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Davey fury over wasted trip
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DONCASTER Knights made a wasted journey to the capital on Saturday after they decided London Welsh’s Deer Park ground was too dangerous following another severe overnight frost.
Knights were forced to travel on the day of the game after a RFU qualified referee had judged the pitch playable on Friday afternoon.
“When we arrived Welsh said they wanted to play but we said we had concerns about the pitch after carrying out an inspection and that forced the referee to take a look and he said he didn’t think it was playable either,” said Knights’ boss Brett Davey.
“It wasn’t as bad as the pitch at Nottingham last month, where as far as I was concerned it was never ever going to be playable even though we agreed to wait until 15 minutes before the scheduled kick-off before making a final decision.
“The Welsh pitch wasn’t as bad, but in our view it wasn’t safe either. The top inch or so was loose but below that it was rock hard. The players’ safety has to be the paramount importance.
“We feel pretty let down by the whole thing. For it to happen twice within a month we feel that we are having the mickey taken out of us.
“Once the decision was made on Friday afternoon we had no alternative but to travel because you just can’t not turn up.
“We pretty much spent eight hours on the bus going there and back and for me it is just not acceptable and I think somewhere along the line there has got to be a little commonsense where home sides have got to think where the other team is coming from.”
“There are the financial considerations to take into account. We don’t get compensated for having made a wasted journey and the costs have to come out of our budget.”
The game is now likely to be played on March 3.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
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