DONCASTER 46 OLDHAM 18
KASEY SMITH, Club Doncaster Sports Village, Sunday

DONCASTER delivered a statement win by inflicting a first defeat in 17 league games on Oldham.

The Roughyeds were blown away by blistering second-half showing by the home side.

Doncaster opened the scoring after a deft Connor Robinson kick almost put Watson Boas in, forcing Oldham to concede a penalty. From the resulting set, Isaac Misky spun his way over from close range to score under the posts.

Robinson added the first of seven goals from nine attempts, then produced a superb 40-20 to heap more pressure on Oldham. Doncaster made it count as Bureta Faraimo crashed towards the line and, despite a host of Roughyeds players desperately trying to hold him up, somehow managed to ground the ball.

A frantic passage of play began with Edene Gebbie taking a quick 20-metre restart and racing clear. Tom Nisbet showed tremendous determination to chase him down, forcing a desperate offload from the Doncaster fullback which fell straight into the hands of Jake Bibby, who burst away, before the ball was illegally stripped, allowing Oldham to capitalise. Jack Walker sold a dummy, drew in the defender and grounded. Morgan Smith converted, so it was 12-6.

A crunching tackle from Owen Farnworth forced the ball free from Gebbie’s grasp and handed Oldham another opportunity. They made the most of it, producing an almost identical move to Walker’s first try as the fullback took Josh Drinkwater’s pass and powered his way over, Smith improving again.

After all their hard work to draw level, Oldham’s joy was short. Doncaster soon struck back, creating space on the left before Gebbie burst clear and shrugged off Walker’s attempted tackle to race over, with Robinson’s extras making it 18-12.

Oldham were fortunate to trail by just one score at the break as Robinson sliced through several defenders and looked certain to score before Ben Davies somehow hauled him down just a metre short.

Doncaster were then awarded a penalty for Oldham holding down in the tackle, but Robinson surprisingly pulled a straightforward kick at goal wide.

Gebbie, once again proving a constant menace, crossed for his second after 45 minutes. Robinson’s towering kick forced Walker into an error, and Gebbie danced his way through the defence.

Doncaster continued to turn the screw, and a superb pass from former Oldham man Tom Whitehead sent Boas racing through a gap and over the line unopposed to make it 28-12.

Mikaele Ravalawa then grabbed a try on debut, collecting a nicely-weighted Boas kick, and Gebbie completed his hat-trick, with Robinson’s seventh conversion making it 40-12.

There was still time for Ravalawa to grab a second as well as a late Oldham consolation try, with Walker competing a treble and Smith adding the two.

There were late yellow cards for Doncaster duo Brad Knowles and Faraimo.

GAMESTAR: Oldham couldn’t control Edene Gebbie, who seemed almost impossible to tackle.

GAMEBREAKER: When Mikaele Ravalawa scored on debut after 54 minutes, he helped give the hosts a telling 34-12 lead.

MATCHFACTS

DONCASTER
18 Edene Gebbie
2 Bureta Faraimo
24 Watson Boas
30 Harvey Horne
28 Mikaele Ravalawa
29 Tom Whitehead
7 Connor Robinson
8 Brad Knowles
20 Isaac Misky
17 Muizz Mustapha
12 Alex Sutcliffe
22 Luis Johnson
14 Jacob Jones
Subs (all used)
10 Suaia Matagi
13 Loui McConnell
19 Connor Jones
21 Tyla Hepi

Tries: Misky (4), Faraimo (10), Gebbie (33, 45, 66), Boas (50), Ravalawa (54, 74)
Goals: Robinson 7/9
Sin bin: Knowles (72) – high tackle, Faraimo (79) – late tackle

OLDHAM
1 Jack Walker
21 Tom Nisbet
4 Ben Davies
3 Ben O’Keefe
5 Jake Bibby
6 Morgan Smith
23 Josh Drinkwater
22 Tom McKinney
9 Matty Wildie
15 Ted Chapelhow
11 Matty Ashurst
26 Brad Day
13 Adam Milner
Subs (all used)
7 Tom Forber
10 Owen Farnworth
16 Ewan Moore
27 Bayley Liu



Tries: Walker (19, 29, 78)
Goals: Smith 3/3

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 12-6, 12-12, 18-12; 24-12, 28-12, 34-12, 40-12, 46-12, 46-18

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Doncaster: Edene Gebbie; Oldham: Jack Walker

Penalty count: 6-12
Half-time: 18-12
Referee: Kevin Moore