Doncaster power is too much for Scots
DONCASTER recovered impressively at Castle Park from their heavy defeat by Coventry last week and took a big step towards qualifying for the knock-out stages of the Cup.
By thrashing London Scottish, 10 tries to two, the Knights maintain their place at the top of Pool 2, and if they beat Bedford Blues next week at Goldington Road, they may reach the semi-finals.
While London Scottish were overwhelmed, conceding four tries in the first half and then another six in the second, they competed wholeheartedly throughout, but couldn’t cope with the power of Doncaster’s pack and the speed and quick thinking of their backs.
The Knights’ rapid yellow cards against winger Maliq Holden (deliberate knock-on) and prop Bobby Bratton (collapsing a maul) reduced them to 13 men only at one stage, but Scottish failed to capitalise, and overall produced only two tries from
Brian Tuilagi and number eight Cam King.
Scottish’s indiscipline, though, was costly: a yellow card against winger Billy Wara (technical offence) resulted in 14 Doncaster points.
With two tries each, Holden, hooker George Edgson and winger Jack Spittle, back from several weeks after injury, stood out for Doncaster, but there were also significant scoring contributions from lock Ehize Ehizode, scrum half Alex
Dolly, centre Connor Edwards and replacement scrum half Will Yarnell.
However, arguably the Knights’ player who repeatedly shone in the tight and the loose was second row Adam Hopkinson, 22, making his home debut having spent four years in the club’s academy and recently playing for Sandal in
North East 1. Hopkinson’s efforts on display for the full 80 minutes were praised by Knights’ coach Steve Boden: “I thought the young lad was brilliant and had loads of energy. Adam really stood out. I’m proud of our players because we
have an injury crisis here with 13 players absent, so those who played did well.
“The pleasing thing is that we’ve bounced back from last week. Our maul defence at the end of the game was excellent, but not so good at the start.
“Scottish are in a tough spot at the moment and are under pressure, but for us to score 66 points at home is good stuff.”
Another Doncaster player whose display showed consistency throughout was scrumhalf Dolly, not least with his goal kicking, putting over five conversions and when Dolly was replaced, full back Billy McBryde took over, striking three conversions as his team scored 40 points in the second half to achieve their fourth Cup win in five games.