Probably needing to win five of their last seven matches to avoid finishing in the bottom two, this was a vital victory achieved with determination by a squad of players whose pride is clearly at stake. After last week’s heroic fight back against the might of Plymouth’s big pack, only to lose in stoppage time, the much vaunted front five of Otley was another mountain to climb, and although Doncaster came second best at set pieces, they defended the Otley maul superbly and tackled out of their skins to achieve a comfortable victory.
The game was only 40 seconds old when Doncaster had a try on the board! Oliver Cook, once again having to play as a makeshift winger, secured ball after the start, and an enterprising move across the backs saw John Cannon break tackle after tackle with a powerful run that somehow got him to the try line with several Otley players attached to him. It set the tone for the home side’s afternoon and roused the crowd. Rob Liley’s conversion from the left added the icing to the cake. It was 15 minutes before Otley visited the home ’22, where they camped for a full six minutes before Justin Wring collapsed a scrum and the siege was lifted. But only temporarily – a loose kick allowed Sovatabua to run at the home defence and he powered through Jon Boden’s despairing tackle with the try seemingly inevitable but Cannon’s covering tackle saved the score. Incessant Otley pressure inevitably told, though. In the 25th minute, a Doncaster scrum in midfield was disrupted, Llyr Lane couldn’t clear the ball and the combination of David Scully and Sovatobua sent Mark Luffman into the left corner unchallenged. Back came Doncaster, setting up good field position with driving runs, but having their line out and scrum demolished in quick succession when the reward of a further score loomed. The pressure did find Otley offside in the backs, giving Liley a simple kick for three points before the move of the match brought a second home try. A line out was secured inside the Otley half and a maul sucked in the defenders before Lane fired a flat pass at Liley who broke the line in vintage fashion to streak through, draw the last defender, and pass to the alert supporting Cannon for the centre’s second try. Classic attacking rugby executed in the blink of an eye and Liley again added the extra points for a 17-5 lead. Try as they did, Otley just couldn’t break down the Doncaster defence as they set up repeated attacks as the half ended. A series of close in line out catch and drives were thwarted and half time brought blessed relief.
The second period began with both sides attacking wide out before Doncaster scored again, this time in most unusual fashion. The Otley backs were caught offside and Liley elected to kick at goal, into and across the strong wind. His kick was caught by the wind, struck the right hand post high up and the ball then glanced across the face of the left post before falling to earth where the marvellously alert Michael Wood arrived at pace to catch, juggle and then secure the ball to touch it down as a bemused Otley defence (and most of the crowd) wondered what had happened. Liley this time did get the ball between the posts and with half an hour to play, the game was already won. Try as they did, Doncaster just couldn’t stretch to the bonus point try that would have crowned an exhilarating afternoon’s effort. Credit Otley for this – their pack continued to dominate and put themselves in attacking positions on a frequent basis, helped (it has to be said) by some poor defensive clearance kicking from the home side who several times found the powerful running Sovatoua returning the ball at pace and needing some gutsy tackling to stop him. The last act of the day saw another Otley attack off a Doncaster error – Chris Hyndman putting a grubber kick behind the defence for Kyle Dench to run onto and score. Rob Kitching added the extras for a 24-12 final score to the home side that was as welcome as it was deserved. Next up are London Welsh in two weeks (11th March) with Charlie Harrison the first of the long term injured expected to be fit to resume.
Doncaster: J Boden, O Cook, Wood, Cannon, Van Vuuren, Liley (Benson 74), Lane, Bunting (Barretto 74), S Boden, Tau, Kenworthy, D Cook, Earnshaw, Grainger (Peacey 56, Norris 62), Montagu.
Otley: Edwards, Kitching, Whatmuff (Andre 62), Rock (Dench 48), Sovatobua, Hyndman, Scully, Wring, Luffman (Steel 61), Fullman, Oakes (Parr 61), Williams, Connor, Bland (Pike 53), Wilson (Stockdale 61).
Referee: B Robertson (RFU) |
