Roberts

Doncaster Knights’ supporters left Castle Park last night very upbeat following a promising performance in which they beat a Leeds side, that was a mixture of experience and youth including a number of 1st XV regulars, by 18 points to 14.

Before the game Knight’s Director of Rugby Lynn Howells declared his intention of giving every one of his squad a game except prop Stuart Corsar, flanker Zack Farivarz and winger Andy Wright, all of whom were injured. The Leeds starting lineup included fly half Christian Lewis-Pratt, lock James Craig and flanker Chris Walker, all of who will be playing for the Knights this coming season under the dual registration agreement that the club have signed with the Premiership side.

The Knights went ahead with a penalty by new fly half Tristan Roberts after 6 minutes. There was no more score until 35 minutes when Lewis-Pratt finished off a good Carnegie move for a try that he converted himself. However, the Knights hit back almost straight away when they won a scrum ball 15 metres in from touch and on their own 10 metre line. The ball was moved quickly to the left wing where crowd favourite Matt Williams made ground into Leeds territory before linking with powerful, new centre Andy Gates who barged off a couple of attempted tackles before feeding the ball inside to supporting No 8 Ed Jackson who charged over from 20 metres out.

In the second half Doncaster increased their lead with a second penalty after 51 minutes by Roberts and it was game on as both side made changes as all squad members became more and more involved. After 63 minutes Leeds went into the lead for the first time in the match when flanker Danny Paul was driven over from a 5 metre lineout for a try that Lewis-Pratt converted. Doncaster refused to give up and they came back at Leeds but, unfortunately their discipline suffered and they gave away a number of penalties which did not aid them. However, as injury time approached it was Leeds who transgressed, and the Knights scored their winning try with almost the last play of the game. They gained a penalty 35 metres out and head on to the posts but spurned the chance of a draw by kicking at goal and instead opted to kick to the corner. From 5 metres out the Knights outfoxed the Leeds lineout and veteran lock Glen Kenworthy caught the ball unopposed at the front before dashing over for one of the most popular tries ever seen at Castle Park. The try was converted by Assistant Coach Brett Davey who came on for the last 10 minutes for a cameo performance.

After the game Howells said that he was delighted with the win and that his side’s performance had been a massive step up from last week’s at Otley. However he cautioned that there was still a lot more hard work to be done for the very difficult Championship and British and Irish Cup season that lay ahead.

Doncaster starting XV first half: McColl, Flockhart, Devlin, Gates, Goss, Roberts, Hallam, Frazier, Boden, Thiede, Challinor, Parsons, Makaafi, Jackson, Cochrane

Doncaster starting XV second half: McColl, Flockhart, Gates, Briers, Williams, Roberts, Jones, Cahill, Lawrie, Cussack, Kenworthy, Challinor, Boyde, Jackson, Cochrane.