EDF National Trophy, Round 5

DONCASTER KNIGHTS vs. NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

Saturday, 2nd February, 2009 - 14:30

After a trip down to a very soggy Free Kernow to play the Pirates in the last round, this time it's up the M1 to the Former People's Republic of South Yorkshire for the first round of a cup and league double header against the Knights.

On of the most intriguing aspects of these encounters will be the contrasting approaches that the two teams may adopt.  Doncaster's defeat to Pertemps Bees last week has effectively ended their slim chances of promotion, leaving the Cup as the focus for their season.  Saints will want to maintain the momentum that they have built up on their winning streak but may still see next week's league encounter as the more important game,

Some statistics also tell an interesting tale about the two team's season to date.  Doncaster's star kicker Mark Woodrow tally of 32 league penalties is more than all three Saint's kickers totals put together, on the other hand Saints have three players in the top 10 try scores list, whilst Doncaster do not have one in the top 16.  So we may expect a contrast in styles on the pitch.  Mark Woodrow had a bit of an off day with the boot when Saints hosted Doncaster in the autumn, I would imagine that he will not be so generous second time around.    

Doncaster booked their place in the fourth round with a 37 / 13 home win against a battling Richmond team who were in the lead at half time.  Since then their form has been unpredictable with a hard fought win against Nottingham being followed by last week's defeat to lowly Pertemps Bees.  Doncaster rested or benched a number of key players for the Pertemps game and could have been guilty of having half a mind on this weekend's fixture.  They will be wanting to put that set back behind them and Saints can expect a warm welcome on the turf at Castle Park.  

The travelling Saints fans will be guaranteed a warm and friendly welcome on the terraces.  Doncaster are rightly proud of their ground and their hospitality and visiting fans should not pass up a chance to sample the Tetley's (an entirely different brew to the commercial alco pop served up at the Gardens) and infamous Cow Pie.  The ground has changed out of all recognition from the days that I used to run out onto the pitch, which may say as much about my age as Doncaster's development !

The ground is situated in the Armthorpe area of Doncaster, a few furlongs up the road from the Racecourse.  Travel time is five minutes from junction 4 of the M18 or a 10 minute taxi ride from the train station.  More details can be found on the club web site:

http://www.drfc.co.uk/home.htm

Saints go into the match brimful of confidence following last week's game and will be determined to extend their unbeaten run.  Suspension and International call ups will require Jim n Dorian to reshuffle the pack.  Fortunately having regularly shuffled the cards all season, Jim n Dorian should have no problems filling in the gaps this time around.  On the assumption that Paul Shields is fit but Damian Brown and Barry Everett are not, I would expect a starting line up to resemble something like this:

Myler
Reihana
Clarke
Downey
Diggin
Spencer
Robinson
Smith
Shields
Stewart
Short
Rae
Tupai
Lewitt
Hopeley

Tonga'uiha
Ward
Lord
Easter
Howard
Vass
Starling

If this is the team, expect to see them led out by Paul Diggin, who will be celebrating reaching 50 caps.  Local hero and all round good bloke it's great to see him reach this milestone.  

I would imagine Doncaster will line up much as they did against Nottingham:

Cater
Bailey
Hunt
Davey
Bishop
Woodrow
Jones
List
Boden
Ta'u
Griffiths
Kenworthy
Jones
Plantchant
Luke

Finally the result .... Saints by 10 ... I hope !

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