It
was a long time coming, but in recording their first ever victory against the
Pirates on Cornish soil, for Doncaster it was a win well deserved.  | For
the second successive Sunday the Recreation Ground at Camborne was bathed in sunshine,
it an arena where Doncaster implemented an uncomplicated game plan. Two
of their four tries were scored by former 'Pirate' Wes Davies, and in fly-half
Jamie Lennard, who is comfortably the league's top points scorer, they had someone
who used his boot impressively throughout. Doncaster
took play menacingly to the clubhouse corner of the ground right from the start
of the game. A score looked likely, with Doncaster opting for scrum options when
penalties were awarded. However, keeping their opponent at bay, the Pirates eventually
managed to work their way back upfield following good work on the ground by skipper
Mike Burak. | Two
of their four tries were scored
by former 'Pirate' Wes Davies | | | |  | Hopes
were then high that the Pirates would open the scoring when a super piece of play
saw wing Rhodri McAtee put into space. A chance
of a try looked realistic, but when the ball was passed back inside it was adjudged
to be forward. Doncaster responded to bring their runners
into the game, with No. 8 Joshua Afu making the yardage that ultimately forced
the Pirates to concede a penalty. The opportunity to notch
up three points was not to be spurned, and Lennard stepped forward to comfortably
slot the chance on offer. | | |  | From
the restart, rampaging play from flankers Blair Cowan and Chris Morgan, plus lock
Heino Senekal appeared to create a second scoring chance for the Pirates, but
once again their endeavour was stalled. Indeed, to the
frustration of the home crowd the Pirates soon went further behind when Doncaster
scrum-half Matthew D'Arcy took play swiftly upfield, from where Lennard cross
kicked right to Davies. Waiting for the ball like a cricketer
about to take a catch on the boundary, he safely cradled the ball and romped in
at the scoreboard corner for an unconverted try. |
Appearing
to feel the pressure at scrum time, the Pirates were at least sound at the line-out,
and from quality possession provided they managed to force their Yorkshire opponents
to concede a penalty which was successfully kicked through the posts by fly-half
Rhys Jones. It was not long before the Pirates pressed strongly
again thanks to the efforts of full-back Marika Vakacegu and hooker Rob Elloway.
Another kickable penalty was awarded, but this time Jones missed the target. Burak,
with support from prop Alan Paver, tried to mount further pressure, but the advance
was brought to a halt when Davies stepped in off his wing to to make a thumper
of a tackle on gutsy Tom Luke. From this position Doncaster then took control
following a midfield thrust by centre Steven McColl, and following a scrummage
near the Pirates line referee Terry Hall awarded the visitors a penalty try converted
by Lennard. Play from the very first few minutes had been
feisty, and it would not have been surprising if a yellow card had been issued.
However, when a colour card was first to be seen it would be red, shown Cornish
Pirates No. 8 Matt Evans for apparent stamping.  | Now
was a test for the Pirates, considering that they were also15-3 down, but there
followed a sense of relief for the home crowd when, just a minute or two later,
Doncaster flanker Adam Kettle was also red-carded for seemingly throwing a punch. With
playing personnel evenly matched at 14-a-side, could the Pirates proceed to claw
back the points deficit? Well, they did their best before
the break when Jones landed the penalty on offer following Kettle's dismissal,
and they followed this up with a fine try finished off by Vakacegu who dived to
score in the right hand corner. Jones missed the difficult conversion, but with
the scoreline reading 11-15, the Pirates were at least back into the match. |
Sadly,
when the second half got underway the Pirates proceeded to put pressure on themselves
by making sloppy errors. A first led to Doncaster getting a position from where
Lennard landed a drop goal, and then a number of mistakes enabled D'Arcy to score
a try. A run down the wing by Davies was thwarted, but
the Pirates woes multiplied still further when the same player then lent support
to scoop the ball up and score a converted try to the right of the posts. Shown
'red' in last year's corresponding fixture, the experienced performer was on this
occasion clearly enjoying his return to the 'Rec'.  | To
have any sniff of a chance to get back into the match the Pirates had to score
next, and they did when excellent line-out work from Morgan enabled livewire scrum-half
Nicky Griffiths to burst clear and score a converted try. The
Pirates were hungry to narrow the gap and man of the match Heino Senekal used
all his strength to give the Pirates hope by crashing over for his team's third
try. A well-struck penalty from Lennard settled Doncaster,
which would surprisingly prove the last score of the afternoon, as the match faded
as a spectacle and the visitors happily took every opportunity to close the game
out. | | |
Fourth-placed
Doncaster had arrived on a mission. They were always going to a different proposition
to what Plymouth Albion had offered seven days earlier, and so it proved.
Cornish
Pirates:
M. Vakacegu, B. Tuohy, P. Devlin, T. Luke, R. McAtee (M. Ireland
h/t)
R. Jones (S. Whatling 80), N. Griffiths (E. Fairhurst 65), M. Evans,
C. Morgan, B. Cowan (B. Bedes 58)
M. Burak (capt, B. Gulliver 58), H. Senekal
(B. Gulliver 43-53), S. Heard (S. Franklin 58), R. Elloway (D. Dawidiuk 67), A.
Paver. Red card: M. Evans. Doncaster Knights:
A. Carter,
W. Davies, S. McColl (H. Tonga'uiha 69), B. Armitage, A. Wright, J. Lennard, M.
D'Arcy, J. Afu, N. Cochrane, A. Kettle, G. Kenworthy (capt), B. Griffiths, M.
Cusack (T. Toke 65), S. Boden, T. Davies (R. List 65).
Replacements (not used):
D. Smith, S. Grainger, C. Hallam, A. Warnock.
Red card: A. Kettle. Scorers: Cornish
Pirates
Tries: Vakacegu, Griffiths, Senekal; con: Jones; pens: Jones (2). Doncaster
Knights
Tries: Davies (2), penalty try, D'Arcy; cons: Lennard (2); pens:
Lennard (2), drop goal: Lennard. Referee: Terry Hall (RFU) Man
of the match: Heino Senekal Attendance: 2,437 |
