Strong team performance but Chiefs just edge it
Still suffering the absence of several first choice players, Pieter Muller was at least able to give a debut to former Bristol winger Luke Nabaro on an afternoon made for rugby. Doncaster started strongly, taking the game to Exeter and panic in the visitor’s defence won an early penalty for a deliberate knock on. Passing up the easy three points on offer, a quickly taken penalty produced several attacking phases in the Chief’s ’22 but the momentum was lost with a careless forward pass and Exeter breathed a visible sigh of relief and began show their determination. First fly half Adam Staniforth made a worryingly easy break through midfield but the cover defence was sound: then they won a home line out to send danger signals: then a series of attacks saw the referee signal successive advantages for offside in the Doncaster defence before Gary Kingdom accepted the offer of three easy points for the lead. Having reclaimed the restart ball, Doncaster then wasted the opportunity with a poor cross kick, but their next attack saw Exeter’s defence offside and this time Jon Benson did take the three points on offer to tie the scores. All this and only eleven minutes on the clock!
Three minutes later and nearly a sensation – prop Ngalu Tau (prominent in the loose) appeared in the centres and went for an interception on half way. He did get the ball on the stretch but after a series of juggles and fumbles at speed he finally lost control and nobody will ever know if he would have thundered through a vacant defence to the posts! Another chance offered itself shortly after: Duncan Murray and Nabaro made ground up the right and quick transfer left saw Brad Hunt’s pass to Donavan Van Vuuren just behind him with a scoring opportunity beckoning. In Exeter’s next attack, a rolling maul saw their prop George Davis throw a punch on the fringe, with the TJ correctly flagged; but why no card was recommended could only have been because the TJ saw the punch but not the offender. As the stand crowd all did, this was disappointing to say the least! Exeter were increasingly bringing the rolling maul into play, the strength of full time professional forwards used to good effect; and pressure on the home scrum was increasing apparent, forcing 90 degree turnover followed by a Dan Montagu knock on the base. The next scrum collapsed under the pressure and Kingdom kicked the penalty on the half hour for the lead. A clever Benson chip over the defence almost bounced right for the speedy Nabaro: Tau and Montagu combined well to get into the Chief’s ’22 but the pass to John Boden was poor; and another good handling move ended with the ball lost in tackle contact. Having weathered the storm, Exeter then applied the pressure until the break, only heroic last gasp tackles by Boden on Ward at the corner flag, and by Van Vuuren under Alistair Murdock in in-goal, keeping the visitors off the score board. A 6-3 Exeter lead at the break left the game wide open for the taking.
The two Steves, Barretto and Boden, replaced Richard List and Scott Plevey at half time, and again Doncaster started positively getting deep into the Chief’s ’22 when a handling error was the first of two that cost Doncaster 14 points and the match. Doncaster gifted possession to the lively Stephen Ward who attacked from deep in defence and set off the move that saw the always impressive Richard Baxter end it with a scoring pass back to Ward for an easy walk in at the posts to make Kingdom’s extras a formality. But the home response was immediate! From the restart, the ball came to Montagu. He burst through the defence to the ’22 and with great skill, offloaded in the tackle to Nabaro at pace to race into the right corner. Benson steered the touchline kick between the posts for a conversion the absent Rob Liley would have been proud of, and it was definitely game on again!
Minutes later and Barretto was in the sin bin, guilty of slowing Chief’s ball on the ground on the home ’22, and Kingdom added extra punishment with three easy points. The added pressure of the side this caused might then have been responsible for a series of handling errors in the ensuing minutes, those by Boden and Nabaro wasting promising positions; but it was the one by Montagu that was in the end catastrophic. In a repeat of a similar event the previous week at Bedford, scrum ball at Eight was popped to scrum half but intercepted, this time by scrum half Kevin Barrett who sprinted in from half way with despairing chasers unable to catch him. Kingdom’s conversion opened the lead to 10-23; but as the crowd were starting to think “game over” back came Muller’s men with the try of the afternoon. Chief’s skipper Sam Blythe knocked on the restart kick to set up the opportunity: Duncan Murray ran clever decoy as Brad Hunt’s delightful over the shoulder pass found Van Vuuren streaking through the centres on an angle with the pace to beat the full back to the posts. Benson converted and it was game on again with the last quarter to come!
Exeter then exerted huge pressure and were camped in the home ’22 for a continuous eleven minute period, at one stage committing eleven men to one long rolling maul, but the home defence was immense and disciplined, giving no penalties away during the period. Finally the siege was broken with turnover ball won that saw Boden and Van Vuuren fast up the left wing. Tau took the move on into the Exeter ’22 where an attacking scrum ensued – quick ball left saw Murray half break but his pass to Van Vuuren was deemed forward when a score was likely and the opportunity was lost. Staniforth kicked deep into the Doncaster ’22 where they lost their own line out, but another huge tackle by Simon Grainger (who had several) stopped the Chiefs in their tracks, but the award of the ensuing scrum to Exeter was poor reward for Grainger’s skill in turning the ball carrier and moving him back. This set up yet another Exeter siege in the home ’22 and again heroic and disciplined defence kept the Chiefs out, exemplified by Jimmy Rule who somehow got under Barrett to hold him up over the goal line. The last play of the game was at the other end. This never say die Doncaster team broke out one last time after winning turnover ball, Van Vuuren kicked ahead to cause Exeter panic and a scrum was awarded. More Doncaster attacking movements but the last of these ended when an awful pass to the charging Tau couldn’t be taken on his bootlaces, the game had gone. A 17-23 defeat at least won a losing bonus point in a match which could have been won. The harsh reality is that two handling errors cost 14 points – but the team finally did play like a team; and it will be a stronger one next Saturday when Coventry come to Castle Park (2.30pm).
Doncaster: Boden, Van Vuuren, Hunt, Murray, Nabaro. Benson, Harrison (Lane 78), List (Barretto 40), Plevey (S Boden 40), Tau, Norris, (Rule 53) D Cook, Earnshaw, Grainger, Montagu (O Cook 78)
Exeter: Kingdom, M Fatialofa (Catling 71), J Fatialofa, Ward, Murdoch, Staniforth, Barrett (Wilson 78), Porte (Jenkins 63), Blythe, Davis, Gabey (Bentley 53), Brown, Walker (Willis 71), Roques, Baxter.
Referee: Andrew Small (RFU) |
