Doncaster RLFC get the better of Widnes Vikings in final home game of season

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It proved to be a case of third time lucky as Doncaster RLFC avenged two previous defeats at the DCBL Stadium when beating fourth placed Widnes Vikings 30-14 in their final home game of their 2024 Betfred Championship campaign at the Eco-Power Stadium.

With other results also going their way the victory resurrected their faint play-off hopes although a more realistic target in their final two games remains hanging on to eighth place.

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Showing just one change from the side which started in the 38-0 win against Batley Bulldogs last time out, the Dons carried on where they had left off at Mount Pleasant – defending well and taking their chances.

They grabbed an early try when centre Reece Lyne latched on to a loose ball over the line after Widnes winger Ryan Ince had fumbled a high kick by full-back Craig Hall.

Picture via @Doncaster_RLFCPicture via @Doncaster_RLFC
Picture via @Doncaster_RLFC

Scrum-half Connor Robinson, who kicked superbly all afternoon as well as controlling much of the play, added the conversion as well as kicking a penalty to give his side an 8-0 lead.

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The Dons dominated the first quarter and opened up a 14-0 lead when powerhouse second-rower Pauli Pauli somehow managed to get his pass away in the tackle close to the line to present Robinson with an easy try which he again converted.

It would have been 20-0 had Robinson, who juggled the ball before losing it just before the line, managed to convert a midfield break by his half-back partner Watson Boas, who also showed up well.

Stand-off Ben Johnston almost created a try with his first touch after coming off the bench for his first taste of action since injuring his foot in the defeat at Bradford back in June, with a trademark break.

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Widnes had only rarely tested the Doncaster defence during the first half which probably explained why scrum-half Tommy Gilmore elected to kick a 38th minute penalty from a good attacking position.

The Dons started the second half as they had started the first with some quick handling deep in the Widnes half giving winger Luke Briscoe a half-chance to score which he took in some style when cutting in past two defenders before straightening up and making the line to claim another converted try to make it 20-2.

The Dons’ joy was tempered by Johnston, who had been involved in the move, limping off with a recurrence of his foot injury.

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Three Widnes players were halted inches from the line in quick succession before the Dons’ defence conceded their first try in over 100 minutes when Hall fumbled Gilmore’s high kick and the half back touched down for a try he also converted.

Robinson stretched the lead to 24-8 with a brace of penalties. But a well-worked try by Ince, again converted by the influential Gilmore, served to give the Vikings hope of salvaging a result in the last ten minute.

But a try by winger Bureta Faraimo following some neat inter-play down the left, again goaled by Robinson, served to kill off any comeback hopes.

Dons: Hall, Briscoe, Hey, Lyne, Faraimo, Boas, Robinson, Matagi, Burns, Knowles, Pauli, Sutcliffe, Wallace. Subs: Johnston, Smeaton, Ferres, Baxter. 18th man: Guzdek.

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