Confidence, power and organisation ensure Donny leave Park Lane with five points, as the Tigers are left licking their wounds

SEDGLEY PARK               6

DONCASTER KNIGHTS   46 

National League Division One 

DIFFERENT weather, same performance. Doncaster, like Coventry the week before, have recruited well and are well coached, but the key is they are fulltime. With that status comes a professional attitude that instills certain qualities that are so far lacking in the Tigers.

Too many times in these first two games they have either dropped the ball, knocked on or been caught in possession in attack, while in defence they have been bullied far too easily by bigger, better organised packs.

Director of Rugby Tim Fourie said of this latest defeat: “I must apologise. I said last week we could not play any worse; well I was wrong. I was quite happy with our defence in the first half, and if ‘Jonesy’ had kicked all his penalties we would have been within a point of them. But in the second half we were terrible, especially our try-line defence, we are inviting sides to crucify us.

“Our decision-making is poor and we don’t have enough people prepared to raise a hand and lead by example. It is the same one or two all the time. We are going to be under pressure every game and if we can’t find a way of dealing with it we have real problems. Andy (Northey) and I were never the most gifted of players but we always played with pride, passion and confidence, qualities we are particularly lacking in at the moment.”

Indeed, in backs’ coach Andy Northey’s experience confidence is something that is not come by easily: “You have to earn it by doing the basics well, building up performances and winning … then you get confidence,” he said.

“At the moment we seem incapable of doing anything right, so we will have to get back to the basics in training on Tuesdays and Thursdays and start from scratch with one-metre pass and catch… like mini rugby.

“In National One you assume players can do the basics; if they can’t and you only get together twice a week and you have to strip training back to the basics, time dictates that you are not going to get very far.

"At the moment we are unable to play under any kind of pressure. If real games were like training sessions, where we play unopposed, we would probably be top of the league with a massive positive points difference. Unfortunately that’s not real life. Full-time teams should always beat part-time teams and Donny were better than us but they shouldn’t have been 40 points better.”

Trailing 6-15 at the break a comeback was always going to be difficult but not impossible. Unfortunately the Tigers capitulated and the Knights stepped up a gear or two, running in five unopposed tries.

After gaining possession shortly after the kick-off the Knights’ forwards were too strong in the set-piece; a scrum followed a lineout and a simple pick-and-go close to the line was rewarded with a try for the visitors’ captain and forwards’ coach, Jason Forster on five minutes, goaled by Mark Woodrow.

Phil Jones was presented with a 40-metres penalty opportunity on 11 minutes but was off target, however, three minutes later after good running from Arno De Jager he was given a second opportunity and was successful, making it 3-7 after 15 minutes.

Woodrow and Jones then swapped three-pointers before the Knights’ stand-off cut through the Tigers’ defence at an acute angle to make it 6-15 at half-time, after Jones had squandered two more opportunities at goal.

Unfortunately, the second half was a one-sided affair with the Knights’ forwards using their size and organisation to at times steamroller their Sedgley counterparts.Within five minutes of the restart Forster had grabbed his second with a simple catch-and-drive from a five-metre lineout.Three minutes later scrum-half Ben Jones scooted over in the left-hand corner, followed by another catch-and-drive with Forster once again getting the downward pressure for his hat-trick, and the Knights were in front 6-27.

With the Tigers down to 13 men after first Jimmy Ponton and then replacement Alex Bennett were yellow-carded, the Knights used their forward dominance to claim two further catch-and drive tries courtesy of giant locks Luke Gross and Dan Cook to round off an impressive display.

For Sedgley it is a case of going back to the drawing board and coming up with a sustainable, workable plan that will develop the confidence necessary to win games and survive. 

SEDGLEY PARK:  De Jager, Roko, Craig, Briers (Naulivou 61), Voortman, Jones, Leck (Albinson J 56), Gazzola (Roberts 67), Roddam (Jones M 67), Evans (Du Plessis 75), Swart, Norris, Newton (Bennett 46), Ponton, Jope (Skurr 46).Pens: Jones 2. Yellow cards: Ponton, Bennett 

DONCASTER KNIGHTS: Boden J, Hunt, Bailey, Davey, Davies, Woodrow (Benson 70), Jones B (Scully 75), Bunting (List 65), Boden S (Plevey 73), Tau (Davies T 70), Kenworthy, Gross (Cook D 61), Grainger, Forster (Cook O 61), Wilson. Tries: Forster 3, Boden J, Woodrow, Gross, Cook D. Cons: Woodrow 3, Boden J 2. Pens:  Woodrow