Doncaster Knights club captain Matt Challinor is hoping to lead the South Yorkshire club to victory in Sunday’s Championship clash at Nottingham.
“It’s our last game of 2014 so it would be nice to end the year on a winning note,” said the popular second-rower.
Although never a prolific scorer during his time at Castle Park, Challinor will be on a hat trick at Meadow Lane having scored in the last two games – including the dramatic last-minute touchdown which set-up Dougie Flockhart’s match-winning conversion at Cornish Pirates.
“It would be nice to get another on Sunday but the main thing is that we come away with a win,” he said.
“It will be Nottingham’s last game at Meadow Lane, which I wasn’t aware of until recently, and that is sure to make for a different atmosphere on Sunday.
“I’m sure it will be an emotional occasion both for the players and supporters and they’ll be wanting to leave with a win under their belts.
“Games between the two clubs are always tasty in any case and that promises to be even more the case this weekend because of the circumstances.
“They are a good side at home and we’ve had to prepare well this week.
“But we’ll go into the game on the back of three good wins in the B&I Cup,” he added, reflecting on last weekend’s 54-0 win against Cross Keys.
“In addition to scoring some good tries and showing our firepower we also defended well.
“We spoke at half time about trying to nil them and we did that.
“We knew they’d come out in the second half and give it a go, but I thought we defended well – particularly on our own line at the end.”