Doncaster Knights stave off any lingering Championship relegation fears with victory over London Scottish

Their late 28-21 win over London Scottish at Castle Park saw them open up a 14-point lead over bottom club Richmond with just three games to go.

Knights also boast a better points difference of 112 over the London side.

“We are still not mathematically safe yet but Richmond would have to pick up three five-point wins and we would have to finish empty-handed in our last three,” said director of rugby Clive Griffiths.

“It was a huge win for us,” said forwards’ coach Glen Kenworthy. “We’d probably have taken the draw after Dougie (Flockhart) missed the late penalty which would have put us in front.

“They had an even later chance to win the game with a drop-kick attempt and that charge down from Ollie Steadman, which also served to set up our winning try, was outstanding.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t score from a couple of driving mauls and that’s something I’ll be taking a look at. When we get to within a couple of metres of the line we should be capitalising more than we did.

“The territory and possession stats would be heavily in our favour but they defended extremely well and we couldn’t break them down for long periods.”

Knights ended the weekend in eighth place four points adrift of sixth-placed Yorkshire Carnegie.

“There is still a chance that could still finish sixth and three months ago we’d certainly have taken that," said Kenworthy.

 “But we’ve got a tough game coming up against at Carnegie, who are flying at the moment, on Sunday week followed by two home games to finish the season.

“We want to finish the season on a high not just for ourselves but for the supporters.

The club have confirmed that Samoan No 8 Josh Tyrell, who scored the winning try against London Scottish, will be leaving at the end of the season.

“We wanted to keep him here but we couldn’t match what he was being offered in France and Josh also wanted to play over there,” said Griffiths.

The club have started to interview applicants for the new head coach post.

The successful applicant will work with Griffiths before taking over from the Welshman at a suitable point next year.