Doncaster Knights 12 Cornish Pirates 16
A hugely frustrating weekend for the Knights had begun with several within the camp suffering illness as a stomach bug swept through and although Scott Gray was the only late withdrawal from the team, a number of those playing were affected. The frustration continued through the game as the Knights, with almost 70% of possession, failed to breach an effective Pirates defence which was aided considerably by referee Nick Williams’ tolerance of both offside and repeated infringement which successfully slowed attacking ball. The irony was that when the Williams’ hamstring went with 10 minutes to play, and Chris Sharp took over, offside lines came back into play (for both sides) and possession speeded up! Alas, too late for Lynn Howells’ side who by then were out on their feet.
A brisk gusting diagonal wind was always going to challenge the players as the game got underway in feisty exchanges, signalling immediately what the result meant to both the teams. With just six minutes on the clock, Ngalu Tau’s charge brought a tackle penalty and Mark Woodrow slotted three points to give the Knights an early lead. With the following five minutes all seeing the home side in Pirates territory, there were already signs of the Pirates’ stretching the Laws beyond reasonable limits as bodies inevitably lay on the wrong side and by the time the ball was dug out, there was no room to play in. The experiment of playing Justin Bishop at outside centre was not bringing any advantage in these circumstances – and, it must be said – some poor passing when space was found didn’t help either. Against the run of play, the Pirates scored what would prove to be the only try of the day as scrum Half Ed Fairhurst caught the Knights asleep as he sniped round the front of a line out to scamper down the left wing to score in the corner. Gareth Steenson added the extras with a superb kick. That lead was reduced to one point just three minutes later when Woodrow kicked a penalty after the Pirates were seen illegally joining a maul, and much as the home pack forced the game and played much of it in the visitor’s half, no reward came. When the Pirates did get possession Steenson kicked beautifully and directed the game cleverly, almost getting through himself on one occasion; and it was he who kicked three points on half time when the Knights front row was penalised for not binding at a set scrum.
The second half began with the Knights again attacking, and a series of flowing moves saw the referee’s advantage arm out regularly and, after seven minutes of this, finally award an offside penalty which Woodrow took three points from. That no yellow card accompanied it was a mystery to even Pirates’ fans. Again the Knights attacked, Ali Koko argued with a TJ and was penalised – Woodrow kicked into the corner but the line out throw was too long and the ball turned over. A try looked certain as Wes Davies cut in from his wing but the Knights were deemed to be “crossing” in the move just two yards short of the try line. Next Woodrow was taken out by a late tackle but his penalty shot from where the ball alighted was agonisingly short across the wind. Next Anthony Carter chased his kick, caught the defender, forced Pirate panic and a penalty was conceded by Iva Motusaga who finally saw that the referee did bring his yellow card with him. Woodrow took the three points and the Knights were in front again with the final quarter to go. It was anyone’s game.
Tom Luke had a sniff of an interception at half way but it was a difficult chance off his bootlaces, and then Pirates were awarded a penalty in the Knights half. Quickly taken, Ben Jones was adjudged not to have let Fairhurst run ten metres, which advanced it far enough to be in Steenson’s range. He calmly put the Pirates ahead once more. Again it was the Knights who came back. At last space was created but Woodrow, with Bishop and Davies outside against one defender, chose to kick left instead – and kicked poorly. He had been one who spent Friday in severe discomfort and was clearly below his best this day. Chris Planchant had a charge up the middle but was halted in full stride by a great tackle. Bodies were being put on the line. Another series of more fluent Knights’ attacks brought nothing, other than the change of referee. Immediately Chris Sharp penalised the Pirates at the breakdown, within Woodrow’s range, but the decision was to go for the corner instead of at goal. The line out catch and drive was held out at first but a second surge saw the Knights pack drive over and appear to score but to the dismay of most of the 1300 crowd, the officials between them judged no try and a five metre scrum instead. Horribly, it was disrupted by a determined visitors’ pack and at the turnover scrum, the Knights were again penalised for not binding and the Pirates escaped to the other end where they clinically ran down the clock until the forced a defensive penalty under the posts for Steenson to make it 12-16. Although the Knights did recover their restart kick, their last attempt to penetrate the Pirates’ defence ended with a handling error and it was over.
It had been an attritional forward battle for the most part, frustrating for several reasons and the Pirates had won again at Castle Park. The importance of street wise, organised defence and a ten who used possession wisely was never more evident. Lynn Howells felt the Knights had beaten the Pirates in every part of the game except for points scored, and will be having a serious chat to the RFU Referee Manager this week about the application of offside Law and the proper use of the yellow card. But ultimately, the Knights remain second, their losing bonus point extending the small gap over Exeter to two points, but Northampton’s away win at Exeter pretty much kills the race for promotion after just a third of the season gone. The race now is for second place.
Next week won’t be any easier as the Knights go to Bedford, who ran ten tries past a Moseley team the Knights struggle to beat a week ago!
Doncaster: Carter, Davies W, Bishop, Luke, Van Vuuren, Woodrow, Jones, Bunting (Davies T 50), Boden, Tau (Rawson 65), Tomes (Griffiths 65), Kenworthy, Planchant, Grainger, Wilson.
Pirates: Thomas, Moore, Lilo (McAtee 63), Buckley, Koko (Touhy 49), Steenson, Fairhurst, Cook (Bolt 72), Elloway (Kemp 49), Seal, Beardshaw (Cummins 49), Senekal, Cowley, Cracknell (Motusaga 22), Evans.
Referee: N Williams (RFU)
Att: 1298 |
