Dons 22 Sheffield 18

[Dons News]

Doncaster RLFC 22 Sheffield Eagles 18
Keepmoat Stadium
Pre-season friendly.

The Dons made a great start to pre-season and regained the South Yorkshire Cup in the process as they beat Sheffield Eagles 22-18.

Head coach Gary Thornton handed eight new recruits their debuts, with two of those managing to get on the scoresheet.

The Eagles should have taken the lead early on when Garry Lo crossed the try-line but failed to ground the ball, with the referee deeming the winger had knocked on.He made up for that a few moments later when a flowing move led to Ben Blackmore supplying the pass out to the left and Lo made no mistake with his second opportunity.

Sheffield thought they were in for another try with a quarter of the game gone, the ball was thrown out to Ryan Millar in aches of space, he finished the move off but the final pass was ruled to be forward.

The Dons got their first try of the afternoon just before the interval. Former Eagle Corey Hanson made a strong run before reaching out and scoring the four-pointer. Kieran Cross successfully kicked the conversion to put the home side in front.

HALF-TIME | Doncaster RLFC 6-4 Sheffield Eagles.

Thornton’s side started off the second period in fine style as quick hands in the build-up led to Liam Welham finding Sam Doherty and the centre powered over for the Dons second try. Jordan Howden took over the goal-kicking duty but could not add the two from out wide.

The home side were in for another try soon after. Richie Barnett, making his first appearance since joining the club from Hunslet, did well to keep the ball alive and squeezed his way over close to a corner post.

Howden’s conversion was inch perfect to increase the lead to 16-4.

The Dons were piling the pressure on at this stage and Cross was the next to go over. The hooker made a weaving run before finding enough space to score the try, with Tom Carr adding another two points from the conversion.

Sheffield managed to grab their second try when Menzie Yere raced down the left and timed his pass to perfection which meant that Lo had the simplest of tasks in securing a personal double.

Mark Aston’s men made it an eight point ball game as the game approached the last few minutes. Yere had too much strength for the Dons defence and slid over for the try.

Simon Brown kicked the Eagles’ first successful conversion of the game to make it 22-14. Will Hope was the next Sheffield player to cross the whitewash - the loose-forward spotted a gap in the defensive line and raced through to close the score to 22-18.

That was the final action of a closely fought local derby, with the Dons picking up their first win of 2017 against a resolute Sheffield side.

FULL-TIME | Doncaster RLFC 22-18 Sheffield Eagles. DONS TRIES | Hanson (39), Doherty (43), Barnett (49), Cross (62). GOALS | Cross x1, Howden x1, Carr x1.EAGLES TRIES | Lo (6, 67), Yere (74), Hope (79). GOALS | Brown x1.

DONS | Sheriff, Jones-Bishop, Doherty, Heil, Barnett, Howden, Miller, Scott, Kesik, Spiers, Martin, Muranka, Thackray. INTERCHANGE | Cross, Paleaaesina, Tali, Wright, Braham, Carr, Hanson, Welham.EAGLES | Blackmore, Lo, Yere, Thompson, Millar, Brown, Minchella, Wheeldon, Fozzard, Mexico, James, Straugheir, Hope. INTERCHANGE | Burns, Scott, Kelly, Trout, Whiteley, Foster.

 

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