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.
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Hide AdThe 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.
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Hide AdFirst 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.