Doncaster Rugby Club

Yorkshire 3

Doncaster Phoenix 17 Moortown 10

Doncaster Phoenix picked up from the disappointment of last week to keep promotion hopes alive with a win that was far from exuberant but a win all the same.

The side was exactly the same as the week previous and all boded well from an exhilarating warm up and poignant words from skipper and aging warhorse Longworth. However as per the week before it was the visitors who scored the early blood. After 5 minutes and with the slope and elements to Moortown’s advantage they used the conditions well to achieve a dominant position 15 yards out. The fly half put a speculative kick in over the Phoenix defence which Elliot chased back to cover, due to oddity of the ball it cruelly spinned from Elliot’s grasp for the winger to pounce on in the score zone for a five point lead.

For the next ten minutes the exchanges were even and to be honest I would imagine did not exhilarate the spectators to warm to the game. Phoenix then did respond to gain field position and pushed the visitors with Jazanowski and Germaine looking to punch holes with some strong running. Whilst not sensing the score line they did concede two penalties which allowed the trusty boot of Millar for Phoenix to achieve a point advantage.

With half time beckoning the visitors took back the lead with a try courtesy of the visiting backs looking to spin the ball wide, which whilst not fluent caught the home side stretched and took a 10-6 lead into the break.

Phoenix turned round with the all the external elements to the home advantage and Phoenix not convincing in utilising the slope did enough to allow them to use the slope to gain the territory they required to allow Millar to boot a further two penalties for Phoenix to gain the ascendancy (this word is dedicated to Charles Stuart in Hong Kong) and achieve a the slenderest of leads of two points.

With ten minutes remaining Phoenix still maintained the upper hand courtesy of the incline which allowed the pack to achieve a dominance that saw Big Al Kaihau pick the ball up from short range and barge over for the final score of the day that secured the points for a 17-10 final score line.

The game ended with Phoenix maintaining the majority of the possession that saw them secure the points in a game that whilst not pretty ensured a further two league points with Thorne going down at Yarnbury (next week’s visitors) ensures that the outcome of this seasons encounters in Yorkshire 3 is far from decided and hopefully Phoenix will be one of the teams in the mix at the end.