Doncaster RLFC valiant in defeat against Championship leaders Toulouse

Sam Smeaton scored for the Dons in their defeat at Toulouse. Picture: Howard Roe/AHPIX.complaceholder image
Sam Smeaton scored for the Dons in their defeat at Toulouse. Picture: Howard Roe/AHPIX.com
Doncaster RLFC missed out on the chance to climb into a Betfred Championship play-off spot on Saturday night when going down 12-6 against league leaders Toulouse Olympique at the Stade Michel Bendichou.

It was an heroic effort by the Dons considering that they had to fly out on the day of the game instead of the previous day as planned due to the French airport strikes and didn’t arrive at the ground until past the time of the scheduled start after their flight from Birmingham had been delayed for nearly three hours.

When the game did get underway at 9pm local time, the result was in doubt until the final whistle.

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Just two points separated the two sides at the interval and that’s the way it stayed until five minutes from time when second-rower Maxime Stefani touched down after a spell of intense pressure to open up a six-point gap.

Had the resulting conversion not come back off the post, the game would have been up for the Dons who defended superbly throughout against a side which beat them 52-0 in the corresponding fixture last season, and looked the better side with ball in hand at times.

Needing a converted try in the dying minutes to avoid going home empty handed, the Dons got themselves in a position to do just that only for former Super League forward Pauli Pauli to be penalised for not playing the ball properly after being stopped just short of the line.

That proved to be the last throw of the dice and it was the full-time home side, who entertain hopes of a return to Super League next season if the opportunity presents itself, who came closest to troubling the scoreboard operator from a kick through in the last minute.

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Looking to bounce back from their first defeat in nine games, the French side drew first blood when winger Paul Ulberg intercepted a pass inside his own half as the Dons looked to move the ball wide, and showed the cover a clean pair of heels to score near enough for Anthony Marion to convert give his side a 6-0 lead.

Toulouse went close again prior to the Dons getting their first look at the French club’s line two minutes later - prop Jordan Baldwinson being held just short on his return to the starting line-up after several weeks on the injury list.

The Dons continued to ask questions of the Toulouse defence with their willingness to move the ball, and deservedly drew level on 17 minutes - veteran Sam Smeaton crashing over from ten metres out for a try converted by scrum-half Connor Robinson.

Smeaton and his fellow second-rower Jacob Jones both got through a lot of work in defence as did their team-mates including hooker Greg Burns. Wingers Edene Gebbie and Luke Briscoe and centres Reece Lyne and Brad Hey also showed up well in defence as well as bringing the ball out of yardage.

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Marion booted his side into an 8-6 interval lead when converting a penalty late in an evenly-contested first half littered by handling errors.

Defences remained on top after the break with Toulouse, who boast the best defence in the league, edging the territorial exchanges.

Hooker Isaac Misky, who came on for Burns, made several darting runs from acting half-back to set up good attacking positions, and Pauli made a barnstorming run before offloading which deserved a better rewarded.

The Dons best chance of a potential match-winning try, however, came when Briscoe ran from right to left to create a chance for leading scorer Gebbie but he failed to hold his pass 35 metres out.

Dons: Logan-Moy, Briscoe, Hey, Lyne, Gebbie, Boas, Robinson, Baldwinson, Burns, Matagi, Smeaton, Jones, Gardiner, Subs: Hepi, Misky, Pauli, Laidlaw.

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