Boden gets go-ahead to replace Griffiths

ASSISTANT coach Steve Boden will take full charge of Doncaster Knights’ footballing department when Clive Griffiths stands down as director of rugby at the end of the season.

Boden, 37, will be promoted to head coach of the Championship club, the role he held at Yorkshire Carnegie before returning to Castle Park in the summer.

The former hooker made almost 200 appearances for Doncaster between 2005 and 2012 before moving on to Jersey.

This season was always likely to be the last campaign for Griffiths, the 65-year-old Welshman who has earned legendary status for his feats at the Knights over two spells totalling nine years.

Doncaster appointed former British Lions prop Tom Smith as head coach in April – with a view to being Griffiths’ successor – but he left just four months later by “mutual consent” without ever having taken charge of a game. A statement from co-owners Steve Lloyd and Tony De Mulder expressed their “massive thanks” to Griffiths yesterday in a decision made via “mutual agreement.”

It added that Boden would “manage all aspects of the Knights and strive to capitalise on the many years Clive has been involved and take the club forward into the ever-changing world of professional rugby.”

Leeds-born Boden will become head coach in May but takes charge of the creation of next season’s squad with immediate effect with the full backing of Griffiths.

The statement added: “The board have every confidence that he will put his heart and soul, plus undoubted expertise, into the ongoing story of Doncaster Rugby Football Club.”

Knights reached the play-offs for the first time under Griffiths and came close to promotion when making the Championship final against Bristol in 2016.