Whilst Cambridge returned from Castle Park without a point, they did so after making fully-pro Doncaster Knights sit up and take notice, making them work hard for their victory. For the most part, Craig Newby’s side bossed the first forty: Donny struggled to break their visitors down, with bodies on the line as they prevented the hosts from playing their preferred brand of expansive rugby. Eli Caven opened the scoring with a penalty 13 minutes in after just shading one wide 4 minutes earlier from half way. Knights redoubled their efforts to – at least – get back on terms but some ferocious defence led them to be held up twice.
Cambridge, meanwhile, pressed home their advantage with a beauty from hooker Dylan Irvine, who supported Caven’s dash for the line and scooped the ball up to score. The winger added the extras, and, with 5 regulation minutes to go to half time, the travelling support sensed something of an upset was on the cards.
Those final first half minutes, though, as the clock went into the red, belonged to the hosts. Telusa Veainu finished off a lightning move as pressure told on the Cambridge rearguard – then a reset scrum proved Cambridge’s undoing, with Donny second row Ben Murphy eventually bulldozing over the line. Both scores were converted by Russell Bennett.
So, from 10-nil up to 14-10 down at the break, the first score of the second half was crucial. It went to Knights, whose ears must have been burning after what would have been a wake-up call of a half time talk. Scrum half Ollie Fox stretched the lead – Rhys Tait added another and centre Zack Kerr struck twice for what was, in the end, a convincing win, compounded by a perfect day off the tee from Bennett.
Cambridge struck back through wing Eparama Rokodrava – another beauty, to be fair – and could have had another couple. Whilst that wouldn’t have affected the result, a bonus point would’ve been welcome, and the least that the team deserved on a day that offered up significant signs of a side on the ‘up’.
Craig Newby was in pragmatic mood afterwards, saying “We were buoyant, we came into half time proud of our first half efforts and we spoke about sticking to the plan, trying to create pressure on knights and not on ourselves. We cracked a little bit after half time with the weight of their possession. They’re a good side, they’ve got some great players and the pressure told. Whilst we were proud today, we want to get better and we’ve already started talking about how we can get better, how to turn those transitional points of games back in our favour, ahead of the visit of London Scottish next week”.
Ht 12-10 FT 42-15
Penalties Conceded Doncaster 6 Cambridge 10
Line Outs Won 11/5
Line Outs Lost 2/1
Scrums Won 6/5
Scrums Lost 0/0
Sin Bin 0/1 (Ben Adams YC)
Attendance 1,334
Referee – Charles Gayther
Teams
Doncaster
Veainu, Rokoduguni,Kerr, Edwards, R Olowofela, Bennett, Fox; Davidson, Roberts, J Jones, Murphy (C), Ehizode, Hopkinson, Tait, Smith
Bench – Davies, Turner, Mulipola, M Jones, Williams, Wooton, Bunting, J Olowofela
Cambridge
Mausia, Rokodrava, Lumley, Reweti, Caven, Annand, Dawson; Ellwood, Irvine, Walker, Baxter, McCay, Fulford, Eckersley, Adams (C)
Reinforcements – Stewart, Nearchou, Boal, Lawrence, Thomas, Bemand, Green, Yallop
Scorers
Doncaster
Tries – Veainu 34, Murphy 40, Fox 44, Tait 49, Kerr 54, 65
Conversions – Bennett 34, 40, 49, 54, 65
Cambridge
Tries – Irvine 31, Rokodrava 57
Conversion – Caven 31
Penalty – Caven 13