Knights out to gatecrash the ‘big two’ play-off party
DONCASTER’s record points scorer Dougie Flockhart insists the Championship is not a two-horse shoot-out between the runaway top two, London Irish and Yorkshire Carnegie.
The former Premiership clubs look certain of a home semi-final as a 19-point cushion exists between second-placed Carnegie and Doncaster in third, with Irish a further eight points clear at the top heading into the break for the B&I Cup.
But Scotsman Flockhart is confident in Doncaster’s ability to upset the odds and challenge for top honours, as they did last year when pushing Bristol so close for promotion.
“People were saying it was a two-horse race last year between Bristol and Carnegie and it’s quite good for us when people think like that,” said the 32-year-old utility back.
“I don’t think anyone in the club would be involved in the competition if we didn’t think we could push them all the way.
“Our defence is miles better than what it was at the start of the year, we’ve not conceded a try in our last two games.
“If you come to us you are going to have to break us down, which is hard to do, and then you have to contend with our backline the way it is just now. We are playing more expansive rugby this year compared to last, when we relied a lot on the maul to score tries, particularly early on.
“I can’t think of any other team that has got as dangerous a backline as ours and we’re only in third gear just now. Hopefully we can peak for the play-offs again.”
Such is the competition for places out wide, Flockhart has shifted from his normal position on the wing to centre.
As well as his versatility, the former Scotland RL international has a keen eye for goal. In the 2014/15 season, he was the league’s top marksman and was on course to repeat the feat last year until a torn bicep cut short his season.
During last weekend’s 34-3 win against Richmond Flockhart overtook Rob Liley’s club points scoring record of 1021 points, which had stood for 10 years.
Flockhart’s 14-point haul against the league’s bottommarkers took him on to 72 points for the season and 1,032 overall: not bad for a kicker who was handed the kicking tee by default rather than design.
“I always knew I could kick a ball because I played a lot of football when I was younger,” said Flockhart, who was once on the books of Queen of the South.
“But I didn’t actually start goal-kicking until four years ago, it was only when we were playing at Nottingham and James Brooks was in the sin-bin and our back-up kicker Stevie McColl was injured, that I started
“Our captain, Steve Boden, pointed straight to the posts when we got a penalty 40 metres out and everyone was looking around to see who would take it. Bevon Armitage was keen but I stepped up and thankfully it went over. After that, Brett Davey kept pushing me to continue. I just try to keep my technique as simple as possible, the fewer things that can go wrong the better is the way I look at it.”
Flockhart added: “I was aware I was close to the record a few weeks before, after our former manager John Lowe told me at London Welsh. I managed to block it out of my mind but the day before the Richmond game, when I was out practising my goal-kicking, Griff (DoR Clive Griffiths) came running out and told me I needed four points to break the record.
“I’m very proud to be in the history books but it would be remiss of me not to mention my wife, Kay, who has put up with me going down to the club to practice on Christmas Day for the last few years. She was heavily pregnant the first time and the second year was our daughter’s first Christmas!”