Cambridge (A) – 12/04/2025

17Cambridge

52Doncaster Knights

3:00 pm · April 12, 2025
league

Doncaster Knights kicked off the scores early as top try scorer Jordan Olowofela added another to his tally. Ollie Fox sent a long ball out to Telusa Veainu, who sent another big pass out to Olowofela, setting him up to finish in the corner. Russell Bennett added the extras 0-7. 

Doncaster carried the momentum into the next re-start as Cambridge kicked the ball dead, giving Doncaster a mid-field scrum, where they showed great dominance to win a penalty. 

Bennett kicked us into the 22 and the Knights continued to attack. Morgan Strong broke through the defence to carry up to the line, before popping the ball across to Rhys Tait. Tait stretched the ball over the line to finish the job. Bennett added another two, 0-14. 

Cambridge then worked their way up to the line and their centre ran a hard line to score their first. 5-14. 

Minutes later, the Knights reacted with another score. Bennett broke the line and shifted the ball across to Lewis Thiede. Thiede carried into open space before quickly moving the ball across to a supporting Ollie Fox. Fox showed brilliant speed to run the try in from 20m out. Bennett  extended the lead, 5-21. 

There was no score for the next ten minutes, but some great defensive efforts from the Knights, including a whole handful of scrum penalties. 

An overthrown Donny line out gave the hosts a chance to attack. Their fly half chipped the ball through and managed to gather it over the line. They added the conversion, 12-21. 

The Knights soon ensured they scored the final try of the half. The visitors put the ball through the hands of nearly all the backs, before Fox carried up to the line. Veainu popped the ball off the base of the ruck to Strong, who does a little spin to get over the whitewash. Bennett added the conversion. Half time score, 12-28. 

Donny began the second half with fantastic work rate. Cambridge found themselves with a line out on their attacking 22, but Adam Hopkinson disrupted the ball, allowing George Roberts to catch it. 

Roberts carried the ball into our half and Bennett then followed it up with a nice chip through to the try line. Cambridge beat us to the ball but at the next phase, Hopkinson turned the ball over at the breakdown. 

Just a few phases later, we moved the ball out wide to Aidan Cross, who displayed a superb single-handed finish, while avoiding the touchline. Bennett added another two from a difficult kick out wide, 12-35. 

Ben Murphy picked the ball from the back of a breakdown and carried into space. Fox ran the support line again, which meant he could carry half the pitch to score his second of the game. 12-40. 

Cambridge then displayed the strength of their backline to score a nice try. They distributed the ball between countless players, before going over in the corner. 17-40

Bennett spotted nobody in the back field for Cambridge, so placed a nice kick up to the 5m line, gaining big territory for the Knights. Cross soon found a second try as Alex Dolly threw a well timed pass out to open the gap. Bennett added the conversion, 17-47. 

Cambridge continued to fight for more points and worked their way up to the try line, but a turnover from Morgan Strong meant the Knights could attack again. 

Donny worked up to the opposing try line, and a huge maul from the forwards meant Fred Davies could get himself onto the score sheet. Full time score, 17-52. 

Team Lineups

Conor Davidson 1 Jake Ellwood

George Roberts 2 Ben Brownlie

Lewis Thiede 3 Jake Bridges

Ben Murphy (C) 4 Kayde Sylvester

Josh Williams 5 Gareth Baxter

Adam Hopkinson 6 Iestyn Rees

Rhys Tait 7 Joseph Gaffan

Morgan Strong 8 Reuben Logan

Ollie Fox 9 Sam Edwards

Russell Bennett 10 Louis Grimoldby (C)

Jordan Olowofela 11 Eli Caven

Zach Kerr 12 Matt Williams

George Wacokecoke 13 Matt Hema

Obi Ene 14 Will Glister

Telusa Veainu 15 Ewan Baker

Replacements

Fred Davies 16 Morgan Veness

Andrew Turner 17 Oli Scola

Patreece Bell 18 Billy Walker

Cory Teague 19 Matt Dawson

Archie Smeaton 20 Ben Adams

Alex Dolly 21 Ruaridh Dawson

Morgan Bunting 22 Sam Hanks

Aidan Cross 23 Joe Tarrant

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