Doncaster Knights‘ new fly-half Alec Lloyd-Seed is relishing his opportunity at the Championship club, after rounding off a whirlwind 12 months by signing for last year’s runners-up.
The signing was confirmed earlier in September, having been reported all the way back in June in Neil Fissler’s Blindside Column for The Rugby Paper.
“I was contacted by an agent around the start of June and he said that Doncaster were looking for a 10 and then he put me forward for it and it all started from there really,” Lloyd-Seed said.
“I thought it was a really exciting opportunity and something I thought I would really enjoy so it would have been silly not to go for it.”
Heading into pre-season last year, the 22-year-old was not expecting to play a frontline role for Exeter University’s first-team, but having been injured for much of his second year and Covid having spoilt his third, he was hoping to make the most of his final year of university rugby.
Some strong performances off the bench earned him a place in the starting team, and he became an increasingly regular fixture as Exeter pushed hard for the BUCS Super Rugby league title, before they won the play-off Championship at Sixways stadium.
Going back 12 months though, Alec would have laughed off the suggestion he would be playing in English rugby’s second tier if someone had told him that was his fate.
“If someone told me that I wouldn’t have believed them one bit.
“My goal at the start of last season was to get a couple of BUCS Super Rugby caps and I would have been happy with that, but I was given opportunities to play and I just kept trying to capitalise on them and improve every week.
“It sounds very clichรฉ but it’s a dream come true to sign a professional contract and something I never would have believed was possible.”
It looked like a bad injury in that final win over Durham was going to delay any hopes of securing a contract in the short-term.
But rather than it being an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), it was a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury, and the less severe issue, combined with rehab support from his new club, ensured a swift recovery.
“Luckily I didn’t need to undergo surgery but I was put in a brace for 6 weeks which I had to wear 24 hours a day.
“Once I was out the brace I was offered to go up to Doncaster to get professional rehab done with the physio team there and they were fantastic and managed to get me back on the pitch by the beginning of September.”
Even with the support provided, for a Londoner who had not been expecting to embark on a professional rugby career months before, a move hundreds of miles away from home was undoubtedly a brave step.
But staying with a friend helped Lloyd-Seed get on his feet, and he is beginning to settle nicely in South Yorkshire.
“I was on a trial period for a while to make sure my knee was going to be ready for the start of the season so they put me up in a house for a week or so,” he added, “then I moved in with one of my best mates who’s up here who very kindly let me stay for about 5 weeks.”
“Once I signed the contract I started looking at places to rent and found somewhere after a couple of weeks. It wasn’t too much upheaval moving up here as I didn’t have much to take up with me anyway but I’m slowly furnishing the house to make it more homely.”
Turning attention to Doncaster’s own ambitions, Lloyd-Seed was coy to give a definitive prediction, but he was at least confident that the Knights would mount another strong challenge for the title, as they did last year when they finished just three points behind winners Ealing.
“The team are focused on working hard for each other and getting good performances each and every week whilst constantly improving.
“If the performances are there on the weekends then the results will come with that, and if we’re doing that then we’re going to be competing at the top of The Championship.”
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