Time becomes key factor for Doncaster’s Davey

The game comes just four days after the Knights drew with Yorkshire rivals Leeds Carnegie on Monday.

And although his part-timers were the team forcing the issue against the full-time side on Boxing Day, Davey has only had one session with his players since then to prepare them for the long trip south.

“It’s tough because of the four-day turnaround,” said Davey.

“Tuesday was basically a recovery day, Wednesday is the day they are contracted to have off, leaving the only day when we could focus on Plymouth being Thursday, and that included the travelling down.

“It’s always a tough schedule at Christmas.

“The part-time versus full-time issue is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently.

“It’s not so much how much time you have with the players, more what you can do with them in the time you have, what you can give them.

“We are lucky because there are days when we can give them a rest because we really put them through it when they are here.

“There hasn’t been a side this year that has beaten us for fitness. That’s a testament to two of our players, Oli Goss and Dougie Flockhart, who do our conditioning.

“It’s been really noticable that we keep on coming at teams.”

Scrum-half Michael Heaney, who arrived on Wednesday from Ulster Ravens, is expected to feature.