Cornish All Blacks 8 Doncaster Knights 27
Doncaster Knights set off for Cornwall on the back of two consecutive defeats and still reeling from losing, with 5 days, all three of their first choice back row forwards for probably the rest of the season. Firstly skipper Glen Wilson was required to have surgery on a recurring back injury; then flanker Scott Gray had to have major knee surgery after an injury last weekend and finally openside flanker Simon Grainger incurred a back injury in the weight’s room which also requires an operation.
For the match against bottom side the Cornish All Blacks, Director of Rugby Lynn Howells made a number of changes from last week’s side. In the backs, Anthony Carter was recalled at full back for Wez Davies who reverted to the bench, Justin Bishop, newly installed as club captain, came in after injury in place of Donavan Van Vuuren, who himself had a rib problem, and leading points scorer Mark Woodrow came back in at flyhalf in place of Cerith Rees who was also moved to the bench. In the pack Richard List was given his first start of the season in place of Tongan international Toma Toke, who moved to the replacements, and Mark Soden and Ollie Cook came in on the flank to join Chris Planchant in a new look back row.
Doncaster had a dream start in the first minute when, after winning an All Blacks lineout on the halfway line, the ball was moved quickly across the back line to the left wing. When this attack was stopped the ball was quickly recycled to the right where List burst through a couple of tackles in the centre to get within a few yards of the try line. As he passed inside to the supporting Steve Boden, the ball was deflected by a covering home player back into List’s hands for the prop to score near the posts to give Woodrow a simple conversion. The Knights were on fire now and the home side were penalised in front of their own posts after going offside to prevent another Doncaster try. Woodrow’s penalty put the Knights 10 points clear after 9 minutes and they were well on their way of banishing the demons following last week’s performance. After 12 minutes they won another All Black’s lineout and the pack drove the ball 20 metres before the ball was moved wide to the right, a ruck was won and Woodrow, with a nice inside pass, put the supporting Carter over near the posts to give himself another simple conversion. The home side enjoyed a short spell inside the Knight’s half from the kick off and, after the visitors were penalised for not releasing the ball on the ground, winger Jon Fabian put them on the scoreboard with a penalty which staggered over. Doncaster struck back almost immediately when centre Spencer Davey made a scorching break through the home side midfield who were then penalised to give Woodrow another penalty with which he made no mistake. The Knights were now playing some outstanding rugby with backs and forwards combining in move after move. With 30 minutes gone, they won another lineout and, after the ball was moved swiftly through the midfield, another ruck was won and, after another lovely break by Davey, the centre passed to supporting winger Paul Bailey who he raced over for the third Knight’s try. Woodrow’s conversion put the visitors 27 points to 3 ahead but, unfortunately, the Knights fell foul of the referee as lock Bryn Griffiths was yellow carded for slowing down All Black’s ball. What could not be understood was why he took such approach after having failed to taken similar action previously when the All Blacks had committed the same offence on a number of occasions. A man short, the Knights withstood some home pressure with some excellent defence, to take the game to the interval without any further score. The Knight’s interval lead of 27 points to 3 resulted from some sparkling play in spite of a penalty count of 8 to 2 against
Griffiths returned shortly after halftime and the home supporters were looking forward to the remainder of the game with some trepidation. Unfortunately some astute substitutions seemed to strengthen the All Black’s resolve and the Knights started to make mistakes except in defence which held fast against some sustained home attacks. As the Knight’s strove to score their 4th try for a bonus point, they became increasingly frustrated by some resolute All Black’s defence and their performance deteriorated significantly although their defence still remained outstanding, Both side made substitutions including, on the Knight’s side, the recently arrive Tongan international lock Lisiate “Richard” Fa’aoso on the flank in place of Mark Soden. During the last 20 minutes the penalty count against the Knights was 14 against 1 including five occasions when they failed to retreat the required 10 metres, decisions which seemed harsh on several occasions. With only a minute left the referee attitude towards the Knights was illustrated when he yellow carded Knights replacement centre Tom Luke for allegedly not moving away from a ruck, an offence that had no bearing on the game or the result. As the game went into injury time, and the bemused Knights continuing to suffer a litany of penalties by a whistle happy referee, the All Blacks secured the try they deserved when their leading try scorer Matt Jess just managed to evade the visitor’s defence wide out for the games final score.
The pleasing thing about the match was that the Knight’s lineout was back on song after two poor weeks. Hooker Boden’s throwing in was spot-on allowing vice-captain Glen Kenworthy to dominate the lineouts in a performance that earned him the All Black’s sponsor’s “Man of the Match” award which he drunk with ease. After the match Lynn Howells expressed his satisfaction with his side’s first half performance but, like his charges, he was amazed at the way referee continually penalised his team during the last 20 minutes in particular. He said he would be studying the club’s video of the match before considering sending a report on the referee to the RFU.
Cornish All Blacks – Birkett; Jess; Westren; Fisher; Fabian; Scrivener (Perry); Alford (Dibble 64); Ovens (Bolt) 68); Hambly (Clark 50); Liddington; Skelding; Parker (Roques 40); Lord; Du Plessis (Hocking 64); Myerscough (Pape 50).
Doncaster Knights – Carter; Bailey; Hunt; Davey (Luke 71); Bishop; Woodrow (Rees 66); Jones; List (T. Davies 60); Boden; Ta’u (Toke 51); Griffiths; Kenworthy; Soden (Fa’aoso 66); Cook; Planchant Subs not used: W. Davies; Storey. |
