Evergreen Grifiths can’t hear the fat lady singing just yet
Jon Newcombe talks to Doncaster coach Clive Griffiths about the challenges ahead
CLIVE Griffiths’ passion for rugby still burns so bright that the Doncaster boss tore his Achilles jumping into the air in celebration when they beat local rivals Yorkshire Carnegie the season before last.
Not even that injury could prevent the now 65-year-old making the two-hour round trip from St Helens – his home since he switched codes and moved north in the late 70s – to Castle Park, three times a week in some cases.
Like one of his predecessors at the Knights, fellow 60-something and Welshman Lynn Howells, tending to the roses and retirement will have to wait for another day. He is contracted as DoR at the Knights until 2020 and clearly still derives as much pleasure from the game as he did when taking on his first assignment in English club rugby, at London Welsh in 1997.
“Coaching rugby is part of my DNA, a way of life. I’m sure I’ll be told when they think my time is up, but I’ll probably know myself before that, I did when I was playing professional Rugby League,” Griffiths said.
“I am realistic; I know I’m judged on W’s and L’s. When you have got someone like Brian McDermott being sacked, the most successful coach in the history of Leeds Rhinos and Super League, and going back further people like Dean Richards losing their job at Leicester after back-to-back European Cups and four straight Premiership titles, you have to be.”
Griffiths has achieved much in his two separate spells at Doncaster, divided by an unhappy time in the Premiership with Worcester, establishing the club as regulars at the top-end of the Championship.
However, Wales’ 2005 Grand Slam-winning defence coach admits last season was one of his most challenging, for totally unforeseen and tragic reasons.
Griffiths is hoping that the 2018/19 campaign will be a fitting tribute to the memory of Ian Williams, the prop who was taken far too young after collapsing in training last winter.
“We look at Ian’s memory in the most positive way. There are pictures of him in the changing room, and there always will be as long as I am here, because he’s our 16thman.
“Last year we under-achieved but the second half was played out in horrendous circumstances. I was in South Wales with my sister after the loss of my brother-in-law, David, only a week earlier – another huge body blow.
“The boys carried on working hard but I know deep down they were glad to get the season out of the way. We won one of our last six.”
Improving on their seventhplace finish will be a challenge in a league where big-spending Coventry have upped the ante and robbed the Knights of three star turns, the Bulumakau brothers and Tongan Jack Ram.
The return of fans’ favourite Stevie McColl will bolster the back three options while Willie Ryan is the type of “no-nonsense” back rower who goes down well with the Knights’ faithful. And you can expect Fiji No.9 Henry Seniloli to prescribe to the running rugby philosophy that Griffiths was taught from an early age by coaching legend, Carwyn James, as a full-back at Scarlets.
“I am hoping that the players we’ve recruited now will improve our league position. It is still a good achievement to finish in the top four of our league, it shows you are consistent,” he said.
“Every season that comes around, the challenges come thick and fast. We’re building up to the first game of the season; it’s going to be a cup final down at Pirates. I’ve got the upmost respect for Gavin Cattle and Alan Paver and the club.
“But if you could choose a time to go to Cornwall, you’d go early doors. When that pitch gets wet in winter, it’s a bloody slog.
“I am just looking to the next game, the one after that and the one after that – until the fat lady sings. It has been a great journey, but I don’t want it to end just yet.”