Doncaster Knights 29-46 Cornish Pirates.

The Knights suffered a first Championship defeat of the season on Castle Park soil versus Cornish Pirates in an error strewn display in front of the Sky cameras.

The recent tradition of the side losing when a player reaches a landmark appearance continued as Richard List’s 200^th game ended the same way as Ben Hunter and Michael Hills’ 100^th.

To the Knights credit they demonstrated attacking endeavor until the very end and, despite the score line, were only outscored by a single try in an 11-try exhibition at Castle Park.

The Pirates looked bright from the start and controlled early spells of possession without really threatening the Knights line. Good defense kept the visitors at bay but early questions were certainly being asked. Despite this the first opportunity for points went the Knights way as Lloyd Hayes hit a smart line following a Donny lineout in the Pirates 22m but the midfielder couldn’t quite hold onto the final pass to him and the chance went begging.

There was little more to report in the opening exchanges but Pirates continued to control possession and eventually forced a penalty out of the home defences that was kicked by fly half Will Cargill. Simon Humberstone had a chance to level the scores shortly after but from about 45 metres, against a tricky wind, his attempt dropped wide.

The first try of the game came just before the half hour mark and it went with the visitors.

A penalty against Junior Bulumakau for a high tackle put the Pirates in range with a line out and a smart carry broke the Knights line leaving the defence back peddling. Possession was quickly shifted wide giving full back Toby May a relatively simple try with Cargill adding the two.

The Cornishmen made it a seventeen-point advantage moments later, after what seemed like a nice kick return by Declan Cusack was pulled back for crossing. From the resulting penalty the Pirates back were able to get on the front foot where a missed tackle saw wing Kyle Moyle finish an easy two on one before Cargill converted.

The signs were pretty bleak for the Knights who had shown precious little by way of attacking threat up until that point. However, they did reduce the arrears before the interval after Cornish indiscipline pinned them back into their own 22m.

A smart line out move saw an airborne Nick Civetta hand on to Michael Hills who carried down the blindside before passing to Ben Hunter who crossed in the corner. Humberstone could not convert from the touchline so the sides went into the sheds with the Knights trailing 17-5.

Following what was probably a rather stern team talk from Griff and the coaching staff the Knights did look brighter in the second half. Unfortunately, just as it seemed an opening was going to be found, a loose pass was intercepted by Alex O’Meara and the pacey wing put his foot down to sprint the length; 5-22.

It was a cruel blow for the Knights following which things went from bad to worse as number eight Tom Lawday got his first of a second half brace. Laurence May took over kicking duties to add the conversion.

At the hour mark the Donny coaching team looked to utilize the bench and it had a seemingly positive impact as replacement prop Owen Evans played his part in a try finished by Matt Challinor from short range.

As the game entered the dying stages both sides seemed to disregard their defensive systems in favour of all out attack. The Pirates scoring continued with Nick Coronel and Lawday both exploiting some haphazard tackling in the Knights ranks which, combined with a Laurence May penalty, took the visiting total to 46 points.

For the Knights Lloyd Hayes linked up well with Tyson Lewis down the left touchline to score before turning provider with a smart break that was finished by Tom James for the Knights fourth try.

In the final play of the game Academy wing James Wright marked his competitive home debut with a nicely taken score. On loan from Doncaster Phoenix, the winger cut infield to take an offload from Andy Bulumakau before staying strong in the tackle to touch down with what was his first touch of the game.

The weekend off has probably come at a good time for the Knights who will hope to have a few back from the sick bay before facing Richmond on November 10^th.

Match Statistics

Knights; 15) Declan Cusack, 14) Junior Bulumakau, 13) Andy Bulumakau, 12) Lloyd Hayes, 11) Tyson Lewis (James Wright 79’), 10) Simon Humberstone, 9) Michael Heaney (Tom James 57’), 1) Richard List (Owen Evans 57’), 2) Ben Hunter (Jack Bergmanas 60’), 3) Colin Quigley (Ian Williams 57’), 4) Nick Civetta, 5) Tom Hicks (Sam Jones 57’), 6) Matt Challinor, 7) Michael Hills ©, 8) Alex Shaw (Jason Hill 60’).

Replacements; 16) Jack Bergmanas, 17) Owen Evans, 18) Ian Williams, 19) Jason Hill, 20) Sam Jones, 21) Tom James, 22) James Wright.

Tries; Hunter 36’, Challinor 60’, Hayes 68’, James 76’, Wright 80’

Conv; Humberstone 68’

Pens;

Pirates; 15) Toby May, 14) Alex O’Meara, 13) Dan Koster (Nicolas Coronel 63’), 12) Pete Laverick, 11) Kyle Moyle, 10) Will Cargill (Laurence May 48’), 9 Alex Day (Mike {p[e 74’) 1 Marlen Walker (Billy Keast 63’) 2 Tom Cowan-Dickie (Tom Channon 45’) 3 Jack Andrew (Christian Judge 63’) 4 Toby Freeman 5 Brett Beukeboom 6 Josh Caulfield 7 Rupert Cooper (Chris Fuca 71’) 8 Tom Lawday

Replacements; 16 Tom Channon 17 Billy Keast 18 Christian Judge 19 Chris Fuca 20 Mike Pope 21 Laurence May 22 Nicolas Coronel

Tries; May 31’, Moyle 32’, O’Meara 48’, Lawday 59’, 80’, Coronel 66’

Conv; Cargill 32, 33’, May 59’, 66’, 80’

Pens; Cargill 14’,May 76’

Attendance: 1,897

Referee: Christophe Ridley