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Thornton Hails Hunslet Win


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Doncaster Rugby League head coach Gary Thornton spoke to the official website following Sunday’s clash with Hunslet Hawks.

The Dons made avenge for the Challenge Cup defeat earlier in the season with a hard fought 30-22 victory at South Leeds Stadium.

The Dons head coach admitted he was delighted with the win, which saw the Dons go temporarily top of the League 1 table.

“It was a fantastic win, I am really proud of the boys,” said Thornton.

“For a lot of the second half we were under the cosh and when we went behind I thought we had blown it, but to come back and win it at the end was a terrific effort and I am really pleased.

“It was a good start and we spoke about that, I felt we also had a good start last week against Barrow, in the first 25 minutes we were very good.

“In previous games we have not started the best and we have put ourselves under a lot of pressure, so we have done a lot of work on that and if you get a good start you can kick on from there and that is certainly what has happened over the last two games.

“I am really pleased it has come to fruition because we spoke a lot about it and it is a big part of rugby, starting well and kicking on.

“We expected Hunslet to come at us in the second half.  The breeze down the middle of the field was stronger than what people thought, they had that advantage in the second half and I think it was probably worth 14-16 points it was that strong and we used it really well in the first half.

“I knew they would come at us, I knew Matt Bramald would have a real go at them at half-time  and he did, they came out strong.

“We weathered the storm and finished really well, the last 15 minutes was an excellent team performance, credit to Hunslet for putting a game on, but in the back end of the game I thought we were very good.

“I know there was a lot of talk about how poor we were in the Challenge Cup, but I thought we were very good on Sunday.

“It is fantastic to be around at the top of the table, it was always our aim to be as competitive as we could be in the league, so I am delighted we are up there, credit to the boys because they deserve it.”

The Dons head coach also spoke about the impact of Mark Castle who has scored three tries in his last three games following his late winner on Sunday.

“It was a trademark try at the end, Kyle Kesik and Mark have that play off to a tee now.

“Three tries in three games is fantastic for Mark and it was just what we needed.

“Jason Tali’s try eased the nerves a little bit because it was tense and Hunslet missing the goal was probably the turning point for me, because when we got the try and Tom Carr kicked it, it gave us a two point advantage again and then we went on and won the game with a great try from Mark.”

There was also praise for Dewsbury Rams loan man Brad Delaney and Thornton admitted he would like to extend the half-back’s loan.

He said: “Brad was terrific today, it was his last game for us so we will have to see how that pans out.”

“Dewsbury may well call him back because he has been in great form and I thought he was very good on Sunday, especially in the first half.

“He was very prominent, he scored two great tries, so we will try and work something out.

“I would like to keep him, I think he has been really good for us in the three games that he has played so we will have to wait and see.”



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