Doncaster Knights v Nottingham: Knights look to bounce back against Green and Whites

Doncaster Knights will be looking to bounce back from their first setback of their Championship campaign in tomorrow's top-four clash against Nottingham at Castle Park (2.30pm).
Clive GriffithsClive Griffiths
Clive Griffiths

Knights, who head the fourth-placed visitors on points difference, are expected to show changes from the side beaten 15-9 at Headingley on Sunday – a game director of rugby Clive Griffiths felt they should have won.

The game will see an early return to Castle Park for full-back Sean Scanlon, who found his opportunities limited last season following his move from Rotherham due to the form of Paul Jarvis.

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“Even though he won’t be up against Jarvis, who will be out for another couple of months or so due to a hamstring problem, Sean will be looking for a big game,” said Griffiths.

“It will be the same for Morgan Eames who we signed from Nottingham during the summer.”

With the Green and Whites having made a good start to the season, Griffiths is looking forward to an entertaining game with conditions forecast to be good.

“They’ll come here and throw the ball about,” he said.

“They are a well rounded team and have scored a lot of points this season so will test us even though we’ve currently got the best defence in the Championship.

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“We’ve worked on our defence again in training this week but as always we’ve spent more time on our attack and I’m hoping to see us play like we did in our first two games as against what happened at Headingley.

“Obviously it’s vital that we bounce back from that defeat and it’s a huge game even at this stage of the season. We don’t want to have a record of won two lost two after our first four games.”

Meanwhile, Knights skills and backs coach Francis Cummins is to join Super League outfit Widnes Vikings as assistant coach for the 2018 season.