Knights 20 London Welsh 20
Last gasp draw at the Castle
The Knights chose the wrong day for a decidedly below par performance. Welsh, buoyed by significant loan signings and an outstanding individual performance by man of the match Sam Ulph, were sound in defence, combative in midfield and creative in attack. They looked like the side at the top end of the table and had what would have been a deserved victory stolen from them with the last move of the match, eight minutes into added time. Clive Griffiths had changed the back line, starting Brad Hunt and Wes Davies with Ben Gollings at fly half, with Spencer Davey and Mark Woodrow on the bench, where Jimmy Rule was appearing for the first time this season.
The Knights had started brightly, with Ben Gollings at ten for the first, time mixing play well and it was no surprise when pace and slick handling across the backs saw Anthony Carter making the telling incision to send Wes Davies in for a wonderful opening score. Any thoughts that Welsh had come to be sacrificed were immediately banished as their pack mounted a first assault from a line out maul which found the home defence offside, and although advantage was played, Welsh had to settle for Ulph’s penalty. Ulph was again in the action shortly after as he gathered Carters’ missed touch kick and made ground up the right, eventually forcing Gollings to clear to touch close to his line. From the line out, the maul was defended but quick ball left found Ulph in the line for a simple try which he converted for the lead. This seemed to reignite the Knights pack who appeared strangely lethargic and Russell Earnshaw’s charge forced a penalty into the wind that Gollings couldn’t make; but another shot two minutes later – after two good referee advantages as Welsh collapsed maul – did creep over and the remaining pressure in the half was from the home side except for one Welsh attack from turnover ball that saw them make a horrible mess of a four on two overlap. Finally, with the last move of the half, Ben Jones darted off an attacking scrum on the ’22, stepped the defender and streaked away on an angle to the right corner for a classic scrum half try. Knights somehow had the lead at 13-10 and with the wind behind them after the break would surely find their form and win well.
It did look that way for the first ten minutes as the home pack assaulted the Welsh ’22, forcing penalties until referee Terry Hall ran out of patience and yellow carded hooker Chris Ritchie for maul collapse. The penalty to the corner then saw the Knights lose the attacking line out. Then another series of forward drives saw replacement hooker James Campbell also yellow carded for the same offence. Again the penalty to the corner and again the position lost to a turnover, typical of the Welsh doggedness and the Knights lack of purpose on the day. When the Knights should have used six playing minutes of two man advantage to full effect, no points came. There was, though, a moment of officiating farce. At the next scrum, referee Hall – having enquired whether Welsh had a third qualified hooker and been told no – imposed uncontested scrums, refusing a prop permission to come on. This disadvantaged the Knights who enjoyed front row supremacy throughout, and brought strong sideline reaction, and a change of refereeing mind. The whole episode, and their delight at holding out two men short, visibly lifted the Welsh who now had genuine belief that they could win the game, and they set about doing so. Ulph was just short with a penalty into the wind. Their pack mounted a series of attacks, forcing the home side into penalty concession; and after two warnings, Jason Forster was the one to see yellow with fifteen minutes to go. Welsh used the man advantage to score two well worked tries. First, from the sin bin penalty they kicked to the corner and reminded the home side how to drive a maul over, with Martin Anayi credited with the score: then scored a simple try off scrum ball to the left where an overlap saw Alex Cadwallader stroll in. Ulph crucially couldn’t add to either and at 13-20 it seemed the Knights would have to settle for a losing bonus. They did put themselves under unnecessary further pressure when Gollings and Woodrow both saw long kicks go dead, and the scrum back in their own territory, but held out as Welsh sniffed a fourth try. Deep into stoppage time, the Knights finally started to look the part. It took a fantastic tackle by Neil Taylor to stop one try attempt. Earnshaw stole the last play line out and was held inches short; but quick recycled ball to the left saw Donovan Van Vuuren take a long miss pass to outpace the desperate Welsh defence to score at the corner flag. Gollings, coolness personified, somehow managed to make the touch line conversion downwind with the final kick of the game and an unlikely draw was secured. The result moves the Knights down a place to third and a repeat of this performance in Cornwall in two weeks time will effectively end any remaining title challenge.
Clive Griffiths was frustrated by a performance that lacked energy and focus, and that failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities. It will be interesting to see what side he puts out next Saturday in the National Cup home tie against Rosslyn Park when a number of squad fringe players are likely to be offered the chance to show their worth.
Doncaster: Carter (Woodrow 65), Davies, Hunt, Cannon, Van Vuuren, Gollings, Jones, Tau, Phillips (Boden 43), Rawson (Barretto 65), Kenworthy (Rule 50), D Cook, O Cook (Grainger 43), Forster, Earnshaw.
Welsh: Ulph, Sampson, Taylor, Storey, Cadwallader, Cholewa, Chilten, Marsters, Ritchie (Campbell 72), Ward, Quigley (Clarke 72), Robson, McNamee (Griffith 72), Anayi, Mills.
Referee: T Hall (RFU)
The picture, taken by Graham Beardsley, is of Ben Gollings about to kick a conversion. |
