'We shot ourselves in the foot' laments Dean Richards after Doncaster Knights loss to Coventry
Doncaster Knights, who have won two of their five games, now have a week off before starting preparations for one of the hardest Champ games of the campaign in west London against Ealing Trailfinders at the end of this month.
With no competitive league rugby for almost a fortnight, this should give them plenty of time to tighten their ill-discipline resulting in a last-minute defeat at Castle Park where the game appeared to have been won following an excellent recovery in the second half.
No one could quite believe that Doncaster, leading by 31-26 after 65 minutes and retaining that advantage going into added time, would throw away so carelessly this invaluable lead.
As Coventry’s forwards, who’d already created four tries, raided Doncaster’s 22 and line regularly, the Knights did have the opportunity to keep the ball, but, as so often throughout a tense and thrilling contest, they continued, just at the wrong time, to concede penalties...more than 20.
Three were given away in rapid succession, allowing Coventry to employ attacking lineouts, and when Doncaster conceded again, a tap penalty in front of their posts enabled replacement forward, Coby Stanton-Ford, to smash his way over, prompting instant celebrations by his team-mates, scarcely able to believe their luck.
Meanwhile, Doncaster’s players looked on, shattered in disbelief they’d committed rugby suicide, undoing all their earlier work that had put them in a match winning position.
The Knights recovered strongly in the second half, adding to tries by centre Wilf McCarthy and hooker Ben Sugars; two tries by Fijian winger Penaia Tagutu and one from fly half Tom Curtis, plus his three conversions, regained the lead and, even though they’d conceded 18 penalties as the game reached its climax, it felt that Doncaster would eventually win.
Not so as the indiscipline astonishingly worsened. Not surprisingly, Director of Rugby, Dean Richards, was dejected with the outcome.
“We shot ourselves in the foot and with seconds to go we had the opportunity to win, but we gave the ref the chance to penalise us again,” he said.
“We have to work on our ill-discipline which also cost us at Blackheath.”
During an encouraging fight-back, one of Richards’ signings, Curtis, 25, who left Sale Sharks in the summer, scored a superb try, running 40 metres through Coventry’s defence, and with his conversion, Doncaster were drawing 26-26 on 54 minutes.
“We’re a good team but give away too many penalties. It’s a killer. We’ve got to manage the ref better. We showed we can compete with a top three side, and the message is quite simple: to be positive and go into games with the right mindset.
“This result will sting, but we are pleased with the way we responded after going 14-0 down. Every time we were in the Coventry 22, we looked threatening and took our chances.
“I’m still finding my feet at Doncaster but enjoying working with Dean who’s a good character. He achieved a lot in his playing and coaching career, and with Sir Ian McGeechan as well and Alan Dickens, there’s loads of knowledge in the coaching team.”
Doncaster Knights: Veainu (Kerr 62), Olowofela, Beeckmans, McCarthy,Tagutu, Curtis, Fox (Dolly 72), Masoe (Mulipola 53), Sugars (Turnbull 64), Williams (Hancock 53), Wardell (Ransom 53), Glanville, Hopkinson, King, McGuire (Bainbridge 65).
Coventry: Bacon, Garrett, McNab (Sullivan 65), Bavadra (Margetts 52), Reeves, Mathews, Maunder (Barton 55), A.Benz-Salomon (Lines 65), Poole (Hunt 65), J.Benz-Salomon (Stanton-Ford 78),Nayalo (Green 60), Fulford, Ball (Davidson 62), Tait, Strong.
Referee: Charlie Gayther.