​Dons set to renew rivalry with fellow Championship new boys Dewsbury

Champions Dewsbury Rams and Doncaster RLFC, who came up via the play-offs, were the two stand-out teams in Betfred League One last season and both will be looking to finish above the other in this season’s Betfred Championship.

Not least because to do so would increase their chances of retaining their place in a league where the bottom two this season will be automatically relegated with third bottom featuring in a play-off game against the third-best team in League One as the RFL look to both reduce the number of teams in the Championship and increase those in the third tier.

The two teams will do battle again at the Eco-Power Stadium on Sunday where the Dons picked up a vital late season win over the already promoted Rams.

Earlier in the season the West Yorkshire side ended Doncaster’s unbeaten start to the season – a result which always looked likely to go a long way towards deciding the eventual champions.

The two teams will go into the game on the back of contrasting results.

Whereas the Dons pulled off an impressive win up in Cumbria, Dewsbury were going down heavily away to Swinton Lions – a result which saw them drop into the bottom two on points difference.

The West Yorkshire side who lost head coach Liam Finn to Halifax at the end of last season, have won only once on their return to the Championship, which they last graced in 2022, beating derby rivals Batley Bulldogs.

Although four of the Dons’ first five fixtures have been at home, they have arguably had a tougher start than Dewsbury with three of their opponents currently holding down three of the top four spots.

After beating York, a result which looked better at the time than it probably does now in view of Knights’ poor start to the campaign, and running second-placed Sheffield close, the Dons were well beaten by both Wakefield and Featherstone and they will be looking to recapture their earlier home form against a Dewsbury side playing their third successive away game.

Dons boss Richard Horne made several changes for the trip to Cumbria but he is unlikely to make many, if any, changes this weekend.

His biggest selection headache could be at scrum-half where PNG Watson Boas started ahead of Connor Robinson, who had previously been one of the first names on his team sheet since arriving from York a couple of seasons ago, and who had a hand in a couple of tries.

Robinson came on in the second half with Boas switching to hooker and controlled the game with his tactical kicking.