Doncaster Rugby Club

South Yorkshire Trophy

Doncaster Phoenix 45 Thornensians 5

Phoenix advanced another round in the South Yorkshire Trophy courtesy of another convincing win against local rivals Thorne.

The game started with Phoenix playing with the advantage of the elements and for the first few minutes’ exchanges were even with the visitors opting for a mauling game as opposed to the home side rucking game.

With the advantage of the slope Phoenix attacked down the right and into the Thorne 22 where the impressive Morris at 8 evaded the Thorne defensive line to charge through with Conway adding the conversion after 5 minutes.

Again the play for the next five minutes was scrappy and honours even, however on the 10 minute mark the ball was then shipped from left to right where Miller received the ball on the left coming in to the line at some sort of pace to hand off the defence and gleefully breach the Thorne line emerging with his cheeky ‘I should have been here all season’ grin with Hughes knocking over a sweet conversion replacing the injured Conway.

On sixteen minutes after some messy play in the centre Meadows supported the back line to pick up a loose ball and charge down the centre to go under the sticks and an easy two for Hughes

The final home try of the half was a catch and drive on the left with Oliver grounding the ball from short range and Hughes adding the conversion.

Not to be outdone the visitors responded strongly and for the last ten minutes were dominant pressuring the Phoenix line and were unlucky not to score when the winger mistook the 5 yard line for a score and the fly half hit the posts from a penalty attempt. This combined with resilient home defence saw the half end with a 28-0 score-line.

After early even exchanges Phoenix increased the score with a Hughes penalty, before Paul ‘Tommy’ Curzon added his name to the score sheet with a simple backs manoeuvre and a ten yard dart into the corner, with Hughes on fire adding a further two.

Again Thorne not to be outdone responded with a try from no 8 Potts after a strong forward foray in Phoenix territory.

However Phoenix had the last say when on the death they pressured from a scrum 5 yard out and the impressive Greenslade held and turned the scrum half for impact Farley to gratefully receive and gracefully dive over with 100% Hughes completing the 45-5 scoreline.

The next round involves a tricky away visit to Stocksbridge next Wednesday who advanced at the expense of Wheatley Hills.