Match Report courtesy of John Lowe
BEDFORD BLUES 14 DONCASTER KNIGHTS 16
Second place Doncaster Knights travelled to sixth place Bedford with four changes from the side that disappointingly lost at home last week. In the pack Tom Davies was preferred to Simon Bunting at loose-head prop; Bryn Griffiths was recalled at lock in place of Sean Tomes and Scott Gray returned after illness in place of Chris Planchant. In the backs, Brad Hunt came in at centre in place of injured player/coach Justin Bishop.
Doncaster won the toss and elected to play up the famed Bedford slope for the first half. After surviving early Bedford pressure the Knights fought their way into the opposition half and fly half Mark Woodrow put them ahead after 4 minutes with a penalty from 40 metres. Bedford immediately attacked Doncaster and their No 8 Rory McKay was tackled head on just short by Knights fullback Anthony Carter who was knocked out in the process. From the ruck following the tackle the Knights were penalised and Bedford’s Canadian international fullback James Pritchard kicked an equalising penalty from 20 metres out. At this point Carter was replaced by Wes Davies moving to fullback and Paul Bailey taking his place on the wing. Doncaster then had to survive a period of intense pressure as Bedford sought to use their slope but play came to a halt after 11 minutes when the referee blew up after a mass brawl in front of the Doncaster posts. Unbelievably Doncaster lock Bryn Griffiths was the only player picked out by the officials and he received a yellow card with Pritchard putting Bedford ahead from the resultant penalty. After 17 minutes there was another fight involving both sides No 12s with both being yellow carded although Doncaster’s centre Tom Luke was clearly punched several times after the referee had blown up. With 20 minutes gone a speculative up and under midfield by Doncaster was caught by Bedford and they took advantage of their numeric advantage to outflank the Knight’s defence down the left before the final pass allowed lock Arthur Brenton to crash over wide out for a try. Pritchard’s kick was unsuccessful and it was Doncaster who then took the game back to Bedford. After 30 minutes, and with both sides back to full strength, Bedford’s lock Mouritz Botha was yellow carded for deliberately slowing Doncaster ball. The penalty was kicked to the corner and this lead to a period of sustained Knights’ pressure. From a 5 metre scrum on the right the ball was moved quickly to the left and then back across field where Doncaster winger Paul Bailey beat the covering defence to score in the corner. Woodrow’s excellent conversion from touch put Knights back to within a single point of Bedford. Unfortunately, as the half entered injury time, Doncaster were penalised for pulling down a lineout and Pritchard extended the Blues lead with a penalty from 25 metres to make it 14-10 at the break.
With the Knights now having the advantage of the significant Bedford slope they pinned the home side inside their own 22 opting for two 5 metre lineouts when the Blues were penalised. However Doncaster failed to capitalise on these two scoring opportunities and when the third chance was offered they opted for goal and Woodrow kicked his second penalty of the day, this time from 30 metres. With the difference now down to a single point, the next 20 minutes became a war of attrition as both sides tried to get the decisive score in the face of outstanding defensive performances. With both sides making substitutions to try to break the stalemate and the clock running down, the Blues were penalised 25 metres out in front of their posts and Woodrow’s successful kick put Doncaster back in front with 4 minutes to go. This reverse sparked the home side into a frantic last couple of minutes on the attack with the Knights’ defence holding firm in spite of intense pressure. In the third minute of injury time, and with the referee poised to blow for time, the Knights were penalised for not rolling away from a ruck. The referee then caused total confusion as he moved the point of the penalty 10 metres back but into midfield to the site of an earlier offence from which he had been playing advantage. With Doncaster fearing an exact repeat of last year’s game when they lost deep in injury time, Pritchard’s 40 metre kick appeared to be going over but drifted just wide to narrowly miss and give the Knights a hard fought but very deserved victory and to become the second team after Northampton Saints this season to win away at Bedford’s Goldington Road fortress.
After the game Doncaster’s Director of Rugby Lynn Howells was delighted to beat his old “pupil” Mike Rayer’s Bedford team in spite of a very inconsistent performance by the referee. In spite of the plethora of yellow cards, and both sides playing for significant periods of the game with men off, all the players managed to keep focussed with Knights’ flanker Simon Grainger outstanding. Howells thought that the Knights wanted to win more than the Blues and showed the type of commitment necessary to retain their position near the top of the table. Even thought the Knights’ lineout did not function well, he felt that their scrummage was superior which, in the second half, allowed his team to play most of the game around the Bedford 22. Howell’s praised the Knights’ travelling support for their vocal encouragement in difficult circumstances. The view of the Doncasters’ supporters was that the referee did his best to ruin a game in spite of the fact that both sides wanted to play rugby.
BEDFORD BLUES: 15 James Pritchard; 14 Craig Moir; 13 Brendan Burke; 12 Tom Youngs (Matt Allen 80); 11 Alex Page; 10 Ben Patson; 9 Karl Dickson; 1 Marco Cecere (Matt Volland 56); 2 Dan Richmond; 3 Dan Cole; 4 Mouritz Botha; 5 Arthur Brenton (Jon Phillips 56); 6 Nic Strauss; 7 Sacha Harding; 8 Rory McKay (Ben Piennar 60) Subs Not Used Greg Sammons; Jon Elrick and Liam Roberts
DONCASTER KNIGHTS: 15 Anthony Carter (Paul Bailey 6); 14 Wes Davies; 13 Brad Hunt; 12 Tom Luke; 11 Donavan Van Vuuren; 10 Mark Woodrow; 9 Ben Jones; 1 Tom Davies; 2 Steve Boden; 3 Ngalu Tau (Jon Rawson 60); 4 Bryn Griffiths; 5 Glen Kenworthy; 6 Scott Gray; 7 Simon Grainger; 8 Glen Wilson (Chris Planchant 69) Subs Not Used Richard List; Mark Soden; Ollie Cook and Dave Scully
REFEREE: Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts (RFU)
Attendance: 2,549.
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