Doncaster Knights 27 Pertemps Bees 14
Straight Six for Knights
Doncaster continued their unbeaten run with another bonus point win to remain just a point behind Northampton, making their trip to Franklin’s Gardens next Saturday a real top of table affair.
Whether they have the fire power to upset the big names remains to be seen, and there were no clues on show here as the Knights did just enough to see off a side that looked far from a bottom of table outfit.
An impressive opening, with Ollie Cook prominent, saw several chances created before Scott Gray broke upfield with stolen line out ball on half way, and good handling saw winger Donovan Van Vuuren tackled only inches short before the pack in support drove over Steve Boden for the afternoon’s first score. Remarkably, Mark Woodrow failed to convert, ending his 22 kick streak. Van Vuuren, back to his most potent, was again in the action when, as Bees attacked on the home ’22 he drifted in off his wing, spotted the interception opportunity, and set off the length of the field to outpace the despairing defence to make the left corner. This time Woodrow slotted the tough kick with ease. A feisty Bees pack led by ex Knight Russ Earnshaw, always eager to test the Scottish referee’s tolerance levels, wouldn’t lie down and with a series of well structured moves crafted a good try of their own with centre Pete Murchie the finisher after productive offloads had broken the Knights’ defence. Joe Carlisle added the extras and the Bees were very much part of a closely fought (literally) encounter. The half ended with a well crafted home try. Under intense pressure the Bees conceded a penalty that Woodrow kicked to touch. Fast line out ball off the top saw quick handling to the right and Van Vuuren, again in off his wing, this time arced behind the movement to cut a beautiful reverse angle through a bemused defence and race to the posts. Woodrow this time hit the post but a lead of 17-7 and three tries in the bag looked enough at the break.
Van Vuuren’s hat trick on 47 minutes was the try of the day. Forwards and backs combined in a slick move from their own half that had pace, offloads and slick handling all through it before the winger received the ball on his touchline 15 metres out. Stepping one defender he then cut inside past two others to accelerate to the posts in the blink of an eye. Again the extras were added. Both teams then gave as good as they got and both created chances but with the bonus point in the bag and no doubt eyes of the Saints in a week’s time, the intensity levels dropped. The Bees scored a second, pretty much a duplicate of their first, with Reece Spee the try scorer this time and Carlisle again converting; but there was never any danger of the Knights relaxing their grip as they had done late on at Nottingham. Indeed there were a couple of purple patches as they stirred themselves , one of which forced Bees offside in panic defence; and in keeping with the low key closure of the afternoon, Woodrow elected to take the easy three points on offer. One thing everyone agreed on – the Bees won’t be bottom of this league for long.
Check out podcast post match interviews with players off the link on the front page of this website.
Next Saturday the Knights travel to Northampton to take on the Saints at Franklin’s Garden where a crowd of 12000 is expected for what could be a defining moment of the season. With their RFU parachute payment of £2million after Premiership relegation last April, and all their big names still on board, this will be a huge test for the Knights and a real measurement of their progress under Lynn Howells this season.
Doncaster: Carter, Bishop, Hunt, Davey, Van Vuuren, Woodrow, Jones (Nicoud 54), Bunting (Davies 40), Boden, Tau (Rawson 48), Griffiths (Tomes 74), Kenworthy, Cook, Gray, Wilson.
Bees: Spee, Aston, Nurchie, Grove (Maggs 54), Benjamine (Mitchell 66), Carlisle, Knight (Griffiths 72), Long (Davies 49), Pearle (Mullen 49), Bucknell, Davidson (Daish 62), McComb, Matthews, Collins, Earnshaw.
Referee: N Paterson (SRU) |
