57Newcastle Falcons
0Doncaster Knights
KNIGHTS ENDURE CUP DEFEAT TO NEWCASTLE FALCONS
Doncaster suffered a ruthless 57-0 defeat to former Premiership outfit Newcastle Falcons this afternoon.
The Falcons attacking display was limited to dotting down on four occasions in the first half, but showed their dominance after the interval as they scored a further five tries.
The cup clash started in a scrappy fashion with neither side able to take control of the game. However, the first real sign of danger from Newcastle resulted in the opening score of the afternoon. Quick hands from England International Toby Flood, allowed Tom Arscott time to play a grubber kick through for Adam Radwan to slide over in the corner to put the home side ahead.
Despite some good turnovers and defence from the Knights, the away side were unable to make the most of their attacking position with the Falcons striking again on the 18th minute. Radwan wrestled away from contact and sprinted 60 metres to score in the corner; Flood missing his second consecutive conversion to limit the damage to the visitors.
The former Premiership team added two further tries within a seven-minute period both from close range through Jamie Blamire and Rodney Ah You.
Donny ended the half in a positive fashion as they began to go up the gears into the Newcastle 22, but couldn’t get any points on the board before the half ended.
Even though the visitors went into the break in a positive manner, it was the home side that came out firing at the beginning of the second half.
Three quick-fire tries inside the opening 13 minutes gave the Falcons a comfortable lead. The pick of the three from Wacokecoke, the centre receiving the ball inside the Donny 22 at pace and bouncing off two tackles to dot down.
Doncaster looked to fightback and put their first points on the board, but were up against a strong, resilient Newcastle defence that made very few mistakes all game.
The home side ended the match still looking for more points and with gaps in the Doncaster defence there to exploit, they did so. Two tries in the last five minutes, despite the best efforts of the Knights, demonstrated the dominance of the Falcons throughout the game.
Match Statistics
Newcastle Falcons XV: 15. Arscott 14. Radwan 13. Stevenson 12. Wacokecoke 11. Sinoti 10. Flood 9. Stuart 1. Brocklebank 2. Blamire 3. Ah You 4. Chaves 5. Robinson © 6. Graham 7. Hardie 8. Chick
Replacements: 16. Cooper 17. Lockwood 18. Davison 19. Salmon 20. Uzokwe 21. Hodgson 22. Connon 23. Tait
Tries: Radwan 2, Blamire 2, Ah You, Robinson, Wacokecoke, Cooper, Chick
Conversions: Flood 4, Connon 2
Knights XV: 15. Hayes 14. Wilson 13. Evans 12. Lucock(43’Olver) 11. Lewis 10. Foley 9. Cullen(62’Pocklington) 1. Thomas(49’Hislop(62’Thomas) 2. Edgson(49’Holling) 3. Foster(49’Beech) 4. Hicks 5. Smith © 6. Eames(40’Sproston) 7. Jones(20’Birch(48’Challinor) 8. Pitman
Replacements: 16. Holling 17. Hislop 18. Beech 19. Challinor 20. Sproston 21. Pocklington 22. Olver 23. Birch
Attendance: 3,577