Doncaster Knights 17 Coventry 25
No Xmas Cheer for Woeful Knights
Castle Park has seen more than its share of poor performances this season, but this was easily the worst of all. Against a side who had lost their previous six matches, and whose long injury list meant they brought only 21 fit players with them – Coach Brett Davey had to play at ten – the Knights were expected to run riot. Instead they played with little ambition, no inspiration and came off second best in every department. That their man of the match was the groundsman, who had managed against the frosts to produce an excellent playing surface, said it all.
After the match coach Lynn Howells refused interviews, and wouldn’t allow his players to say anything. There will surely be ructions in the camp in the week ahead of a Xmas trip to Launceston. New Tongan international signing Lisiate Fa’aoso, watching from the sidelines, must have wondered what he had let himself in for. It was that bad. Only two players looked up for the game. Toma Toke, making his first start, was strong in the scrum and ran powerfully in the loose. Strangely he was replaced with half an hour to play when he still looked lively, while his countryman Ngalu Tau looked out on his feet. The other to lift home spirits was Paul Bailey, sharp every time he got the ball – sadly it was not often as it rarely got beyond inside centre.
Ben Russell had missed Coventry’s first scoring chance, his penalty just wide after Wes Davies had been caught under a high kick, isolated and holding on too long. Cerith Rees did succeed with his first chance minutes later after Spencer Davey and Scott Gray combined to make a line break, but nobody was on Gray’s shoulder to take the critical pass and the reward was luckily a needless Coventry penalty offence. The Knights were then penalised for a Toke punch, the ball kicked to the left for a line out, and the Coventry backs showed how easy it was to score by passing quickly right for Kurt Johnson, even picking up an awful pass, to get into the right corner. Bryn Griffiths then was found guilty of using an elbow off the ball and the Knights’ cause not helped by his 10 minutes in the sin bin. Nothing was going right – every 50/50 ball was being won by a determined Coventry. Twice before the break Ben Jones made long breaks but both times he was hauled down short and the ball lost in subsequent contact to let Coventry off the hook when tries should have been a formality. Rees was even offered a late chance for three points on the break but his kick was off target. There was very little Xmas cheer at half time.
Still, it was expected that a cure would be found in the dressing room, and it did look possible as Gray burst clear and when brought down near the visitors’ line, his offload to Chris Planchant was perfect and the try so clinically achieved that there was suddenly nobody in the ground who didn’t expect the Knights to then stretch clear. That they didn’t score again until the last move of the match, while Coventry crafted two simple tries, defied belief. Coventry proceeded to dominate possession and territory: Doncaster defended stoutly; but when they had chances to get out of their own half, they kicked poorly from hand for the big Coventry forwards to come charging back at them with some venom; and a string of not straight line out throws on a still day, inexcusable, kept gifting possession back to a delighted Coventry. Russell kicked two penalties needlessly conceded (scrum binding and backs offside at a line out) to get them ahead. A four man overlap came from nowhere for Darren Clayton to stroll under the posts. And when yet another touch kick missed, Hendry Rheeders trundled up the touchline deep into the home ’22 and recycled ball saw Jack Cobham score untouched in the left corner. Russell’s touchline conversion ultimately cost the home side a losing bonus point and at that stage Coventry were 15 points ahead. It was to almost complete silence that with the last move of the game, after Wes Davies had produced a strong run into the Coventry ’22, Tom Davies flopped over for a try, which Woodrow converted, that was absolutely no consolation at all. The better side won on the day.
A Coventry commentator did say that this was their best performance of a terrible season for them. There better be a hugely positive reaction in the next two games, Launceston away and Newbury at home, after two defeats in a row and especially the manner of this one.
Doncaster: Davies W, Bailey, Hunt, Davey, Van Vuuren (Bishop 40), Rees (Woodrow 52), Toke (List 52), Boden (c) (Davies T 56), Tau (Rawson 62), Griffiths, Kenworthy, Gray, Grainger (Cook 56), Planchant.
Coventry: Dorrian, Johnson, Danders, Russell (c), Cobden, Davey (Toft 53), Jones (Walls 65), Maddocks, Whitehead, Brits, Hodge (Rheeders 56), Nimmo, Miller, Clayton, McGlone.
Referee: A Hartwell (RFU) |
