Doncaster Rugby Club

Northampton Saints 39 Doncaster Knights 17

Knights just outpaced at the Gardens

Doncaster arrived at the Gardens as a team on a roll with their six wins from six. And after collecting their own kick-off the Knights dominated the first 25 minutes. Indeed they set about looking for a score right from the off with Simon Grainger prominent and their early progress only halted when Glen Wilson was penalised holding onto the ball in contact.

Mark Woodrow missed a 45-metre drop-goal attempt in the 12th minute and there were further palpitations when Scott Gray’s kick ahead rebounded off a home player for a Knights five-metre lineout. Sean Tomes was pinged this time for holding on but it appeared only a matter of time before the visitors scored.

Much of the possession Saints were getting at this stage was being kicked away on the back foot and even when offensive moves were on they were ended with the ball going to ground under ferocious Knights’ tackling.

It took eight minutes for Saints to get out of their half, and another eight before they were back again in Knights territory. Given the way the rest of the first quarter was going it was perhaps inevitable that it would lead to a score to the visitors.

A wayward pass was picked up and kicked cross-field by Woodrow. Justin Bishop collected, beat Bruce Reihana and though he was caught by James Downey, Scott Gray was in support to take the offload to charge to the line for an excellent try. Woodrow nailed the conversion to give the Knights a thoroughly well deserved 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. It could have been more.

Woodrow missed a long penalty five minutes later and would miss another 10 minutes after that. Saints made Doncaster’s fly-half pay for his mistakes by first equalising though Reihana then taking the lead through Stephen Myler.

Reihana finished off a superb move in the 28^th minute begun by Neil Starling’s tackle-busting midfield break. Carlos Spencer was in support with some midfield magic and the Knights’ defensive line hadn’t recovered when the ball went left to Reihana for the score. Myler, on for Barry Everitt, converted and added a penalty in the 36th minute. Then two minutes later he had the straightforward task of converting Chris Ashton’s try. Tom Smith’s opportunism set up the score with a cheeky 22-metre drop-out to Starling and when Ashton got the ball he had everything to do from fully 80 metres. Three sidesteps in quick succession wrong footed the defenders completely and then the acceleration took the winger clean into space and between the sticks in the flash of an eye. It was a worthy score to end the first half with Saints having breathing space at 17 points to 7, but the talk was all of a wonderful Knights’ first 25 minutes that had the exiled Premiership side on the back foot.

The Saints came out after the break as if on fire and quickly added a third try. Myler put in a clever cross kick that was always eluding Donavan Van Vuuren and was neatly taken on the gallop by Aston and although he was caught, his inside offload to the supporting Spencer saw the All Black given a free ride to the posts. Aston then took out Brad Hunt with a shoulder tackle and the excellent referee Dave Pearson sent him to the sin bin. Woodrow took the three points on offer. The game at this point was close to boiling point and it wasn’t entirely surprising when on 55 minutes a huge fight broke out. Sean Tomes certainly used a boot at a ruck, and that’s what the touch judge saw – Tomes saw yellow and the man advantage was wiped out. But many others claimed that a Saints’ prop threw the big punch that set off the melee, something the officials didn’t see. But it all served to highlight that this was a full frontal affair between the two unbeaten sides in the league and that the Knights hadn’t come to be intimidated.

Carlos Spencer then once again showed his class with a run from his own ’22 that took play up field. Another Myler cross kick caused panic before the Knights were short of men, allowing Damien Browne to benefit from the overlap and a simple score. At the other end Woodrow chose not to take simple points from a penalty and went for the corner. Ollie Cook, on for Wilson, looked to have scored only to have been adjudged guilty of double movement. But the Knights’ efforts were rewarded when Gray, having a superb afternoon, benefited from Woodrow’s quick thinking. Another kickable penalty was instead quickly taken by the little maestro who jinxed through several bemused defenders before putting Gray clear to the line. The conversion brought the score to 29-17 and for a few minutes there seemed every chance of at least a losing bonus point as the Knights threw everything they had left at the Saints, who responded by bringing on the Sean Lamont, fresh from his successful times with Scotland at the World Cup. In the last minutes of the game he was involved twice, and two scores resulted. First he collected loose ball and charged up the left wing, taking three defenders to stop him – recycled ball found the Knights offside and Myler showed how important killing off the chance of a Knights’ bonus was by taking three points. At 32-17 the score line was arguably a touch harsh on the visitors but it was harsher still when with the last move of the match, with Doncaster attacking the home line, tired bodies spilled contact ball, Lamont picked up and streaked away for a clear 80 metre run. Myler’s extras made it 39-17 and certainly gave the score line a look it did not deserve.

There was disappointment but no sense of dejection in the Knights’ camp at the final whistle. They had measured themselves against what is still a Premiership side. They had matched them at the set pieces, and at ruck and maul. The difference was the pace and firepower that took the chances on offer. A pulsating affair watched by 11,105 spectators. The only gripe was the cost of entry - £40 or £30 to sit, and £20 to stand. Next Saturday the Knights travel across to Manchester and a meeting with old rivals Sedgley Park (3pm).

Watch Scott Gray's thoughts on the game on our Video Podcast section off the website front page.

Northampton Saints – Spencer (Lamont 74mins); Ashton, Starling, Downey, Reihana; Everitt (Myler 19mins), Vass; Smith (Tonga’uiha 63mins), Shields, Stewart, Browne (Lord 63mins), Rae, Tupai (Rudzki 63mins), Fox, Hopley.

Doncaster Knights – W Davies; Bishop, Hunt, Davey (Luke 71mins), Van Vuuren (Carter 63mins); Woodrow, Nicoud; T Davies, Boden (Rawson 51mins), Tau (List 51mins), Tomes, Kenworthy, Grainger, Gray, Wilson (Cook 63mins).

Referee: Dave Pearson (RFU)

Scorers:
Northampton Saints – Tries: Reihana, Ashton, Spencer, Ashton, Lamont; Cons: Myler (3); Pens: Myler (2).

Doncaster Knights – Tries: Gray (2); Cons: Woodrow (2); Pen: Woodrow.