Respect is key as Davey aims to make his mark at Doncaster

At 39, Brett Davey is still relatively young for a coach but the route taken to his first top job in English rugby has been long and often arduous.

Four years the head coach at his local team in Wales, he grew frustrated at constantly banging his head on the ceiling of regionalised rugby, to the point where he left his homeland and vowed never to work there again.

He landed on the coaching staff at Coventry, and after a first season that ended with a brief spell in caretaker charge he found himself coaching at Cornish Pirates.

But the tiny hamlets of the South-West did not suit the big man from the Valleys and an SOS to his old coach, Lynn Howells, to find him a job, any job, was answered by the then-Doncaster Knights director of rugby.

That position happened to be assistant to Howells with a view to succeeding the gnarled Welsh prop when his four years at Castle Park were up. That time has come and Davey at last has his hands on a Championship club.

“There were big sacrifices,” said Davey. “My daughter still lives in Wales and that was the biggest sacrifice I’ve had to make. I only see her 10 weeks a year and that is really hard.

“And coaching my local side back home was more than just a job. I was there for four years and we built a reputation as a club that played good rugby and hard rugby.

“It was more than rugby, it was buying into a philosophy. It wasn’t just turning up twice a week to train and playing on a Saturday, it actually meant a lot more than that. You have to take it a little more personally and I hope that rubs off here. I want the players here to understand a different philosophy.

“We’ll play different styles of rugby but it has got to be about improving the player.

“It doesn’t matter the results, so long as at the end of the season the players think they have improved.

“I want the players to look back and think we’ve worked hard, we’ve ended up in a position where we feel we’ve earned it.

“We’ve got to try and build something here. The club outweighs any personal ambition. The club has to count for a lot and the players have to buy into that philosophy.”

Davey demands respect for the club and for himself, and in return the players will get that respect back.

The summer departures of Matt Williams and Tristan Roberts to tomorrow’s opening opponents Bristol, left a sour taste in Davey’s mouth because their actions ‘left a lot to be desired’.

Stevie McColl and Andy Wright will also return to Doncaster with other Championship clubs this season, decimating what at times was an exciting backline.

In their places come reliable former Rotherham fly-half Mike Whitehead, Michael Keating and Dave McIlwaine, as well as perhaps of the most important piece of summer business, the retention of centre Oli Goss.

“It was a tough process to get these players here, there were a few sleepless nights, lots of phone calls and an awful lot of begging as well for players to come,” says Davey.

“We’ve tightened our belts. A couple of seasons ago the budget was very high, probably in the top two or three. Now we’re probably on a level playing field with the majority of the clubs.

“We could have had a bigger squad but a less quality of player, but this league doesn’t allow you to have less quality.”

While cloth has been cut at board level, it has not impacted on the club’s ambitions.

Doncaster were one minute away from securing a place in the play-off semi-finals last year, before losing to Bedford.

Davey reflects: “I was disappointed that we didn’t reach the final. We could have quite arguably won all six games of the play-offs.When it came to the pressure moments we didn’t react well enough. That’s one thing I hope we learn from quickly this season.”