NEWBURY 22 DONCASTER KNIGHTS 49
League leaders Doncaster travelled to Newbury with number of changes to the side that won at home to Cornish All Blacks last weekend. Anthony Carter started at fullback to allow Wes Davies to move to the wing in place of Donavan Van Vuuren; at centre Brad Hunt was recalled in place of the injured Scott Young; at hooker Steve Boden returned in place of Ben Phillips who broke his hand last week, prop Simon Bunting came in for Ngalu Tau who moved to the bench; Bryn Griffiths replaced the injured Glen Kenworthy at lock; and Ollie Cook returned at flanker in place of the injured Scott Gray.
Doncaster went ahead after only 2 mins when, following a line out on the Newbury 22, skipper Glen Wilson drove into the heart of the Newbury defence before setting up s series of driving rucks before the ball was moved quickly to the right where winger Justin Bishop was stopped just short. From the resulting ruck the ball was recycled to the left where big lock Sean Tomes crashed over between the posts to give fly half Mark Woodrow an easy conversion. After Newbury missed a penalty from 35 metres when Doncaster were penalised for a high tackle, the Knights extended their lead. Flanker Ollie Cook caught a poor Newbury clearance on halfway before making ground to link up with his fellow forwards and, when they were slowed, the ball was fed to centre Spencer Davey who broke through to feed his fellow centre Brad Hunt who dived over. Woodrow’s conversion put the Knights into a 14 points lead. With 10 minutes gone Doncaster were penalised in midfield from a lineout and Newbury fly half Tim Walsh kicked a penalty from 35 metres. The Knights put Newbury under intense pressure and they scored almost two identical tries after 18 and 21 minutes from driving lineouts 10 metres from the home line. The two tries were credited to flanker Simon Grainger and lock Bryn Griffiths, both of which were converted by Woodrow. With 33 minutes gone Knights winger Wes Davies was pulled down inches short after a break from inside his own half but, shortly afterwards, Knights scored their fifth try. From a lineout on the halfway, lock Griffiths made ground before setting up ruck ball which was then quickly moved to the right and, in spite of a poor pass which landed in front of Bishop, the Knights backs’ player/coach picked up to crash through the defence to score. Woodrow’s excellent conversion from wide out took Doncaster into a 35 points to 3 half-time lead.
At the interval big Sean Tomes came off with an ankle injury and he was replaced by Chris Planchant making his 1st XV debut. Within 2 minutes Doncaster increased their lead when, following a scrum well inside their own half, Davey broke through 60 metres out before giving the scoring pass to Hunt who raced the last 20 metres to the line for a try that Woodrow goaled. Over the next 12 minutes the Knights made four substitutions but it was a Newbury substitute Mark Simpson-Daniel who scored their opening try when he ran over totally unopposed following a lineout 15 metres out to give Walsh an easy conversion. Following this Doncaster made two more replacements before winger Wes Davies was yellow carded with 15 minutes left. At this point Newbury threw caution to the wind and, after good interpassing between backs and forwards, their flanker Gregor Haytor beat desperate Knights’ defence to dive over for a try that Walsh converted. With 5 minutes left the Knights used their last substitute when Scott Plevey replaced Steve Boden at hooker. As the game went into injury time, Doncaster moved the ball to the right after winning the ball midfield on the Newbury 10 metre line but, unfortunately, the pass was intercepted by home centre Sebastian Perkins who just beat the covering Knight’s defence to score wide out. Doncaster had the last score however when Cook gathered sloppy ball following a lineout steal by Newbury and, after he was stopped just short, Woodrow sidestepped his way through the defence for the try. Woodrow’s conversion gave him a 100% kicking record and 19 points in an emphatic Knights victory by 49 points to 22.
After the match Doncaster’s Director of Rugby praised his side for their first half performance which he thought was excellent but expressed his disappointment at the way they failed to turn the screw in the second half making to sort of mistakes that had allowed Newbury to score three tries. He said it was all about sustaining pressure – all the quality sides play for 80 minutes and this we failed to do. On Monday, the Knights’ “A” XV are at home to neighbours Rotherham and several of the Doncaster substitutes from this game are expected to appear (KO 7.30pm).
Prop Richard List's take on the game can be viewed with broadband at: http://www.doncast.net/joomla/media/knights/richardlist.wmv
Next Saturday the Knights are at home against newly promoted Esher, looking to keep the pressure on Northampton at the top of the table. Kick off is at 2.30pm.
Newbury: C Ashwin; J Hylton; D Rees; S Perkins; M Nutt; T Walsh; D Smaje (M Simpson-Daniel 48); M Irish (R Faulkner 64); A Dalgleish (O Campbell 25 – M Irish 72); W Thompson; I Ashcroft-Leigh; T Radbourne (D Abbott 51); G Haytor; C Morgan; T Brown;
Doncaster Knights A Carter; J Bishop (P Bailey 60); B Hunt; S Davey; W Davies; M Woodrow; 9 A Nicoud (D Scully 55); S Bunting (R List 44); S Boden (S Plevey 75); J Rawson (N T’au 51); S Tomes (C Planchant 40); B Griffiths; O Cook; S Grainger; G Wilson (M Soden 63)
Referee: D Richards (RFU) |
