Doncaster travelled to Coventry with more changes from the side that had played the previous week. With winger James Rothwell injured, Michael Woods returned after a head injury to replace him. Full back Jon Boden was moved to centre in place of Duncan Murray with Jon Benson coming in at 15. In the pack Jonny Roddam came in for Steve Boden who moved to the bench.
Doncaster started with a strong wind behind them but into the sun. After 3 minutes, Coventry had a lineout 20 metres from the Doncaster line but, in spite of slow ball, managed to construct a move that allowed centre Nick Witkowski to burst through weak defence to score near the posts to give James Moore an easy conversion. Doncaster spent the next 5 minutes under the cosh before Coventry were penalised midfield. From the resultant lineout 25 metres out, Dan Montagu took a good catch for Doncaster and drove for the line through prop Steve Barretto. When he was stopped just short, the ruck was won and the ball moved quickly to the left where winger Mike Wood raced over in the corner. Rob Liley’s excellent conversion brought the scores back level. Almost immediately a “14 point” try occurred. Coventry won the ball 25 metres out from their line and moved it slowly to the right. Mike Woods came in off his wing but knocked on the interception attempt with a clear run to the line beckoning. Coventry picked up the ball, took the advantage on offer, and a quick feed gave winger Dave Millard a 60 metre run through some hesitant defence to score a try that Moore again converted. Doncaster fought back and drew level again after 30 minutes. The Town side won a ruck midfield and played moved to the right. From the following ruck, the ball moved left to the Coventry line where, after a series of mini-rucks, hooker Roddam dived over for Doncaster with Liley again adding the conversion points. As play moved towards half-time, the Doncaster backs were penalised in from of their posts to give Moore a simple kick and a 17-14 half time lead to the hosts.
At half-time Coventry changed hooker Rudi Brits with veteran Dave Protherough. Doncaster started brightly with a forward drive followed by a good run by Canadian centre John Cannon but slackness again caused the move to break down. Shortly afterwards the referee played advantage from a Coventry knock-on but a poor kick gave possession away with equally poor following up allowing Coventry centre Dave Tiueti to pick up and set winger Moore on a 50 metre run to the line for a try that he converted himself. At that point Doncaster brought on Russell Earnshaw for Ryan Peacey at flanker and they closed the gap to 7 points shortly afterwards through a Liley penalty. Coventry replaced prop Kiki Pulu with Maafu Pale and shortly afterwards Mike Wood came off injured for Doncaster to be replaced on the wing by speedy No 8 Oliver Cook! After 24 minutes Moore kicked his second penalty for Coventry and 3 minutes later Richard List replaced Steve Barretto at prop for Doncaster. Coventry were penalised shortly afterwards and Doncaster opted to kick to touch near the home line. After clean ball was won, Roddam burst out from the driving maul to score wide out which Liley converted with an excellent kick into the wind to cut Coventry’s lead to 3 points. Coventry then replace centre Witkowski and flanker Mike Buckingham with Alex Gluth and David Harvey and shortly afterwards Niall Treston replaced Pete Bucknall at prop. Yet another Doncaster mistake at a lineout resulted in a third penalty for Moore. As the game went into injury time and Doncaster holding on for a bonus point Coventry were awarded a scrum 5 metres out after Riley had kicked dead. The ball was moved to the right for centre Tiueti to race through a hesitant Doncaster defence for try between the posts to give Moore a simple conversion to end the match.
The best that can be said about the game was that, for long spells, it was a comedy of errors with both sides throwing away good try scoring opportunities. Doncaster played their own game of snakes and ladders in the second half as they would regularly gain possession and territory through their pack before elementary mistakes would allow Coventry to take play back into the visitor’s half. This defeat puts Doncaster 3rd from bottom with a clear gap starting to show between the bottom four and the rest of the league. Next up is the visit of Harlequins to Castle Park on Sunday 12th February and it is hoped the back line will have a stronger look to it by then.
Coventry
Apoua Stewart , David Millard: Nik Witkowski (Dave Harvey 70); Dave Tiueti; James Moore; (Jon Higgins; Mick Walls; Kisi Pulu (Maafe Pale 51) ; Rudi Brits (Richard Protherough 40); Pete Bucknall (Niall Treston 77); Dave Campton; Hendry Rheeders; Tom Johnson; Mike Buckingham (Alex Gluth 70); Henno Venter
Doncaster
Jon Benson; Matt Riley; Jon Boden; John Cannon; Mike Wood (Oliver Cook 63); Rob Liley; Llyr Lane; Simon Bunting ; Johnny Roddam; Steve Barretto (Richard List 67); Glen Kenworthy; Dan Cook; Ryan Peacey (Russell Earnshaw 48); Simon Grainger; Dan Montagu.
Referee: Richard Draper (RFU) |
