In a match that would have been inconceivable just a few seasons ago, Doncaster continued to show progress by holding their multinational international hosts for much of the afternoon to earn the appreciation of a 7600 crowd at The Stoop. Already without props Steve Barretto and Simon Bunting injured, Ngalu Tau had to withdraw before the game with sore ribs giving on loan prop David Young a starting debut. Quins opened the scoring after just two minutes when, after a line out maul was defended well, quick ball right saw winger Simon Keogh make the corner. On the quarter hour they scored again when a long kick out of defence by Jon Benson was fielded on his own 10 metre line by full back Gavin Duffy, who then ran 60 metres down the touchline to beat the cover defence to score. The first quarter of the match was all Quins pressure but Doncaster defended well and gradually began to assert themselves, and an excellent score duly came. They turned over ball inside their own ’22 and Dan Montagu led the charge, offloaded to John Boden whose pass to Donavan Van Vuuren saw the winger cut inside and head for the posts. He was finally caught 15 metres short but was able to pass to centre Brad Hunt in support who dived over for a wonderful try in front of his family members who had flown in from Australia the day before. Boden’s conversion reduced the gap to three points and from then until the break Doncaster were very much in the match.
New signing John Cannon replaced Duncan Murray at half time to make his debut. Benson just missed a penalty chance to equalise early second half, but then the hugely effective Simon Grainger left the field with Achilles trouble (allowing Ryan Peacey to make his debut) and that signalled a Quins’ resurgence. Three close in drives were repulsed but the inevitable happened when prop Alex Rogers finally crashed over to the relief of the huge crowd. Adrian Jarvis added the extras. With 10 minutes left, the bonus point was earned as winger Charlie Amesbury benefited from a quick blind side break and took the inside pass to score. And right at the death, Quins scored another when centre Tosh Masson broke the tired defence to give the scoreline a look that Doncaster’s efforts didn’t deserve. It certainly wasn’t the thrashing that some had predicted and the side will be in good heart when Plymouth Albion come calling next Saturday. With Michael Wood, and James Rothwell making impressive returns to fitness, and Joe van den Berg making his debut, in an excellent 2nd XV win at Castle Park, selection will be very interesting for Pieter Muller this week.
Harlequins: G Duffy, S Keogh, W Greenwood (M Deane 25), T Masson, C Amesbury, A Jarvis, S So’oialo, A Rogers, J Richards (R Nebbett 54), L Ward (T Fuga 54)), P Souza, S Malin, C Robshaw, A Vos, T Diprose.
Doncaster: J Boden, D Van Vuuren, B Hunt, D Murray (J Cannon 40), L Nabaro, J Benson, C Harrison (L Lane 69), R List, J Roddam (S Boden 60), D Young, E Norris, D Cook, R Earnshaw, S Grainger, D Montagu.
Referee: S Lander (RFU)
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