Hartpury old boy Hunter puts Knights on the charge

IN A game of few chances and even less entertainment, it was Doncaster who made slightly fewer mistakes and narrowly deserved to take the points on a largely forgettable afternoon.

“We were distinctly average with the ball,” said winning coach, Clive Griffiths. “Our defence was heroic, although it had to be as we hardly got through three phases without giving up possession.”

The home side had the majority of the ball and edged the territory, in a match that was largely mired between the two 22s, but errors in both the set piece and open play cost them dearly.

A frustrating afternoon had started brightly for Hartpury, although it took them until the 20th minute to make their advantage count.

With Doncaster’s Matt Challinor in the bin for an accumulation of infringements, Hartpury had an attacking lineout. It took them a while to get the drive going, but eventually debutant lock forward Chunya Munga bundled over for the try.

Joshua Bragman pushed the conversion wide, as he had done with an earlier penalty kick.

The home advantage was short-lived. Nine minutes later, Knights’ scrum-half Tom James put up a routine box kick which was fumbled by Hartpury’s George Simpson – who otherwise had a decent game – on his 22 yard line.

The scrum produced a penalty and, from the resulting lineout, it was a former Hartpury student Ben Hunter who scored for the visitors. Ben Olver was on target with his kick, to edge the Knights into a lead they would not surrender.

An Olver penalty extended the lead shortly after the break but Bragman brought the score back to 8-10 after a Hartpury attack led to a shot at goal. With the hour mark approaching, Olver landed another simple kick and that was the way it remained until the final minute.

Yet another Hartpury error allowed the Knights to kick a penalty deep towards the corner. Hartpury looked to have stolen the lineout but were adjudged to have knocked on. The Knights drove from the base of the scrum and eventually worked the ball to centre Pete Lucock, who scored from close range. Olver was again successful with another conversion.

Hartpury could be facing another long, hard season. “We were hugely disappointed with the outcome,” said director of rugby, John Barnes. “Doncaster did what they did well and had the better of the set piece – that’s where we lost the game.”