Knights 40 v Falcons 26

The Knights built on last Saturday’s comprehensive victory over Swansea with another impressive display in front of the Castle Park faithful against Newcastle Falcons.

The Falcons sent a squad with a mix of first team and academy players including British and Irish Lion Mike Blair, former Rugby League England International Lee Smith, first team regular Tom Catterick and plenty of other notable performers but the Knights rose to the challenge. A superb first half performance was followed up by a determined second forty showing to record a notable, albeit pre-season, victory.

The visitors hit the ground running and were in for their first score only moments after the match had started. An early penalty at the breakdown put the Falcons in good field position with an attacking line out. Having stopped the initial drive the Knights were not able to halt the series of pick and go carries that followed and second row Dom Barrow charged over for the games opening score, converted by Smith.

The try spark the Knights into life and they quickly hit back through the pack. A commanding first scrum from the Donny forwards earned a penalty, which Dougie Flockhart converted. Flockhart kicked another three-pointer shortly after when the Falcons defense failed to release Alex Shaw at the breakdown.

The rest of the first half belonged to Doncaster and they demonstrated some truly excited play that the Castle Park fans will be hoping is replicated throughout the season. Bevon Armitage was at his devastating best and was the catalyst for the first Donny score, a trademark carry up the pitch stretched the Newcastle defences for Paul Jarvis to take advantage. The full back put his foot down and scythed through the Falcons line before handing on to Flockhart who raced home.

A yellow card for Falcons flanker Dan Temm just after the 20-minute mark was brilliantly punished by Griff’s charges as they ran in two further scores before the interval. The first came from a solid Knights line out and having driven just short of the Falcons line Matt Challinor picked and from that range he rarely gets stopped, Dougie added the extras. The second came following a superb individual break from Andrew Bulumakau who darted through a number of would be tacklers before finding Mat Clark in support who raced over the line.

The Falcons did enjoy a strong period before the teams went back into the changing rooms, having won back possession they fought their way upfield, centre Adam Redman making some telling carries, and in a bid to quell the attacks the hosts fell foul of the refs whistle; second row Tyler Hotson saw yellow for his efforts. A man down the Knights defence refused to cave and eventually they forced a mistake from the Falcons backline, the ball went to ground and Jarvis seized upon it and with that the half time whistle blew.

Newcastle showed a renewed zeal in early stages of the second half and they had the Knights on the back foot quickly after the interval. Being a man light handicapped the Donny scrum and they gave up a penalty, which was once kicked to the corner. This time Newcastle could not be kept at bay and hooker George McGuigan blasted through a gap to score.

A number of substitutions were made early in the second half but the momentum remained with the visitors. Building on a rock solid set piece, the Falcons strung together a series of attacking phases which culminated with impressive second row replacement Will Witty scoring and bringing the score to 25-19.

With 20 minutes left to play it seemed as if the Knights may be in trouble but this wasn’t to be the case as Griff’s charges picked themselves back up and finished the game in the same impressive vein that they had play for most of the first half. Two much needed tries from Paul Jarvis, who had a remarkable afternoon at full back, sandwiched a score from flanker Temm and gave the Knights an 11 point cushion as the game entered the final ten minutes.

The Falcons threw everything at the Donny defense as full time beckoned but they were unable to create anything of real danger and the Knights look composed in possession. With only seconds left on the clock the Knights won another penalty at scrum time and Jamie Guy took the points on Final score: Doncaster Knights 40 Newcastle Falcons 26.

Match Statistics

Tries; Flockhart 19’, Challinor 28’, Clark 32’, Jarvis 62’, 71’

Conv; Flockhart 28’, 32’, Lennard 71’

Pens; Flockhart 6’, 9’, Guy 80’

Sin Bin; Hotson 35’

Knights XV/Replacements

15. Paul Jarvis, 14. Dougie Flockhart/ Sam Wilson, 13. Mat Clark, 12. Bevon Armitage, 11. Andrew Bulumakau/ Tyson Lewis, 10. Jamie Lennard/ Jamie Guy, 9. Jack Maplesden/ Bruno Bravo, 1. Richard List/ Tom Davies, 2. Jack Bergmanas/ Ben Hunter, 3. Ross Davies, 4. Matt Challinor/ Glen Kenworthy, 5. Tyler Hotson/ Jon Phelan, 6. Alex Shaw/ Latu Makaafi, 7. Michael Hills/ Will Foden, 8. Phil Eggleshaw.

Falcons XV

15. Lee Smith, 14. Sean Brown, 13. Adam Redman, 12. Jamie Helleur, 11. Tom Small, 10. Tom Catterick, 9. Mike Blair, 1. Alex Rodgers , 2. George McGuigan, 3. Scott Wilson, 4. Dom Barrow, 5. Glen Young, 6. Brian Tuilagi, 7. Dan Temm, 8. Richard Mayhew ©

Replacements; Jake Elwood, David Nelson, Mark Irving, Dan Grange, George Hedgley, Dan Taylor, Adam Redman

Tries; Barrow 3’, McGuigan 46’, Witty 59’, Temm 68’

Conv; Smith 3’, 46’, 68’

Pens;

Sin bin: Temm 23’

Attendance: 456