The Knights won their first home pre-season fixture in style with a 47-21 victory over Sale FC.

Four second half tries, three coming in the opening 10 minutes of the restart, made it a comfortable afternoon for those in a Doncaster shirt.

Director of Rugby Clive Griffiths made a number of changes to the side that started against Sale Sharks last Friday, but will have been pleased with the opening encounters of todays friendly.

After some initial pressure from kick off, it was Mat Clark that twisted and turned to drive over and give the Knights an early lead after just six minutes.

The pressure didn’t stop there though and the Knights continued to mount attacks deep in the visitors half.

Winger Tyson Lewis was on the end of a great passing move, after Calladine offloaded to Tom James, who was alert and had quick hands to pass to the on running Lewis to get his first try of the afternoon.

Sale FC didn’t take the scoreline lying down though and scored from their first meaningful attack through Adam Aigbokhae with Chris Johnson converting to make it 12-7 after half an hour.

The away sides efforts to get back into the game were quickly thwarted when James slide over.

Dual Registration addition Joel Matavesi chipped it towards the Sale try line and with added pressure from Tom Calladine the ball landed at the scrum-half feet, who dually obliged to extend the Knights lead. 18 year-old Seth Adams then converted his second of the day to make the scoreline more comfortable.

The game took a turn soon after, when Tom Calladine was given a red card for an alleged punch. Sale capitalised on the extra man with Johnson breaking the line and offloading to Mark Lawrence to score and make the scoreline 19-14 at half-time.

After the break, the Knights intensity didn’t drop and a flurry of tries was on show for the Castle Park crowd. 15 men also re-joined the field after an agreement from both sides.

Firstly, Lewis barged his way through the Sale defence after quick hands from Paul Jarvis out wide down the left wing.

Next was the turn of substitute Morgan Eames, who caught a Henry Seniloli kick on the full and out paced the visitors defence from 20 metres out.

Eames then doubled his tally for the day, after again catching from Seniloli, this time a pass 5 metres out from the Sale try line, charging over the line to add to the Knights lead.

The Knights dominance didn’t stop there as Cameron Cowell walked through after a great pass from Lewis close to the visitors try line to make it 47-14, after Adams once again converted.

A reality check soon hit though from the restart, as Seniloli’s kick was blocked by Hughes, who dotted down with ease.

The Knights comfortably held on for the last 15 minutes to earn their first pre-season victory of the season.

Match Statistics

Knights XV: 15. Jarvis 14. McColl 13. Clark 12. Matavesi 11. Lewis 10. Adams 9. James 1. Williams 2. Hunter 3. Quigley 4. Hicks 5. Civetta 6. Calladine 7. Hills 8. Ryan

Replacements: Replacements: Seniloli, Brooke (academy), Hayes, Creed, Cowell, Flockhart, List, Leng(trialist), Merriman(trialist), Sproston, Jones, Challinor, Hislop, Eames

Tries: Lewis 2, Eames 2, Clark, Cowell Conversions: Adams 5

Sale FC XV: 15. Rawcliffe 14. Wara 13. Dunne 12. Winterbottom 11. Owen 10. Johnson 9. Bradley 1. Blanchard 2. Briggs 3. Kelly 4. Davies 5. Priestly-Nagle 6. Aigbokhae 7. Seymour 8. Hughes

Replacements: Pope, Griffiths, Birchall, Taylor, Mandizha, Pozniak, Ailes, Lawrence, Moorhouse, Simpson, Davidson, Stelmaszek

Tries: Aigbokhae, Lawrence Conversions: Johnson 2