Doncaster Knights finish third in Championship after thrilling win over Nottingham

Cornish Pirates briefly went above Knights in the standings after earning two bonus points from a 32-31 defeat at Jersey earlier in the afternoon.

A draw would not have been enough to prevent Doncaster dropping to fourth spot but, with the teams level at 24-24 and the clock on 80 minutes, Pocklington latched onto Connor Joyce’s offload to seal a bonus point win.

The winning try, which sparked great celebrations as fans returned to Castle Park for the first time since March last year, capped a superb shortened season for Steve Boden’s side.

Knights won eight out of ten games and only big-spending Ealing Trailfinders and mighty Saracens finished above them in the table.

Boden’s first season in charge has coincided with a big turnaround in fortunes for Knights who had finished 7th, 10th and 10th since reaching the play-offs in 2016 and 2017.

Matt Challinor captained Knights as he made his final appearance for the club after 11 years at Castle Park, while long-serving hooker Ben Hunter and Premiership-bound Robin Hislop also played their final games for Doncaster.

First half converted tries from Howard Packman and Gus Warr gave Knights a 14-7 lead at half time.

Lowly Nottingham threatened an upset when they scored two converted tries following the re-start but Will Holling crashed over on 65 minutes and Sam Olver kicked his third conversion to level the game at 21-21.

Both sides then traded penalties before Pocklington’s last gasp try.