The Knights were on the end of a punishing Jersey performance that left the side too much to rectify despite an improved second half display as the hosts took the 41-21 victory.

Three Donny tries after the interval through Paul Jarvis, Charlie Foley and Rory Pitman was not enough to claim any points on a tough trip to Jersey.

Doncaster were left stunned by a blistering opening 25 minutes by Jersey Reds in which the hosts scored four tries.

The home side dotted down their first from a blocked kicked as Jerry Sexton reacted the fastest to give Jersey the lead.

Four minutes later, Leroy Van Dam was the scorer as the full-back found space down the right from an overload to give the hosts an early 12-0 advantage.

Two more tries came after Jersey began to mount up the pressure, James Newton and Brett Herron the scorers, while the latter also added three conversions to the score line.

Doncaster looked to fightback and battled for the remainder of the half as they pinned the home side back into their own half, but were unable to find a breakthrough as the score at the interval remained 29-0 after a Jersey penalty seconds before the half-time whistle.

The second half started with Doncaster in the ascendancy with a Sam Olver kick superbly caught by Paul Jarvis to score his second try in as many games and earn the Knights their first points on the board along with an Olver conversion.

The away side gained confidence from their early spell of pressure, but struggled to find the breakthrough again. Substitute Dwayne Polataivao broke into the Jersey half before offloading to fellow replacement Sam Jones, however he was off balance as he received the ball; eventually being tackled in the hosts 22.

Doncaster did manage to score another try as they continued to fightback. Charlie Foley gratefully caught the ball off a line out as the throw missed everyone and bounced nicely for the substitute to dot down. Olver again converted.

Jersey put a halt to the battle soon after with a try from a driving maul, which was soon followed up by a second try of the game from Herron as he raced away down the right. The latter converting the home side’s first try of the second half.

The final action of the game went the visitors way, as Rory Pitman drove over to score against his former club and after a Olver conversion made the score line 41-21 despite an improved second half performance it was not enough after an early first half blitz from Jersey.

Match Statistics

Starting XV: 15. McColl 14. Jarvis 13. Hayes(68’Foley) 12. Clark 11. Wilson 10. Olver 9. James(60’Polataivao) 1. Hislop(65’Beech) 2. Hunter(65’Mayhew) 3. Quigley(60’Sposton) 4. Tyrell 5. Hicks(65’Challinor) 6. Stedman(62’Jones) 7. Calladine © 8. Pitman

Replacements: 16. Mayhew 17. Beech 18. Sproston 19. Challinor 20. Jones 21. Polataivao 22. Foley

Tries: Jarvis, Foley, Pitman Conversions: Olver 3

Jersey Reds XV: 15. Leroy Van Dam 14. Koch Marx 13. Apakuki Ma’afu 12. Mark Best 11. James Newey 10. Brett Herron 9. Liam Howley 1. Roy Godfrey 2. Charlie Maddison 3. Leeroy Atalifo 4.Jerry Sexton (capt) 5. Dave McKern 6. Kyle Hatherell 7. Rory Bartle 8. Janco Venter 16. Jack Macfarlane 17. Harry Morley 18. Sam Rodman 19. Charlie Beckett 20. Conor Joyce 21.Will Homer 22. Aaron Penberthy

Tries: Sexton, Van Dam, Newey, Herron 2, McFarlane Conversions: Herron 4 Penalties: Herron 4