Frustrated Knights will keep fighting
DONCASTER flanker Thom Smith described the RFU denying them a chance of promotion as ‘a carrot being dangled and pulled away at the last minute.’
Doncaster and Ealing failed to meet the minimum standards criteria for promotion to the Premiership due to stadium capacity.
Prior to the news breaking, Smith said Doncaster’s promotion bid was a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’, and is now ‘gutted’.
He said: “Our reaction to being denied promotion is a mixture of being gutted and frustrated. It feels like the carrot of gaining promotion has been dangled in front of us this season and pulled away at the last minute.
“It’s heart breaking for players and staff because there’s been so much work put in behind the scenes.
“The capacity of a stadium is a trivial reason to deny clubs promotion, considering the situation that Championship clubs are in financially. They've just come out of a really difficult time with Covid, as well as having Championship
funding cut, so it's quite harsh to say we've got to gamble and build a stadium with a capacity for the Premiership without the guarantee of being promoted. I don't see how that makes sense.”
Smith, 21, feels that without promotion, Championship clubs lose purpose. He added: “Championship clubs don't really have much to aim for; we can go on a performance basis but as a whole there's very little to push for if you take away the promotion.”
It’s neck and neck between Knights, Cornish Pirates and Ealing and Smith is determined to finish top of the league.
He said: “We need to show our character now and are focused on getting ten points out of our next two games and finishing on a high.”
Last week Doncaster beat Ealing 25-17 and former Leicester back rower Smith was delighted how their pack fronted up.
Smith said: “They’ve got a massive forwards pack, which they rely on to bully teams up front. Our main focus was on us, take the game to them and see what happens, luckily it paid off.”