Doncaster Knights crash to home defeat against Hartpury

The surprising setback means the Knights are currently more than 20 points behind the top two, Ealing Trailfinders and Jersey Reds.

This is not the position that was imagined at the start of the campaign.

But, as they prepare for Saturday’s contest at Richmond, third from bottom with only three wins and eight defeats, Doncaster’s form must surely return following consecutive losses.

The Knights have dropped to sixth with a record of six wins and six defeats (30 points), and with a full-time squad have plenty of opportunity to improve.

Considering they were playing with home advantage and needed to win after losing at Cornish Pirates, what stood out was Doncaster’s failure to score from at least eight promising positions which their strong pack had created.

Instead, only one try was scored by winger George Simpson, cutting the gap to 17-10 with 20 minutes remaining.

So, Doncaster had time to recover and, indeed, then manufactured two scoring opportunities but they were wasted as two of their own lineouts were lost.

Hartpury, a sharp side who’d earlier scored two tries and had defended solidly, made certain that Doncaster would finish the game without even a losing bonus point by adding a third on 77 minutes.

As the Knights counter-attacked impressively, Hartpury full back, Jacob Morris, a consistent threat throughout, intercepted a pass and sprinted 60 metres to touch down to complete a fully deserved win.

As against Pirates, Doncaster’s kicking game wasn’t that effective and too often possession was booted away.

Co-captain and fly half Sam Olver admitted: “We coughed up the ball too many times and gave it away too easily and couldn’t sustain pressure.

"We switched off at important times.”