DONCASTER DOWN DISMAL BRIS

Doncaster Panorama
By Ian Todd
November 20 2010

Bristol faded badly in the second half to fall to a 36 -13 defeat. The first was an even enough affair, but the errors mounted and in the end the hosts ran out comfortable winners.

An early charge down for Bristol failed to lead to any positive outcome other than a penalty which saw Doncaster marched ten metres back for speaking too freely to the referee.  George Watkins had a quick dart in midfield, backed up more substantially by Roy Winters and then Jack Adams.  The forwards piled in to take play on and Winters was again involved to take play up to the line.  The ball was flipped up to Jack Tovey who looked to have scored but in fact knocked-on over the line, and tore the shoulder of his jersey in the attempt. 

A brief kicking contest ensued culminating in a clumsy knock-on from the Doncaster fullback.  Doncaster were penalised at the scrum and Adrian Jarvis went for the posts to put Bristol into a 0 – 3 lead.  Typically Bristol then gave away a penalty of their own to let Roberts equalise.  Dan Montagu tried to get Bristol going forward and he set up Sean Marsden for a neat kick to touch on  the Doncaster 22.  Doncaster were able to clear their lines but Winters seized on to a loose pass to launch himself  forward and make tremendous ground.  He fed Watkins who looked to be clear on the wing before the faintest tap tackle just brought him to a halt.  In end to end movement Doncaster burst away from the resulting lineout and Maakifi sprinted over despite Tovey’s efforts to stop the ball getting into his hands.  The conversion sailed over for a 10 – 3 lead. 

Doncaster kept Bristol pinned back with astute kicking but gave away a soft penalty to give Jarvis the chance to get the ball into touch.  His kick was too long but Williams tapped the ball forward in his efforts to prevent the ball crossing the line.  Tovey raced onto the ball and went to within a couple of metres.  Robbie Shaw then darted close before play was switched back left.  Sadly Bristol were turned over as they drove forward.  Doncaster made the most of the reprieve and pressed Bristol back although the defence held firm.  Rather surprisingly the Doncaster hooker was yellow-carded for some offence.  Bristol drove well from the following lineout but as the ball went wide Adams was sin-binned to even things up. 

The Doncaster penalty kick went a huge distance but the lineout was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a bit of a mess and Bristol survived.  With the half drawing to a close, Ollie Hayes showed great pace and strength on the right wing to take play back to the Doncaster 22.  Junior Fatialofa made a powerful break and he fed Watkins out of the tackle.  The winger had the strength to crash over for a converted, equalising, try.  A Bristol error then let Doncaster reply virtually straight away as quick handling released Flockhart to score a converted try that gave the hosts a 17 – 10 lead at half time. 

After a half in which Bristol had been competitive and could have had more points, it was vital to get early points in the second.  Good forward play saw Doncaster penalised and Jarvis punch his side into the Doncaster half.  Another forward drive ate up the ground but when the ball was shifted out to the backs possession was turned-over.  A break from Adams set Watkins free on his wing but a couple of jinks and a strong hand-off were not enough to see him over the line.  The scrum was Bristol’s, but the backs’ move was then very poorly executed to give the hosts a penalty for crossing that allowed them to escape.  Bristol still managed to win a penalty that Jarvis dispatched to narrow the gap to 17 – 13.

 Doncaster were swiftly back at Bristol, switching play from side to side and feeding Parsons for a well-worked try.  The conversion attempt was off-target but the lead was 22 – 13.  Bristol made hard going of their efforts to close the gap before Watkins was once more set up by Adams.  The result was the same as his earlier effort as he was unable to finish off the move. 

Bristol continued to struggle to string together a coherent move and a series of poor passes simple shipped trouble on to end in a clumsy knock-on.  Trouble was compounded as Williams seized on the bobbling ball to cruise over for the converted bonus-point try and a 29 – 13 lead.  Bristol attempted an unlikely comeback and Tovey made a good run but was poorly supported and slow ball from the breakdown led to a penalty.  Doncaster controlled play well with an accurate kicking game, with Bristol unable to break the stranglehold.  All Bristol’s efforts faltered with poor decisions or handling.  A terrible pass to replacement Nicky Little led to a knock-on.  The ball was hacked upfield, Williams was tackled early by Marsden, but Jackson was on hand to finish off the move.  Roberts converted and it was 36 – 13 at the end.