If ever a game was to be played that typified strong defence and opportunism this Saturday at Old Deer Park would be a prime candidate.

Doncaster Knights turned around an injury ravaged first half of the season, and then went through a period of 9 games in 27 days carried by a rock solid defence that saw them though 8 wins in that period.

London Welsh also have a defence to unsettle any opposition, conceding the third lowest amount of points in the league and matching that with the points-scoring prowess of Aled Thomas and Errie Claasens.

Claasens, worryingly for Doncaster, scored as many tries than the Knights' two top try scorers combined.

Lynn Howells' side will aim to dish out a dose of capital punishment and hand come away with a second victory at Old Deer Park this season, but is under no illusion about the intensity of the game to come.

"There are no easy games to come in this group stage," Howells said.

"In much the same way as the Heineken Cup the focus is to shut teams down at the home leg and then go on to steal a victory in the away leg".

The opposite of this tactic was true for both teams this season as the Knights took the points from Old Deer Park, but then London Welsh exited Castle Park as the victors.

Over 10 games head to head it would be fair to say the South Yorkshire side have a slight edge having won five, drawn two and lost three against London Welsh.

"These games are about the performance now, and not historically" is the point made by Knights assistant coach Brett Davey so no comfort is being taken from that statistic in Doncaster.

The 12.30pm Kick off at Old Deer Park marks the start of the Knights' quest for promotion to the Guinness Premiership, the first home contest in this challenge comes the following Saturday as Nottingham Rugby visit Castle Park for a 3pm Kick off on the 27th.

Howells is hoping for a trio of key players, missing for the excursion to the capital, to be fit for that game.

Prop Tom Davies, Scrum Half Nicky Griffiths and Centre Chris Briers all carry injuries will take more than seven days to recover so will be missing from this Saturday's clash.

In more serious news, Knights Tongan International centre Hudson Tonga'Uiha may be unavailable for longer dependant on the results of scans this coming Friday.