'We’re our own worst enemies at the moment' - Dons boss reacts to mauling by Swinton Lions

The Lions roared to a 64-22 victory at the Eco-Power Stadium on Sunday as the Dons failed to bounce back from their disappointing defeat at Keighley Cougars the previous weekend.

And Horne was left concerned about how his team gave Swinton a leg up on their way to a convincing 11-try win.

The hosts conceded three tries in the first 16 minutes and also had Ben Johnston sent off for dissent.

Doncaster are in need of a much-improved performance when league new boys Cornwall visit the Eco-Power Stadium this weekend.

“Again, we’re speaking about starts to games and we’ve put ourselves under so much pressure,” said Horne.

“Then going down to 12 men against a team like Swinton, it’s hard to pull it back.

“We’re our own worst enemies at the moment with the errors we’re making with the ball and the decisions we’re making as well.

“We’re not making teams have to work for points. We’re just making it far too easy for them and hard for ourselves.

“They’re doing a job on us, putting us on our try line and making us have to come out. Whereas we’re making errors and when we get down there, we’re giving away penalties or six against.

“We just made life hard for ourselves against one of the promotion favourites.

“Missed tackles was another big one that we spoke about last week and we thought we’d addressed it. It’s disappointing that it’s crept in again.”

The dismissal of Johnston left Doncaster with an uphill battle against one of the promotion favourites.

“Something must have been said to warrant the red,” said Horne.

“It made life very difficult for us. Swinton are a top team, they’ve got a very athletic middle that can get really good ruck speeds.

“Losing a man, it hurts you massively because they can open you up around the ruck, which we didn’t need.

“They punished us. They were clinical and they executed whenever they had the opportunity to do that.”

Doncaster have lost two of their first three games following an opening weekend win against Midlands Hurricanes.

Cornwall have lost two from two.