Doncaster suffered a 21-12 derby defeat despite a performance full of endeavour against Yorkshire Carnegie today.

Two first half tries from Josh Tyrell and Cameron Cowell were ultimately not enough for the Knights to return to South Yorkshire with points that their valiant display deserved.

The Knights started the half with an early dominance about their performance and from their first attack inside the Carnegie 22 scored. After a knock on from the hosts, Josh Tyrell picked the ball up from the scrum, charged forward and stretched over under pressure from a couple of tackles. Kurt Morath converted well to hand Doncaster an early lead.

The visitors continued to attack but couldn’t capitalise on mistakes from the Carnegie backs and eventually the hosts began to sway the balance of the match in their favour.

On 24 minutes, a penalty try was awarded after a period of sustained pressure from the sixth placed Championship side, who entered the game on the back of four straight wins. Ryan Burrows was shown a yellow card in the aftermath of the penalty try when he was judged to have pulled down the maul.

The hosts kept attacking with the Knights firmly on the back foot with another try looking evitable and it arrived on 34 minutes as Chris Stirling’s side pushed through the phases before Dan Temm squeezed over the line from close range. Chris Elder converted for a 14-7 lead.

Doncaster fought back for the rest of the half, but were often pushed back by a strong Yorkshire defence; with it looking like only something special would be needed for the Knights to get back into the game.

Seconds before half-time the breakthrough was found from a spectacular solo try from Cameron Cowell. The full-back received a pass on the Carnegie 10m line and used his trade mark twists and turns to avoid a number of tackles and sprint away into the corner and make the score line 14-12 with Morath narrowly missed the conversion.

After the interval, it was the home side that came out with an increased intensity and tempo to their game. Eventually resulting in another try on 44 minutes, again from Temm, who took a Carnegie penalty quickly and drove over from five metres out. Elder extended their lead to 21-12 with a well taken conversion.

The Knights continued to show their spirit and had the chance to turn the balance of the game in their favour when Morath had a penalty midway inside the opposition half. However, the fly-half hit the post and with it the chances of a Doncaster fightback seemed to fade.

Despite that setback, Clive Griffiths’ side began to have an increased amount of territory in the game, although they were often pushed back by a firm Carnegie defence.

The best chance of the second half for Doncaster fell to second row Nick Civetta when the American international found a rare gap and stretched away over halfway with Morgan Eames in support to his left the lock carried on running and instead offloaded to Tom Hicks. However, the fellow forward couldn’t collect the pass and with it the opportunity faded for the Knights.

As the final stages edged near, Doncaster battled through the phases and another chance arrived. This time Joe Sproston charged into the Carnegie 22, but with no support, the prop was unable to keep hold of the ball after a heavy tackle.

Doncaster stayed competitive until the end with plenty of endeavour showed, but couldn’t find the all important score to gain a losing bonus point their efforts deserved.

Match Statistics

Knights XV: 15. Cowell 14. Wilson 13. Roberts 12. Clark(65’Foley) 11. Lewis 10. Morath 9. James(68’Polataivao) 1. Hislop(74’List) 2. Hunter(59’Mayhew) 3. Beech(63’Sproston) 4. Eames 5. Civetta 6. Burrows 7. Hills (71’Hicks) 8. Tyrell(38’Calladine)

Replacements: 16. Mayhew 17. List 18. Sproston 19. Hicks 20. Calladine 21. Polataivao 22. Foley

Tries: Tyrell, Cowell Conversion: Morath

Yellow Card: Burrows

Yorkshire Carnegie XV: 15. Elder 14. Thoroughood 13. Forsyth 12. Lucock 11. Niko 10. Te Rure 9. Bruzulier 1. Thomas 2. Donnellan 3. Foster 4. Mayhew 5. Smith 6. Wilson 7. Bainbridge 8. Temm

Replacements: 16. Buckle 17. Hill 18. Mitchell 19. Lemalu 20. Frost 21. Wolstenholme 22. Watkins

Tries: Penalty try, Temm 2 Conversions: Elder 2