Doncaster Rugby Club

Doncaster were grateful to the Sedgley Park club for taking up this fixture at short notice following the late withdrawal of Otley, who were unable to field a team.  The Donny side, nevertheless, were in no mood to bestow any favours on their visitors from across the Pennines.  The experiment of reversing the half-back role with Simon Greenslade reverting to his familiar no 9 shirt, and Dan Storey moving to no 10, proved a great success, the Donny skipper running the show from the base of the scrum and Storey fitting impressively into the pivot role.  Late changes to the advertised side were necessary, following the call-up of lock Ed Norris to the first team squad, Louis Nel coming in to the no 8 spot and Austin Hayes moving up to join Bev Wilkinson in the boiler room.

With the Castle Park playing surface, as always, in excellent condition, and the Autumn interlude smiling favourably on the propensity for open rugby, the home side wasted no time in putting their mark on what was expected to be a close encounter of the physical kind.  Following the Park kick-off, the visitors were driven back by the howitzer boot of Storey.  The recycled ball was chipped through by full-back Craig Deakin and live-wire openside Rory Van Deventer was on hand to snap up the opening try after just four minutes.

From the restart, Donny immediately re-applied the pressure and, following two attacking line-outs, right wing James Rothwell, who had a superb game, crashed through wide out to put the home side ten points clear in as many minutes.

At this stage of the match it was already clear that the Donny front five had more power than the visitors could handle, and pressure on the Sedgley scrum resulted in a panicky dropped pass which Van Deventer seized upon to race in for his second try.  Storey converted to put les tricouleurs 17 – 3 up after 25 minutes.

Sedgley re-acted with the spirit expected of a renowned rugby club, and following a late tackle of their scrum-half following a quick tap penalty, were rightly awarded a penalty try, the conversion putting the visitors back in contention.  Almost immediately Storey settled the nerves of the home supporters with a neat penalty to extend the lead to twenty points to ten.

The Doncaster scrum continued to be the difference between the two sides in the tight and it was no surprise that this was the source of the next score, Greenslade putting through a clever chip for Rothwell to cross in the corner.

The next Donny try was one for the archives.  Deakin fielded a loose clearance kick in his own half and fed impressive centre Stevie Meyer who shredded the defence before sending fellow centre Carey Thomas over for a great try.  Storey added the extras to put the home side 32 – 10 in front almost on half time.

But Donny weren’t ready for a break just yet.  Immediate pressure from the home side left Rothwell unlucky not to score, but a misguided clearance kick put Deakin in possession who once again fed Meyer.  There will not be many better tries scored at Castle Park, or anywhere else, this season as the South African centre beat player after player in a mesmerising run to the line, crossing untouched under the posts.  Storey converted to put his side out of sight at 39 – 10 at the interval.

The second period started in the same vein as the first – with Donny on the attack.  The home side scrum was again in the ascendancy as the pressure mounted on the Sedgeley line.  A ruck found loose head prop Sosa Sosa cleverly free on the blind side and the alert Greenslade smartly put him over in the corner.

The visitors, to the credit, were not inclined to give up, and were well rewarded with a good push-over try to bring the score back to 44 -15.  The Donny response was a continued application of forward pressure, resulting ultimately in the ball being whisked along the line for Deakin to cross unopposed.

Donny, at this late stage were, perhaps understandably, taking their foot off the throttle and it was the visitors who had the final word with a try in the corner and a fine conversion to close the proceedings at 51 – 22.

This was a fine game of rugby, Doncaster winning through by virtue of superior forward power, intelligent half-back play, and speed of hand and foot in the backs.  Sedgley, for their part, were a skilful and courageous side, and were perhaps unfortunate to meet a confident team on the top of their game.