Knights 63-14 Loughborough Students.

A meticulous second half display saw the Knights eventually ran out comfortable winners against National Division One side Loughborough Students at Thorne RUFC.

Despite the score line, the Students certainly made Donny work hard for their win and produced a fine opening forty in which they lead twice and appeared to have the Knights rattled with some electric line speed and pressure.

Indeed, the first score of the game went Loughborough’s way after scrum half Jack Moates won possession in contact and broke deep into the Donny half. Having made it into the twenty-two, Moates fed stand off Owen Waters who trotted under the sticks before converting his own score, 0-7.

Donny’s response came promptly through a finely-executed line out move. Tom hicks collected and popped off to Michael Hills who ran it blind before releasing Dave Nelson to score in the corner. Dougie Flockhart converted, all square.

The lion share of possession belonged to the Knights and they made it count with a second line out score shortly after. A clean catch and drive was rumbled over the line with lock Matt Challinor getting the ball down.

A loose pass in the Donny midfield gave the Students an immediate reprieve.

Possession was pinched via an interception and quickly spun to winger Will Foster who showed impressive pace to sprint home. Waters successful conversion pushed the Students back into the lead and Donny could have few complaints.

A fast finish to the half eased some nerves for the travelling support as two unanswered scores established a ten-point half time lead.

Academy man Will Burden made it two tries in two appearances for first team as he collected from a powerful Tyson Lewis carry to narrowly avoid touch and squeeze over in the corner. Dual-registered hooker Curtis Langdon then got over as he spotted a gap at the ruck and bundled through to make the half time score 24-14 in the Knights favour.

At the turnaround the balance looked finely poised, however, the Knights class came to the fore as the Students struggled to maintain their high tempo defensive efforts.

The Bulumakau brothers grabbed a try a piece within ten minutes of the restart to put the result of the fixture beyond doubt. Both tries came following solid set pieces with Andy profiting from a switch in the direction of play post line out then Junior out wide after good hands from scrum ball.

Academy flanker Sam Jones made his presence felt just moments after entering the game from the bench. The teenager carried powerfully to break contact and sprint home from the twenty-two with what might have been his first touch of the game. Humberstone’s conversion made it 41-14.

Credit must go to Loughborough who stuck to their task admirably and got close to a score through replacement Henry Wheadon. Solid goal line defence forced a turn over just as the Students seemed to be in and that was as close as the visitors came.

With ten minutes to go Tyson Lewis got his first score of the game with a fine finish, cutting back in off his wing having tiptoed the touchline to evade coverage. Andy Bulumakau scored almost immediately after and further tries from Lewis and then Morgan Eames added gloss to the Knights scoreline.

The Knights coaching staff will have been pleased with the second half display and will now be hoping to improve on their previous showing against Newcastle Falcons on their return to Castle Park next week.

A big thank you goes to Thorne RUFC for hosting the game, I’m sure allthat attended will agree the facilities and welcome were fantastic and we wish them the best for the 2017/18 season.

Match Statistics

Knights: 15) Charlie Foley, 14) Dougie Flockhart, 13) Andy Bulumakau, 12) Will Burden, 11) Junior Bulumakau, 10) Simon Humberstone, 9) Michael Heaney, 1) Owen Evans, 2) David Nelson, 3) Joe Sproston, 4) Matt Challinor, 5) Tom Hicks, 6) Jason Hill, 7) Michael Hills ©, 8) Alex Shaw.

Replacements; 16) Curtis Langdon, 17) Richard List, 18) Colin Quigley, 19) Morgan Eames, 20) Aaron Carpenter, 21) Tom James, 22) Brett Connan, Blank) Jack Bergmanas, Blank) Ian Williams, Blank) Sam Jones, Blank) Tyson Lewis.

Tries; Nelson 20’, Challinor 31’, Burden 35’, Langdon 40’, Andy Bulumakau 43’ 71’, Junior Bulumakau 49’, Jones 57’, Lewis 69’, 80’ Eames 79′.

Conv; Flockhart 22’, Humberstone 49’ 58’, 69’

Pens;

Loughborough Students: 15) Will Foster, 14) Sam Robertds, 13) Oscar Hirskyj-Douglas, 12) Tom Stapley, 11) Cal Watson, 10) Owen Waters, 9) Jack Moates, 1) Seb Brownhill, 2) Callum Lynch, 3) George Davis, 4) Luke Frost, 5) Theo Vukasinovic, 6) Sam Hudson, 7) Andy Boyce ©, 8) Charlie Kingham.

Replacements; 16) Ollie Adams, 17) Jarod Leat, 18) Owen Hills, 19) Toby Hutchinson, 20) Henry Wheadon, 21) Harry Nuttall, 22) Cam Dobinson, 23) Joe Carolan, 24) Chris Davies, 25) Ben Pointon.

Tries; Moates 14’, Foster 32’

Conv; Waters 14’, 32’

Pens