Knights Run-In Seven Tries to Take Bonus Point Win at Castle Park

Doncaster Knights scored seven tries at Castle Park in their league home opener yesterday afternoon to defeat Richmond 48-24.

It wasn’t a straight forward win for the home team as the yellow cards almost outnumbered the scores as the referee was quick to his pocket for infringements from both sides.

In a similar fashion as last season’s encounter at Castle Park, the Knights were on the board after three short minutes.

A lovely strike off the scrum from the Knights provided the platform. Connor Edwards’ offload in contact allowed Sam Olver to get around the corner on the onrushing Richmond defenders to release George Simpson. The winger passed on to Harry Davey who in turn offloaded to Maliq Holden for the final run in of the score.

Having misjudged his conversion attempt, Olver secured a penalty for offside in the middle of the Richmond 22 to add 3 points to the board.

The opposition struck back with a try. Playing the phases on the Doncaster line after a penalty against the Knights on the restart, it was eventually Myles Scott who crashed over to the left of the posts. With Bill Johnston’s conversion, they came within a point.

Shortly after however, they were reduced to 14 men as the first sin-binning of the day occurred. A harsh tackle on Simpson as he went for a high ball had the ref producing a yellow card.  Richmond players were all pleading the case that it wasn’t them. After some consultation from the linesman and fourth official, Jimmy Litchfield was identified as the guilty party and sent from the field.

The Donny men struck immediately. With Thom Smith screaming for the maul to charge, the forwards did their utmost and it worked perfectly as George Roberts emerged from the bottom of the pile over the line, screaming his excitement. Olver’s conversion added the extra points.

Richmond looked to have a chance on the far side as they charged down the wing. However, play was brought to a halt as the referee deemed Davey’s attempt at a try-saving tackle was late and off the ball so the full-back became the next player headed for the sin bin.

As the half hour mark arrived, Richmond secured their second score. A real tussle as the Knights looked to hold them up on the line but as the ref ran around the pile to appraise from a different angle, he raised his arm to signal the try. As Mark Bright was named the scorer, Johnston secured the conversion.

The Knights faced a tense end to the first half and beginning of the second as John Kelly was shown a yellow card for cynical play at a breakdown. Richmond made the most of this as Conor Maguire scored a maul try before the half-time whistle.

The Knights started the second half as they meant to go on, however, as they scored within 2 minutes. The forwards’ maul provided a good foundation to allow the backs to combine at pace. Olver spotted a gap for Holden on the wide channels and the winger collected the cross kick perfectly to run it in for the try.

Another 2 minutes was the only time that passed before the Knights had another. Edwards gave the short pop-pass to Olver who spiralled a perfectly weighted pass to Simpson on the wing. He danced his way around defenders all the way on his 60-metre dash for the line. Olver’s conversion took the Knights that little bit further ahead.

It wasn’t all the way of the hosts however, as Joe Margetts became the latest Doncaster man to be shown a yellow. Attempting a tackle in defence in the Knights 22, the centre was deemed to have deliberately knocked-on the ball and was sent from the field.

On the hour mark, the Knights were back to their calling card of the day – light hands and sharp passes – this time seeing Davey releasing Holden to run the length of the 22 and cross the whitewash for a hat-trick. With Olver’s conversion secured, the Knights were 34-19 on the board.

Richmond were the next to lose a man as this time it was Alex O’Meara who was penalised for a deliberate knock-on and faced the slow march to the sin bin.

The Knights added to their tally with 12 minutes left on the clock. Richmond were playing the phases looking to exit their own half but a pass to no-one on the wing was scooped from the turf by Robbie Smith as the centre grinned all the way to the line for a try out wide. The conversion from Olver – his last act of the day – sailed through the posts as the Knights broke 40 points.

The last Donny score of the day came from Simpson. Edwards offloaded to Alec Lloyd-Seed who spotted an option with a pass to Simpson. The winger dropped a tackle to make the clean run through for a 50-metre score which he dotted down underneath the sticks. Lloyd-Seed added the extras to give the Knights 48 points in total.

With 8 minutes left, silly-time seemed to kick in. Knights replacement prop Jake Pope went off injured but the Knights had no replacements left, so faced completing the game with 14 men.

However, 14 quickly – and worryingly – soon became just 12 as Ehize Ehizode and George Simpson were both shown yellow cards in very quick succession.

On full time, the inevitable occurred as Richmond used the overlap to put Owain James over in the corner with a last pass. Johnston’s conversion attempt from the touchline soared wide of the posts to limit the visitors to 24 points on the board.

Whilst a bonus point, seven-try win at home is a success for the Knights, the discipline issues will have to be addressed before Steve Boden’s men travel to Lady Bay on Friday evening to come up against Nottingham.

Match Statistics

Starting XV | 15 Harry Davey; 14 George Simpson, 13 Joe Margetts, 12 Connor Edwards, 11 Maliq Holden; 10 Sam Olver, 9 Alex Dolly; 1 Conor Davidson, 2 George Roberts, 3 Karl Garside, 4 John Kelly, 5 Ben Murphy, 6 Martin Sigren, 7 Sam Hudson, 8 Thom Smith.

Replacements | 16 George Edgson, 17 Jake Pope, 18 Jake Armstrong, 19 Ehize Ehizode, 20 Jared Cardew, 21 Joe Green, 22 Alec Lloyd-Seed, 23 Robbie Smith.

Tries: Holden 3, Roberts, Simpson 2, R Smith

Cons: Olver 4, Lloyd-Seed

Pens: Olver

Yellow card: Harry Davey, John Kelly, Joe Margetts, Ehize Ehizode, George Simpson.

Richmond XV | 15 Ted Landray; 14 Alex O’Meara, 13 Paddy Case, 12 Paul Kiernan, 11 Tom Mills; 10 Bill Johnston, 9 Stephen Kerins; 1 Conor Maguire, 2 Callum Torpey, 3 Jimmy Litchfield, 4 Myles Scott, 5 Sam Collingridge, 6 Miles Wakeling, 7 Ethan Benson, 8 Mark Bright.

Replacements | 16 Vaughan Bentley, 17 George Cave, 18 Ntinga Mpiko, 19 Ted Johnson, 20 David Massey, 21 Callum Watson, 22 Zuriel Makele, 23 Owain Jones.

Tries: Scott, Bright, Maguire, James

Cons: Johnston 2

Yellow card: Jimmy Litchfield, Alex O’Meara.

Referee: Mike Hudson