With an hour gone and Doncaster cruising at 26-6 this was looking like a comfortable bonus point win at Castle Park. Such was the comfort that they declined the simplest of three point offers under the Bees posts and opted instead for a scrum, from which they knocked on. This combined with injury to Rob Liley, making his first start of the season after breaking an ankle in August, to what appears to be a similar injury, and all sense of purpose vanished. Two quick Bees converted tries from Tim Walsh and Nick Baxter narrowed the gap to six points going into stoppage time and home nerves were jangling!
Despite falling behind early to a Ryan Lamb penalty for a high tackle in the opening minute, Doncaster, buoyed by Liley’s return and the inclusion of Nick Wakley back on loan from Sale Sharks, began with purpose and the early pressure gave Liley two penalties he kicked with ease. The lead should have been extended when Donovan Van Vuuren couldn’t hold an awful pass behind him with the line at his mercy but the first try wasn’t long in coming. From fast line out ball, Wakley powerfully burst the tackle and broke upfield at pace. With the full back facing him, he timed his pass perfectly to the supporting Joe van den Berg who had the easiest of finishes at the posts. The conversion, and another Liley penalty, extended the lead and a sharp Doncaster looked always likely to score again but contrived to spill ball too often and they lost momentum. Before the break the Bees began to assert themselves with the ever dangerous Baxter twice threatening, only a fantastic Wakley tackle saving a certain score.
After the break the Bees lost lock Alex Davidson to the sin bin for use of the boot at a ruck, from which Liley took three points, but Doncaster couldn’t use the man advantage as the Bees fought back. Their pressure found their hosts offside at a maul near their posts and Lamb reduced the gap but when Doncaster returned to the Bees ’22, a powerful maul saw hooker Steve Boden driven over for his maiden try just past the hour. Then things went awry – Liley’s loss and John Boden’s time in the sin bin for deliberate offside saw disarray in the backs and a sense of loss of leadership as the Bees sneaked in for two simple tries and at 26-20 into stoppage time it required one strong surge to bag the points. It came from 14 man Doncaster who worked their way upfield in a series of phases that ended with Van Vuuren diving into the left corner in the 85th minute to make the game safe. Even then this bizarre late period wasn’t over - with the last move of the match, and the home defence again nowhere to be seen, a clever chip saw Tom Beim gather and stroll under the posts to secure a losing bonus point that had looked impossible to imagine 20 minutes earlier. Xmas had come early for the Bees but it was still a fourth consecutive home win for Doncaster. The big downside is Rob Liley’s injury which will be assessed this week, but his feeling is that it could be very similar, on the same ankle, to what happened pre season at Sale. He made such a difference to the backs on his return and was deservedly the Supporters’ Club man of the match. There is also concern about Joe van den Berg who came off with what looks like a recurrence of the shoulder injury that delayed his appearance in the side this season. Pieter Muller, who was furious about the way the side lost its way in the closing stages, at least has until 27th December before the next game (at home v Sedgley Park) to get a back line fit for active service.
Doncaster: J Boden, D Van Vuuren, N Wakley, J vd Berg (L Lane 75), M Wood, R Liley (D Murray 55), C Harrison, R List (S Bunting 50), S Boden, N Tau, G Kenworthy (E Norris 63), D Cook, R Earnshaw, S Grainger, D Montagu (R Peacey 69).
Bees: D Knight, T Beim, A Billig, M Davies (Gill 63), N Baxter, R Lamb, P Knight (T Walsh 55), A LeChevalier, M Miles (Wordley 72), E Lewis (Leilua 58), A Davidson, D White, E Orgee (Mahe 60), T Tamaru (Gerry 75), J Jenner.
Referee: T Wigglesworth (RFU) |
