Knights produce a season’s best with impressive scalping of fancied Pirates

Indeed, one experienced observer of Doncaster’s fortunes, not given to lavish praise, described the Knights’ first-half display as “the best I’ve seen at home for many seasons.”

Playing at pace and with enterprise, skill and adventure, Doncaster remarkably established a 20-0 lead within the opening 20 minutes.

The pack, inspired by prop Tom Davies, won plenty of ball which was instantly moved fluently by half-backs Chris Hallam and Tom Luke. The speed of the counter-attacks and the collective support play tore holes in the Pirates’ defence which conceded inventive tries by winger Dougie Flockhart on 15 minutes and then on 19 from Davies.

This refreshing approach of keeping the ball alive did, however, prove to be risky, but not fatal as Doncaster went on to complete a memorable win, the first victory at Castle Park against Pirates since November 2002.

A pass from No 8 Chris Planchant was intercepted by flanker Phil Burgess whose try indicated that Pirates were far from dead and buried, and indeed just before the interval, the award of a converted penalty try against Doncaster cut their lead to 30-14.

So at that stage it would have been foolish to dismiss the Cornish challenge; just as it had been earlier after Doncaster scored a third try by winger Michael Keating, cutting inside after being put through by Luke and full-back David McIlwaine.

The contribution of the latter to a win that has enhanced morale at Castle Park must be acknowledged: McIlwaine’s three conversions and five penalties stood out and, in particular, his influential kicks in the second half that stretched Doncaster’s lead to 36-21 during the Pirates’ recovery attempts.

The visitors, bullied from start to finish, were never allowed to settle and were prevented from generating any lasting momentum, but a hint that they might unravel Doncaster’s control was provided by centre Drew Locke who exploited an error in defence to score a thrilling try from 40 metres.

Any future threats, though, were absorbed by solid defence.

Doncaster’s vibrant, positive style suggests that the club can look forward confidently to the rest of the Championship programme but as coach Brett Davey points out: “Now we need to step up and make sure this performance becomes a regular occurrence. This win gives us confidence because it’s the first time we’ve beaten one of the top-four sides. We kept the ball alive because from time to time we’ve been negative at home.

“This result has set a bench-mark for the remaining 10 league games. But we’ve been building up to this and I’m delighted for the club and the players who’ve been putting a lot of hard work in.”

Doncaster’s achievement was readily accepted by Pirates’ skipper Gavin Cattle: “Full credit to them. They raised their game, the pack was physical, good at the breakdown and Doncaster spoiled our possession and they took their opportunities well.”

Doncaster Knights: McIlwaine, Flockhart, Goss, Gidlow (Burdon 28), Keating, Luke, Hallam(Audis 80), Davies, Boden (Yeandle 55), A Brown (An Brown 30), Challinor, Kenworthy (Noone 40), Makaafi, Bradford (Farivarz 55), Planchant (Boyde 73).

Cornish Pirates: Evans, Pointer, Suniula (Samuel 60), Doherty, Cook, Cattle (Kessell 72), Andrew (Fairbrother 69), Elloway (Cowan-Dickie 75), Brits (Paver 58), McGlone, Nimmo, Cowan (Morgan 55), Burgess (Walker-Blair 69), Marriott.

Referee: Llyr AP Geraint-Roberts.