Doncaster Knights 43 Nottingham 29
Forster leads Knights’ Recovery
The Knights stormed to victory after trailing at the break with a second half of power and cohesion, led by a compelling performance by skipper Jason Forster whose hat trick of tries took him to seven in just four games, and the Knights to second place in the table.
The outcome was far from certain in the first half, though. Nottingham had opened with a series of attacks that saw the Knights conceding early penalties, and within the opening five minutes they trailed to two Tom Barlow penalties and had Simon Bunting in the sin bin for successive team offences. Another penalty saw Barlow kick to the corner and the visitors’ pack drive Adam Corcoran over for an eleven point lead before a large crowd had even settled in their seats. It was ten minutes before the Knights got into the Greens half but early signs of the power and organisation of the Knights pack were evident as their first driven maul was collapsed two metres out and Nic Rouse sin binned for the offence. Opting for the corner instead of easy three points, the Knights drove again for the line, but when the maul failed, quick ball to John Benson saw him pick Spencer Davey with a flat pass and the centre was able to burst the tackles to score at the posts to give Benson the simplest of conversions. Further Knights’ recovery was hindered by a strangely error ridden period in which poor upfield kicking, too many knock ons and too many penalties conceded combined to build frustration before Forster scored his first of the afternoon as the half hour approached. For once the Knights did put together a sparkling attack of multi-phase rugby, great support play and skilful offloads, and it was from one of those that Forster popped up five metres out to hit the gap and score. Benson’s extras put the Knights ahead, but almost immediately the scores were tied – David Jackson and Ben Thompson broke upfield, advantage was played at the ensuing tackle as Barlow drifted a cross kick to the right where only Dan Cook was at home against Will Logan but luckily for Cook the ball bounced to touch when Logan looked odds on to score. Back to the penalty and Barlow tied the scores. Before the break, Logan did score. Forster had brought off a try saving tackle in midfield but the Greens quickly worked the ball right, Logan took a long pass on the wing and stood up, the skinned the isolated Wes Davies to get into the corner and give Nottingham a half time lead.
Whatever was said in the dressing room, and with Mark Woodrow now on for the injured Benson, the Knights came out firing on all cylinders. Ben Jones, having a great match behind the scrum, kicked astutely ahead up the line and he and Brad Hunt chased to pin the isolated Thompson and force the penalty on the ground. The kick to the corner saw a well set up catch and drive, off the leading edge of which Forster appeared with the ball to dive to the line. Woodrow converted, and added a penalty shortly after for a tackle offence, and the Knights were five ahead. The bonus point try was a beauty – Nottingham attacking found the midfield defence flat and aggressive, the ball was spilled in contact and an alert Paul Bailey made a wonderful pick up off his bootlaces at speed before immediately releasing Wes Davies with a long pass wide. Davies pinned his ears back to outrun the visitors; defence from 40 metres for a classy finish in the left corner. The Knights should have almost scored another soon after but instead gifted Nottingham seven points! Creating a lovely overlap down the right, Bailey with men outside decided to go alone, was tackled and spilled the ball – and scrum half Rob Springall found himself in possession and set off the 80 metres to run up his left touchline unopposed. Neil Stenhouse added the extras and instead of the game being buried at 36-19 the Greens were back in it at 29-26. The excitement was palpable. Both sides had chances to score, and Brad Hunt came closest when he was adjudged to have been in touch when “scoring”. Finally the relief was evident when another powerful driven maul saw hooker Steve Boden credited with the touchdown, which Woodrow converted with 12 mins left on the clock. Nottingham weren’t done, though, and when John Boden pulled off a great one on one last tackle, he slowed the ball release and went to the sin bin leaving the Knights a man short. Stenhouse, in a defining moment, kicked to the corner but overcooked it and the ball went dead to the huge relief of the home crowd and the frustration of the visiting support who had seen a chance to get back in the game. Stenhouse did take three points as time approached to apparently get a losing bonus point at 36-29 but the Knights denied them even that when in stoppage time Foster completed the hat trick from another trademark driven maul with the Greens defence in disarray. Woodrow converted with the last kick of the game and the Knights went second in the table on the back of a performance that was excellent in parts but showing several notable areas for improvement in next weekend’s away match at one of Clive Griffiths’ old stamping grounds, London Welsh.
Doncaster Knights: J Boden, Hunt, Bailey, Davey, W Davies, Benson (Woodrow 39), Jones (Scully 71), Bunting (List 59), S Boden (Plevey 78), Tau (T Davies 69), D Cook (Kenworthy 59), Gross, Grainger (O Cook 23), Forster, Wilson.
Nottingham: Thompson, Logan, Dodge, Molenaar, Jackson, Barlow (Stenhouse 38), Springall, Parr (Fowkes 63), Duffey (Loney 39), Hopkins, Rouse, Morley, Corcoran (Raven 57), Wheeler (Siddon 65), George.
Referee: Greg Garner (RFU) |
