Wakefield Trinity 72 Doncaster RLFC 6: Dons heavily beaten by league leaders in season finale

Adding to the four forwards who missed the win at Swinton due to injury or illness, head coach Richard Horne also found himself without try-scoring second-rower Pauli Pauli, who served the first of a two-match ban, and goal-kicking scrum-half and play-maker Connor Robinson, who had picked up an ear injury against the Lions.

Horne also decided to relegate in-form winger Bureta Faraimo to the bench to give a run out to the departing Tom Halliday.

In stark contrast, the full-time Trinity side were virtually at full-strength and looking to go into the forthcoming play-offs on a high with a 25th win in 26 league games in the hope of avoiding a similar fate to last season’s league leaders Featherstone Rovers who suffered a surprise defeat against London.

The result was never going to be in doubt in such circumstances and it was always going to be just a case of how many Trinity, who topped the 1,000 points mark for the league campaign in the final quarter, would win by.

In the final analysis, they ran out 72-6 winners to hand the Dons not only their biggest league defeat in recent years with full-back Max Jowitt contributing exactly half of their tally after scoring four tries and kicking ten conversions.

It was a disappointing end to a season for the Dons who narrowly missed out finishing in the top half of the table with their overall performance lacking many of the qualities which have shone brightly throughout their first campaign at this level for eight years.

Their defence, in particular, looked paper thin at times, and well though Trinity played for the full 80 minutes they didn’t have to work hard for a number of their 13 tries.

It took Trinity just four minutes to open their account, Jowitt, who also added the extras, crossing from close range.

Trinity continued to run hot and some neat handling in the Doncaster 20 ended with winger Derrell Olpherts strolling over in the corner.

Things looked ominous for the Dons at that stage but they gradually started to find their feet and ask questions of the Wakefield defence. They opened their account when veteran PNG Test centre Jason Tali forced his way over for a try converted by Craig Hall, who was one of their better performers.

That was as good as it got for the Dons though loose-forward AJ Wallace managed to get the ball over the line only for referee Ben Thaler, who was officiating in his 700th and final game, to penalise the Hull KR loanee for a double movement.

Both sides had earlier given the veteran official a guard of honour as he took to the field with the 5,000 plus crowd giving him a standing ovation.

Play quickly switched to the other end where Trinity scrum-half Mason Lino touched down after former Great Britain winger Jermaine McGillvary, playing his last league game before retiring, had been held just short.

Hall produced try-saving interception close to his own line and raced clear down the left but was unable to find a supporting player as the cover closed in on him in the Trinity half.

Watson Boas lost the ball as he tried to make the line after winger Luke Briscoe had palmed down a Hall kick to him. Apart from a neat run by Hall in the final quarter, that was as close the Dons got to another try

Trinity ended the first half as they had started it and added two more tries to carve out a 24-6 interval lead. They added a further three tries in the third quarter to open up a 42-6 lead which equalled their winning score at the Eco-Power Stadium at the start of the season.

Despite the fact that the result was a foregone conclusion, Trinity never took their foot off the gas and added a further five tries.

Dons: Guzdek, Briscoe, Lyne, Tali, Halliday, Hall, Boas, Baxter, McConnell, Matagi, Sutcliffe, Smeaton, Wallace. Subs: Heyu, Holdstock, Mafi, Faraimo.