Knights Hold Bedford Scoreless at Castle Park

Doncaster Knights secured another four-point win at Castle Park this afternoon as they defeated Bedford Blues 24-0.

The first half was a tight affair as both sides jockeyed for the upper hand, with only the Knights scoring in the first 40 minutes.

Handling errors and breakdown infringements hampered both sides in fair measure. The scrum was also an area of contention as referee Nick Wood penalised the sides for early drives, standing up in the set piece and not driving straight. 

Just shy of the half-hour mark, the Knights scored the afternoon’s opening points. Hooker George Roberts spun off the back of a strong driving maul, flicking the ball out to Billy McBryde to allow the fly-half to dive over for the try. With the conversion from Alex Dolly, the Knights took the full seven point score.

The centres showed their worth all throughout the fixture as Joe Margetts put in a particularly noteworthy step which allowed him to clear three defenders whilst Connor Edwards seemed to have an appetite for smashing carries into contact.

An unfortunate yellow card was dealt out to Maliq Holden five minutes before half time, as he looked to have been told by the referee that he had committed cynical play in an attempt to defend his under-threat line.

As the sides re-emerged for the second half, with the hosts holding a short 7-0 lead, the Knights boys knew they had a hard afternoon of graft left ahead of them to keep themselves on the front-foot.

Bedford lost a man to the sin bin just as Holden re-entered the field form it as Blues loosehead prop Joe Conway was shown a yellow card by Nick Wood.

Dolly opted for the posts after 50 minutes to give his side some bargaining room should Bedford have scored.

Minutes later, a beautiful move produced the Knights second try. McBryde missed out two players to find Edwards. The inside centre popped the ball inside to his partner Margetts who ran through the open gate in front of him and danced in for the try. Dolly added the extras and the Knights were 17-0 to the good.

On 70 minutes, the half-back pairing were showing they were just as well-connected as the centres. Dolly whipped out of the Knights defensive line to cleanly intercept a Bedford pass. On a turn, he fed McBryde with the Welshman running in the score. 

The successful conversion from Dolly would prove to be the last points of the day.

One minute shy of the sanctioned 80, another yellow card was dealt out. The debuting Knight, Joe Wrafter – against his former side – was sent off the field for a high tackle forcing the Knights to see things out with 14 men.

Despite some hectic switching from attach to defence and back again, the Knights were able to ring in the final whistle having held their opposition scoreless – surely avenging their early-season loss in the away fixture.

With a final scoreline of 24-0, the Knights secure a four point victory which, in the grand scheme of a competitive Championship, is valuable but Boden’s men will likely want to return to bonus-point ways in their approaching fixtures.

Match Statistics

Knights XV | 15 Harry Davey; 14 Kyle Evans, 13 Joe Margetts, 12 Connor Edwards, 11 Maliq Holden; 10 Billy McBryde, 9 Alex Dolly; 1 Conor Davidson, 2 George Roberts, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 Ben Murphy, 5 Josh Peters, 6 Guido Volpi, 7 Sam Graham (c), 8 Thom Smith.

Replacements | 16 George Edgson, 17 Joe Wrafter, 18 Charlie Connolly, 19 Danny Drake, 20 Jack Davies, 21 Joe Green, 22 Fraser Strachan, 23 George Oram.

Pens: Dolly.

Tries: McBryde 2, Margetts.

Conv: Dolly 3.

Bedford XV | 15 Rich Lane (c); 14 Matt Worley, 13 Andre Robson, 12 Jamie Elliott, 11 Dean Adamson; 10 Louis Grimoldby, 9 Connor Tupai; 1 Joey Conway, 2 Jacob Fields, 3 Ed Prowse, 4 Robin Williams, 5 Luke Frost, 6 Bailey Ransom, 7 Joe Atkinson, 8 Tui Uru.

Replacements | 16 Jack Hughes, 17 Corrie Barrett, 18 Osman Dimen, 19 Jordan Onojaife, 20 Oli Stedman, 21 Geordie Irvine, 22 Reuben Bird-Tulloch, 23 Joel Matavesi.

Referee: Nick Wood