19Yorkshire Carnegie
40Doncaster Knights
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The Knights produced a fantastic away display to beat Yorkshire Carnegie 19-40.
Doncaster started in blistering fashion as Ollie Stedman, on his return from injury, made a great break into the Carnegie 22. The back row then offloaded to fellow forward Matt Challinor, who was quick to spot a supporting Tom James, who burst away under the posts for the first try of the game. Sam Olver converting to make the score 0-7 after three minutes.
After a good period of pressure, the away side doubled their lead when James dived over again from close range with Olver converting well, moments after missing a penalty.
The home side battled on for much of the first half, but couldn’t make it past a resilient Knights defence. Despite having the chances in the Doncaster 22, the away side’s experience shone through as they halted any Carnegie attacks for the majority of the opening 40 minutes.
A third try soon came for the Knights, when Robin Hislop made the pressure count as he barged over from close range. Olver converted well to hand a 0-21 lead after 37 minutes.
However, that dominance was soon put to halt when straight from the kick off, Tom Varndell caught the kick and burst away to score in the corner.
The second half started in a similar positive fashion as the first with an early score. This time a superb scrum resulted in a penalty try as the visitors asserted their control over the game.
Doncaster began to increase their intensity once again and scored a superb try as Steve McColl sent a superb kick over the Carnegie defence; the ball bouncing perfectly for Tyson Lewis to collect and dot down and extend Clive Griffiths’ sides lead once more.
The home side continued to fight though and scored their second try of the afternoon from a driving maul. Ryan Shaw converting to make it 12-35 after 65 minutes. That try boosted the confidence of the bottom placed side as they began to take the game to the Knights and eventually added to their tally through Sione Faletau from a pick and go.
Replacement Fotu Lokotui put the final score on the board for the Knights as he got on the end of driving maul and put the side 19-40 ahead and take the vital five points back to Castle Park.
Match Statistics
KNIGHTS XV: 15. Steve McColl(71’Cowell) 14. Howard Packman 13. Lloyd Hayes 12. Charlie Foley 11. Tyson Lewis(63’Evans) 10. Sam Olver 9. Tom James(70’Pocklington) 1. Robin Hislop(53’Thomas) 2. Ben Hunter(59’Edgson) 3. Colin Quigley(53’Suter) 4. Matt Challinor © 5. Rory Pitman(67’Sproston) 6. Tom Calladine(66’Lokotui) 7. Wian Conradie 8. Ollie Stedman
Replacements: 16. George Edgson 17. Marc Thomas 18. Dan Suter 19. Fotu Lokotui 20. Joe Sproston 21. Sam Pocklington 22. Cameron Cowell 23. Kyle Evans
Tries: James 2, Hislop, Penalty Try, Lewis, Lokotui Conversions: Olver 4
Yorkshire Carnegie XV: 15. James Robins 14. Andrew Lawson 13. Tom Varndell 12. Dan Lancaster 11. Ryan Shaw 10. Joe Ford (c) 9. James Elliot 1. Conor Davidson 2. Adam Brown 3. Gareth Smith 4. Jake Brady (c) 5. Ed Bloodworth 6. Trystan Llloyd 7. Alex Humfrey 8. Guy Graham
Replacements: 16. Ben Sugars 17. Trae O’Sullivan 18. Sione Faletau 19. William Smith 20. Thomas Whitehurst 21. Will Findlay 22. Joe Carlisle 23. Jack Metcalfe
Tries: Varndell, Brown, Faletau Conversions: Shaw 2