Given Doncaster’s participation in the Premiership Cup the chances of a resurgence in their Championship fortunes was high. Knights shook off their early season malaise in some style having worked their newly assembled side into shape during the past five weeks after two wins and three defeats in the opening five rounds. Cambridge, with one competitive fixture since their victory over Cornish Pirates in Round 5, looked ring-rusty and disjointed for the most part, despite taking the lead through Louis Grimoldby’s penalty 6 minutes in.
Knights responded with tries from two driving mauls, with Joe Jones and Thomas Smith getting over the line, and pierced the Blood & Sand defence via centre Connor Edwards for good measure before the half hour mark. And, anecdotally, the hosts put in their best defensive performance of the season by rebuffing wave after wave of Cambridge attacks in the last ten minutes of the half as Richie Williams’ side valiantly attempted to reduce the arrears before the break.
21-3 it was at half time, and the next score was always going to be crucial. Unfortunately for Cambridge it went to Knights, a minute after the restart through centre Zach Kerr. Thereafter, Doncaster turned the screw and it was damage limitation time for the Blood & Sand as the hosts had their tails up. Alex Dolly and Morgan Strong added two more for Knights. But there were some good moments, not least Iestyn Rees capitalising on Jordan Olowofela’s fumble behind the try line – and Eli Caven announcing his return to fitness with a blistering finish from Jared Cardew’s break from yet another winning scrum.
Jimmy Thompson, too, showed well on debut as a late replacement for Ruaridh Dawson. The 18 year old scrum half charged back to prevent a late score from Donny and looked bright in his cameo. Will Glister, on loan from Northampton Saints, had a decent debut too – the England U20s back linking well with Matt Hema and Sam Hanks as a replacement for Ollie Betteridge. Those moments, though, were just shafts of sunlight through the clouds as Knights ran in two late scores through Olowofela – the first of which was, objectively, a thing of beauty as the sleight of hand from Donny’s backs put the former Nottingham wing in close to the sticks.
Head coach Richie Williams was sanguine in the face of Knight’s regaining their mojo. “That was a tough result. We’d spoken in the week about controlling the controllables but after minute fifteen we gave away some soft penalties which allowed Doncaster entries into our 22 which they scored from. We gave away another score early in the second half and compounded that with some skill errors. We’re really disappointed with today. We’ve come up here and not done ourselves justice”.
Teams
Doncaster
Veainu (Wacokecoke 57) Rokodugini, Kerr, Edwards, Olowofela, Bennett, Dolly (Fox 60); Turner (McGuire 60), Roberts (Davies 60), Jones (Mulipola 60), Williams (Smeaton 47), Murphy, Smith, Tait (green 66), Strong
Cambridge
Tarrant (Caven 56), Hema, Hanks, Betteridge (Glister 48), Green, Grimoldby, Dawson (Thompson 72); Ellwood (Brownhill 39), Brownlie 9Veness 51), Walker (Bridges 70), Bretag Norris (Baxter 51), Rees, Cardew, Bartlett (Adams 61)
Scorers
Doncaster
Tries – Jones 10, Smith 20, Edwards 26, Kerr 41, Dolly 53, Strong 56, Olowofela 68, 75
Conversions – Bennett 10, 20, 26, 41, 53, 56
Cambridge
Tries – Rees 50, Caven 65
Conversions – Grimoldby 50, 65
Penalty – Grimoldby 6