17-17 draw. I got to play alongside Jamie George and Vincent Koch.

“To be fair, Alec Clarey – who was at Jersey last year – came off the bench, too, and we got a pushover try. Great.

“I really enjoyed playing with Jamie George. He was a really nice bloke as well; down to earth. Scrummaging alongside him was a massive highlight.”

Hislop, in the 2019-20 Championship Team of the Year with Clarey, would like to play top level again, although is fully focused helping Knights start a new era under Steve Boden.

He said: “That is the goal. It’s been a long time since I played with Edinburgh so going to Sarries was nice. It was a pretty tough off-season for everyone involved here – just being on your own – so to get the opportunity to go down there, train and be back in a team environment, never mind play, was great.

“But I didn’t have any doubts I could do it. I just feel a lot of people undervalue the Championship especially up front; it’s a real, real tough league.

“As you can see, there’s loads of front-row boys who go from the Championship to the Premiership. And go really well.”

But how did the boy from Langholm – eight miles north of the England/Scotland border – end up so ingrained in South Yorkshire?

The former Scotland Under-20s captain recalled: “I was 21 when I came down, had been at Edinburgh since I was 17 and was maybe a bit impatient. I broke my leg and when I got fit I got sent out on loan. It’s quite difficult in Scotland; if you’re not playing for the pro’ teams, the club game is OK but there is a massive gulf.

“I went from playing for Boroughmuir in the Scottish Premiership one week to playing Munster in the Heinken Cup the next. I’d played 20 games for Edinburgh aged 21 and just wanted to play every week which was maybe a little unrealistic.

“But I was really ambitious. There was an option to go to London Scottish or Rotherham. I spoke to Lee Blackett and went to Rotherham. I loved it.

“I then had a season at Donny but had a bad injury so had to take a year out and, since then, I’ve been building myself up.”

Knights, of course, would like to reach the Premiership, too, but not with the current financial disparities in place.

Hislop, who joined in 2016, said: “It is a brilliant club. Steve (Lloyd) and Tony (De Mulder), the benefactors, have put so much into Doncaster Knights and everyone is incredibly grateful.

“You only have to look to 15 or 20 years ago to see where the club was to where it is now.

“But the facilities at Castle Park are, I think, the best in the Championship if you don’t count the Premiership side that comes down; they’re amazing.

“That Academy is going from strength to strength. But Steve is a very intelligent individual. He just says it’s not worth their while going into the Premiership as it is given there’s such a gulf financially. It’s not sustainable.

“I do think there are building blocks in place so that, one day, if it is a level playing field, they’ll go for it. And I’m incredibly excited by what we can do now.”

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click HERE to subscribe.