It’s a family affair for Havant as they get set for Twickenham
IT’LL be a family affair at Twickenham today in the Papa John’s Cup men’s final as Havant head coach Will Knight and his three sons – Joel, Jacob and Reuben – take on Driffield in both teams’ first appearances at HQ.
In last weekend’s semifinals, north east side Driffield beat Syston 36-33 while Hampshire’s Havant saw off Heath 27-21.
The tournament has come in for some criticism with a number of walkovers due to the increased travel, while there’s also been player welfare concerns with extra games tagged on to a long season.
However, Knight Snr says the tournament has made dreams come true in his squad and has loved playing a part in its inaugural season. “As one of our players said last week it’s been his dream through all of his rugby career to play at Twickenham,” Knight said.
“We haven’t had an opportunity like this as we sit in the middle tier of clubs that for many years haven’t had the chance to play cup rugby at National League level.
“There’s been cup rugby below and above us but never in the middle. When the opportunity came we jumped at it. I know there’s been some criticism of the cup but from our point of view it’s been amazing. We had an amazing last group game against our close rivals Camberley which was a 26-24 win that saw us through to the semi-finals and then last weekend we had a fantastic day at the club with 1,300 people coming to watch.”
Havant finished second in Regional 1 South Central and Knight paid tribute to his key men. He said: “Richie James is our pack leader and played his 150th game for us this season and has been an absolute stalwart in the club. Joel Knight has played his 250th game and has been a cornerstone of what we’ve achieved over the last 10 years.
“Joel’s the captain and has been with the club always; Jacob his younger brother played up at Nottingham and then in London for Sutton & Epsom and always made the promise that when Sutton & Epsom and Havant ended up in the same league that he’d come and play for Havant.
“Reuben is our backs coach having been in the senior academy at London Irish and then Ealing. He decided to come back down and play and coach for us. It’s a family affair but it’s way more than that in the sense that the squad is a really big family in how they’ve been together and look out for each other.”
In their first season at level five, Driffield finished third in Regional 1 North East and throughout their cup campaign they’ve relied on last minute winners to reach the final that has caught the attention of the small but passionate town.
Driffield head coach Chris Young said: “We won our quarter-final against Alnwick with a last minute winner. It was a frantic game and a great occasion to get into the semi-final. Winning in that way is always nice, you’d prefer it from a coaching perspective for it to be a bit simpler but it felt good. The Syston game in the semi-final was similar and they were the strongest side we’ve faced, it was only our fitness in the last 20 minutes that helped us see it through.
“It’s only a small town but everywhere you go someone’s asking about it. The players are seriously excited as we’ve only got one or two that have played there before at county level. When the cup started and you’ve got that carrot at the end, people quickly got excited at the prospect of playing at Twickenham and now it’s a reality.”