The Knights showed a fighting spirit today, but were on the end of a clinical Ealing performance, who left Castle Park with a 9-24 win.

Two second half tries from the visitors squashed any Doncaster hopes of taking anything from the game, as the home side lacked creativity in the final third.

The first half was not the most entertaining affair as neither side were at their best. In 40 minutes of mainly scrums and line outs, it was the Knights that took the lead through a Sam Olver penalty on the 21^st minute mark.

Soon after, Craig Willis levelled the score with a penalty of his own. Ealing were then down to 14 when Lewis Jones was shown a yellow card, which allowed Donny to take advantage and score a pen from a central position on the 22m line through Olver.

The visitors then took the lead with an innovate throw, as a line out was thrown short to Andrew Durutalo, the flanker made to five metres from the try line before being tackled. Yet the Knights could not stop another pick and go as the Trailfinders drove over for the first try of the afternoon. Willis added the extras.

Olver had the last say of the first half though with a superb penalty from just over the halfway line to only allow the visitors a one-point lead at the break.

In the second half it was another close contest with both sides struggling to keep an fluency to their play.

Doncaster had a couple of chances to begin to build an attack with line outs in the Ealing half, however both came to nothing.

That proved vital as the Trailfinders drove over through hooker Will Davis after a couple of pick and goes, 10 minutes after the restart. Willis converted again to make the score 9-17 to the visitors.

Another opportunity arose with a line out in the Ealing 22. Replacement Will Holling chose to throw it short to Rob Farrar, but he made it just a couple of steps before being tackled and with that the chance went.

The visitors then began to up the tempo of their game and drove over once more from close range in the late stages. Willis again putting away the conversion to crumble any chances of a Doncaster losing bonus point.

The Knights rallied late on with Morgan Eames making a great break from his own half into the opposition 22. It was then a strange end to the game as the referee gave advantage on the half way line, but blew his whistle as the home side had made their way into the 22 to only then show a yellow card to Ealing’s Harris Casson.

Doncaster left without any points for their efforts and will feel frustrated not to have made more of the opportunities they created especially in the second half.

Match Statistics

KNIGHTS XV: 15. Howard Packman 14. Kyle Evans(59’Cowell) 13. Lloyd Hayes 12. Charlie Foley(59’Doherty) 11. Tyson Lewis 10. Sam Olver 9. Tom James(67’Pocklington) 1. Robin Hislop(38’Thomas) 2. Ben Hunter(65’Holling) 3. Andy Foster(53’Suter) 4. Rob Farrar 5. Morgan Eames 6. Rouban Birch(59’Conradie) 7. George Edgson(72’Sproston) 8.Tom Calladine ©

Replacements: 16. Will Holling 17. Marc Thomas 18. Dan Suter 19. Wian Conradie 20. Joe Sproston 21. Sam Pocklington 22. Cameron Cowell 23. Connor Doherty

Penalties: Olver 3

Ealing Trailfinders XV: 15. David Johnson 14. Elijah Niko 13. Lewis Jones 12. Harry Sloan 11. Reon Jospeh 10. Craig Willis 9. Craig Hampson 1. Will Davis 2. Alun Walker 3. Elliot Millar Mills 4. Sam Dickinson 5. Ben West 6. Jordy Reid 7. Andrew Durutalo 8. Ryan Smid ©

Replacements: 16. Matt Cornish 17. Jake Ellwood 18. Craid Trenier 19. Harry Casson 20. Kieran Murphy 21. Oli Robinson 22. Nathan Fowles 23. Tommy Bell

Tries: Durutalo, Davis, Smid

Conversions: Willis 3 Penalties: Willis

Yellow Card: Jones, Casson