Jersey up to fifth with away win over Doncaster
Doncaster ............ 26pts Tries: Challinor 20, Cowell 73, penalty 78, James 80 Conversions: Humberstone 20, 80, penalty try 78 Jersey Reds ...... 30pts Tries: Slowik 8, 30, 52, Hardy 26 Conversions: Cope 8, 30 Penalties: Cope 25, 80
IN AN extraordinary end of season game at Castle Park, Jersey finished their campaign on a high and somehow won despite three yellow cards and at one stage in the second half being reduced to 13 men.
The Channel Islanders fly back with five points in the bag thanks to the hattrick by winger Augustin Slowik, but they were made to work for it.
Doncaster, who also scored four tries, threw away lots of ball and it was a poor performance to conclude their Championship campaign despite their second-half fightback which threatened to undermine the good work of Slowik.
“It’s been a roller-coaster of a ride this season and you’ve got to give the players credit. They’ve built a great team spirit,” said head coach Harvey Biljon.
“We’ve scored our highest number of points in the Championship and that puts us in a great place for next season when I think we’ll have 16 new faces in the squad.
“We will now celebrate what we’ve done this season and take some welldeserved rest before pre-season starts in June.”
Jersey led 22-7 at the break after two well taken tries from their dangerman Slowik and a thrilling score by scrum-half Kieran Hardy as Doncaster struggled badly to find their groove.
The Yorkshire side failed to score when Slowik was given a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on on 58 minutes, and when the Reds received another yellow in the 66th minute to hooker Jared Saunders for foul play, Doncaster failed again to capitalise.
But Jersey seemed to relax and a try by Doncaster full-back Cameron Cowell cut the gap to 27-12 and then dramatically, Jersey started to collapse.
The Knights were awarded a penalty try on 78 minutes following a deliberate knock-on by centre George Eastwell, who received a yellow card.
With Jersey again cut to 14 players Doncaster, now trailing by only 27-19, scored again as replacement scrum-half Tom James shot over for his team’s fourth try.
With fly-half Simon Humberstone converting, Doncaster were back in the contest trailing by only a point at 27-26 as added time
approached. But in the final knockings Jersey’s forwards dominated possession and controlled territory near Doncaster’s line to earn a late penalty for Reds’ fly-half Brendan Cope to stretch the lead to 30-26.
It proved to be sufficient and enabled the Islanders to claim their 13th Championship victory and cement fifth-place.
As for Doncaster, whose league campaign has been disappointing with 12 defeats and only nine wins, coach Clive Griffiths was critical: “We were lethargic in the first half but we came to life in the second. But we didn’t get the 50-50 decisions and truly, I’m horrified at the number of calls we are not getting.
“I’ve done my best through the right channels to rectify this, but I’m wasting my time. Our performance was a mixture of the good, bad and the ugly and it summed up our season in the Championship.”