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Doncaster Knights plan stadium expansion to boost Premiership bid

Doncaster Knights stadium

Doncaster Knights are planning to nearly double their stadium capacity to satisfy one of the major hurdles that Championships club face to break into the Gallagher Premiership.

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The Knights have lodged a planning application for Castle Park with Doncaster Council that centres around new East and South stands to take the stadium capacity from 5,139 up to 10,015, with additional ancillary supporting facilities, according to the Doncaster Free Press newspaper. If the Knights are successful and reach the top flight it would give Yorkshire – the biggest county in England – a Premiership club.

The Knights’ application comes after the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) controversially blocked the promotion of Championship winners Ealing Trailfinders, because they did not met the minimum standards criteria for entry to the Premiership. Ealing’s Sports Ground holds approximately 5,000 with 2,115 seats.

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It was agreed in June last year that the Premiership could be expanded to 14 clubs at the end of the 2021-22 season if the winner of the Championship met the required minimum standards criteria.

The Knights, who finished second in the league, and Trailfinders put themselves forward for promotion and were independently audited under the minimum standards criteria, including the requirement that their nominated stadium must hold a minimum of 10,001 fans.

A Doncaster Knights spokesman said: “To summarise, the proposal is appropriate in this location and would enhance an existing sporting facility both in terms of the quality of experience offered to its users and the overall visual appearance of the ground.

“The impact on the appearance and openness of the surroundings should be acceptable due to the woodland screening around the site and use of appropriately coloured materials. The level of additional traffic generated would not result in problems on the highway network and the level of parking and parking provision elsewhere is adequate to serve the site.”

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Doncaster’s ambitious plans come shortly after Cornish Pirates revealed their bid to satisfy the 10,001 capacity criteria had been hit by the decision of Cornwall Council to withdraw support for the Stadium for Cornwall development as part of the Government’s Levelling Up fund programme.

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S
SK 1 hour ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Set pieces are important and the way teams use them is a great indication of how they play the game. No team is showcasing their revolution more than the Springboks. This year they have mauled less and primarily in the attacking third. Otherwise they have tended to set like they are going to maul and then play around the corner or shove the ball out the back. They arent also hitting the crash ball carrier constantly but instead they are choosing to use their width or a big carrying forward in wider areas. While their maul is varied the scrum is still a blunt instrument winning penalties before the backs have a go. Some teams have chosen to blunt their set piece game for more control. The All Blacks are kicking more penalties and are using their powerful scrum as an attacking tool choosing that set piece as an attacking weapon. Their willingness to maul more and in different positions is also becoming more prominent. The French continue to play conservative rugby off the set piece using their big bruisers frequently. The set piece is used differently by different teams. Different teams play different ways and can be successful regardless. They can win games with little territory and possession or smash teams with plenty of both. The game of rugby is for all types and sizes and thats true in the modern era. I hope that administrators keep it that way and dont go further towards a Rugby League style situation. Some administrators are of the opinion that rugby is too slow and needs to be sped up. Why not rather empower teams to choose how they want to play and create a framework that favours neither size nor agility. That favours neither slow tempo play or rock n roll rugby. Create a game that favour both and challenge teams to execute their plans. If World Rugby can create a game like that then it will be the ultimate winner.

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J
JW 6 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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