The Knights were handed an agonising 18-20 defeat to Carnegie in a match marred by six yellow cards, which swayed the result in the away sides favour leaving Doncaster feeling unfortunate to lose.

It was a bright start from the Knights and the supporters didn’t have to wait long to see the first points on the board. Kurt Morath on his return from International duty, scored a penalty after just three minutes.

That encouraging display continued as Will Owen showed his strength as he held off two tackles, before bulldozing his way to a try from a good line out routine. Morath converted as the Knights took a 10-0 lead after 23 minutes.

Carnegie, who have made several additions over recent weeks, looked for a instant reply and got their rewards with a rolling maul after a line out on the Knights’ 22m line.

Morath extended Doncaster’s lead though with another penalty, before Jacob Umaga scored one for the visitors to make it 13-10 with the half time whistle just minutes away.

The visitors then went down to 14 men when Fa’atiga Lemalu was sin binned.

The Knights made their advantage pay, when new addition Ollie Stedman, on his return to Castle Park, barged over from a catch and drive to make the supporters enjoy their half time coffee a little bit more with a 18-10 lead.

However, it was the visitors that put the first points on the board in the second half, Umaga scoring a penalty from a central position inside the Knights’ 22.

Carnegie were then handed an advantage of their own when Josh Tyrell and Curtis Wilson received yellow cards within four minutes of each other. Jade Te Rure was also sent to the sin bin. The visitors made that count when the Donnellan dotted down again, while Umaga converted to give a two-point lead to the Leeds based side.

In the final stages there were further sin bins as Robin Hislop and Samuel Nixon were handed yellow cards.

The Knights battled on but couldn’t find a break through as they suffered consecutive defeats to Carnegie.

Match Statistics

Knights XV: 15. Jarvis 14. Wilson 13. Creed 12. Owen 11. Lewis 10. Morath 9. James 1. Williams (61’Hislop) 2. Hunter (61’Mayhew) 3. Sproston (56′ Quigley) 4. Challinor (73′ Ryan) 5. Eames 6. Tyrell 7. Hills (76’Williams)  8. Stedman

Replacements: 16. Hislop 17. Mayhew 18. Quigley 19. Ryan 20. Jones 21. Seniloli 22. Foley

Tries: Owen, Stedman Conversions: Morath Penalties: Morath 2

Yellow Card: Tyrell, Wilson, Hislop

Yorkshire Carnegie XV: 15. Thoroughgood 14. Davey 13. Elder 12. Umaga 11. Brown 10. Te Rure 9. Wolstenholme 1. Hill 2. Donnellan 3. Foster 4. Britton 5. Lemalu 6. Romaine 7. Bainbridge 8. Temm

Replacements: 16. Buckle 17. Thomas 18. Nixon 19. Smith 20. Myserscough 21. Bruzulier 22. Hamilton

Yellow Card: Te Rure, Nixon

Tries: Donnellan 2 Conversions: Umaga 2 Penalties: Umaga 2

Attendance 894