Edgson Hatrick Helps Seal Knights Bonus Point Win

A total of seven tries, three from George Edgson, helped the Doncaster Knights secure a 45-12, bonus point win against Nottingham at Castle Park today.

It was a dominant showing from start to finish for the Knights who never looked out of control of the course of the match as Nottingham struggled to find their way.

Following a fast paced, determined first quarter, the first score of the day was claimed by Guido Volpi whose quick collection from the breakdown inches from the Nottingham line allowed him to crash over for the five points. With a conversion from Alex Dolly, the Knights were on the board.

Lineouts were an integral feature of the game, and it was a set piece which lead to the second try. The Knights called everyone on the field into their driving maul, barrelling over the line in a pile of bodies, with George Edgson eventually emerging from the bottom. Another conversion from Dolly topped up the points.

A handful of minutes later, a piece of ingenuity in attack from Dolly brought about a third score. Noting the lack of numbers in defence for Nottingham, the Australian looped a long pass over all their heads to send a Welshman, Kyle Evans, flying over. Unfortunately, the conversion knocked off the posts.

Nottingham enjoyed a short period of possession near the close of the first half but it was the home side with the final word – another try. In an almost carbon copy of his first score, Edgson popped up from the bottom of a rolling maul with the ball in hand to claim his second, and more importantly, the Knights bonus point score.

The conversion skirted just wide of the posts but it didn’t cause too big of a headache as the Knights ran in at the half leading 24-0.

Both sides stumbled slightly at the beginning of the second 40 minutes as some unorganised play meant neither side got very far in their attacking endeavours. The rain soon began as a break in play was forced by a worrying looking injury to a Nottingham’s Jack Ramshaw, who was eventually stretchered from the field.

Moments after play got back underway, another rolling maul from the Knights secured yet more points and bagged Edgson a hatrick! With the conversion successful from Dolly, the Knights had 31 unanswered points on the board.

Nottingham got their first points just short of the hour mark. Having been awarded a penalty in front of the posts, they opted for the quick tap and after a couple of quick recycles, Josh McNulty took the ball over the line with Sam Hollingsworth adding the extras.

Never to be outdone in this match it seemed, the Knights were soon back to scoring ways with a forward scoring once more. This time it was Will Holling and we needn’t say more than, that Donny rolling maul definitely did it’s job today. This time it was McBryde adding the extras to hand the Knights back a 31-point lead.

In the dying minutes of the afternoon fixture, there was a score apiece. The Knights rumbled over first as feeding the ball to the backs from the rolling maul, Olver chipped a clever kick over the top of the defence to be easily collected by Maliq Holden for Donny’s final score of the day. Olver then added the extras to total the Knights score at 45.

Nottingham then got a consolation second score after a couple of penalties pushed them into the Knights 22 and a quick ball over the defence to the wing gave Harry Graham five points.

A bonus point was needed in the ultra-competitive Championship table, and a bonus point was well-secured by the Knights this afternoon in a result that also maintains their home game clean-sheet. Steve Boden’s men will look for a mirror performance next week against Coventry at Castle Park.

Match Statistics

Knights XV | 15 Harry Davey; 14 Kyle Evans, 13 Joe Margetts, 12 Connor Edwards, 11 Maliq Holden; 10 Billy McBryde, 9 Alex Dolly; 1 Conor Davidson, 2 George Edgson, 3 Andrew Foster, 4 John Kelly, 5 Danny Drake, 6 Guido Volpi, 7 Sam Hudson, 8 Thom Smith (c).

Replacements | 16 Will Holling, 17 Ben Carlile, 18 Gaz Denman, 19 Jack Davies, 20 George Roberts, 21 Lloyd Wheeldon, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Mark Best.

Tries: Volpi, Edgson 3, Evans, Holling, Holden

Conv: Dolly 3, McBryde, Olver

Nottingham XV | 15 Jack Stapley; 14 David Williams, 13 Charlie Thacker, 12 Morgan Bunting, 11 Joe Browning; 10 Elliot Bale, 9 Matt Marsh; 1 Aniseko Sio, 2 Jake Farnworth, 3 Ben Betts, 4 Jack Ramshaw, 5 Scott Hall, 6 George Cox, 7 Lewis Barrett, 8 Suvwe Obano.

Replacements | 16 Storm Hanekom, 17 Toby Williams, 18 Josh McNulty, 19 Jacob Wright, 20 Nathan Tweedy, 21 Harry Graham, 22 Sam Hollingsworth, 23 James Peachey.

Tries: McNulty, Graham

Conv: Hollingsworth

Referee: Sara Cox