Doncaster Knights went away from Grantchester Road with all five points as Joe Ford’s side continued their winning run in the Championship.
“I’m really pleased. Cambridge are a dangerous side with ball in hand and we said at half we wanted to keep them under 20 points and we pulled that off. We denied them the try bonus point. We’re six on the bounce now so it’s exciting times ahead. We want to make a statement as we go into the final run of games ahead of next season”.
Donny had a fast start – the Blood & Sand were two scores down inside 10 minutes> Kehinde Olowefela touched down in the corner. Then slick hands put in Rhys Tait. Russ Bennett converted both.
Matty Williams smashed over for the Blood & Sand to reduce the deficit. Eli Caven missed off the tee. Then Knights nine Ollie Fox ran in unopposed from 20 metres out for another converted try.
Matt Hema made a huge hit on Semesa Rokoduguni – minutes later Will Glister’s grubber put Ewan Baker in at the corner with Caven bisecting the uprights from out wide. But Knights went into the sheds with the try bonus point under their belts after a complete mess on the Cambridge line eventually gifted them a fourth through Morgan Strong.
Aidan Cross made it five 46 minutes in with a stunning finish in the corner – Bennet converted that one as well. Fox made it six with, this time, a 40 metre dash. Pete White pulled another back for the Blood & Sand, finishing a tremendous move fashioned by Reuben Logan. Then Cross claimed his second of the afternoon darting into open space. Fred Davies finished the scoring for Donny from a driving maul and the visitors effectively shut up shop and prevented any further incursions to their line.
Forwards coach Neil Harris – making his final appearance in the Cambridge dug-out – felt there were further signs of improvement. “The boys have given everything today, but as we said last week at Pirates when you cough the ball up cheaply at this level you get punished and Doncaster’s back three were really good today. When we’re pn top we stay there and we scored three good tries from plan. We’re still learning, still evolving and put some good stuff together today. But you can’t gift a full time side like Knights opportunities or you’ll get punished. We’ll go again at Nottingham next week”.
Teams
Cambridge
Baker 7 (Green 52 7), Glister 7, Williams 7, Hema 7 (Hanks 46 6), Caven 7, Tarrant 7, Edwards 7 (White 48 8); Ellwood 6 (Scola 64 6), Brownlie 8 (Veness 64 6), Bridges 6 (Walker 29 6), Sylvester 6, Baxter 6 (Dawson 59 6), Rees 6, Gaffan 6 (Adams 46 7), Logan 6
Doncaster
Veanu 7 (Dolly 48 7), Ene 7, Wacokecoke 6 (Bunting 25 7), Kerr 7, Olowofela 7 (Cross 40 7), Bennett 8, Fox 9; Davidson 7 (Turner 57 6), Roberts 7 (Davies 48 7), Thiede 7 (Bell 57 6), Murphy 7 (Teague 59 7), Williams 7 , Hopkinson 7 (Smeaton 71 6), Tait 7, Strong 8
Penalties Against – Cambridge 9 – Doncaster 11
Line Outs Won – 14 / 9
Line Outs Lost – 2/3
Scrums Won – 4/7
Scrums Lost – 0/0
No YC
Referee – Charlie Gayther
Attendance – 1512
STAR MAN – Ollie Fox (Doncaster)
Scorers
Cambridge
Tries – Williams 10, Baker 33, White 55
Conversions – Caven 34, 56
Doncaster
Tries – Olowofela 2, Tait 8, Fox 12, 51 Cross 46, Bunting 61, Davies 71, Strong 80
Conversions – Bennett 3,7, 13,47, 52, 80