Having scored 35 or more points in their previous seven matches, Leeds were in danger of winning this division without a sufficient enough test with which to return to a considerably more challenging Premiership.

However, their record and character was put under severe examination by their Yorkshire rivals, who restricted the leaders to only three tries, denying them a bonus point for only the second time this season.

Indeed, Doncaster could well have inflicted more damage had it not been for the inaccuracy of Jamie Lennard, the fly-half who missed five kicks.

The flying centres of Bevon Armitage and Hudson Tonga'uhia asked serious questions of Leeds's defence, and the Doncaster front row matched their superior opponents early on.

Doncaster spent the first 20 minutes of the match camped in Leeds's half but had only a 10-point lead to show for it, when their advantage could have been double that.

Jason Strange kicked Leeds in front after two minutes, but from then on Lynn Howells's men took charge.

Tonga'uhia and Armitage created openings for the visitors that they failed to capitalise on.

The inventive but inexperienced half-back pairing of Lennard and Chris Hallam both showed naivete when a cooler head was needed.

Lennard missed three relatively straightforward penalties and a drop goal that would have given Doncaster a 12-3 advantage, and then, with just one man to beat, Hallam fumbled a pass to Armitage.

Doncaster needed a leg up and they got it from Leeds full-back Leigh Hinton, whose pass was intercepted by Armitage, who scampered between the posts on 17 minutes.

Lennard finally found his range with the conversion before he bisected the posts with a penalty to extend the lead further after Rhys Oakley was sin-binned for holding-on.

The confidence was now restored for Lennard, who needed the intervention of an upright to help a drop goal on its way.

Leeds were reeling at this stage, the indecision causing uncertainty among the backs.

The runaway leaders needed a filip, and they got it in the shape of Kearnan Myall and Johnny Hepworth, who made two bursts that finally took Leeds into the opposing half and got the fans out of their seats.

Likewise, Doncaster needed to show their lead was not built on false hope and a good defensive stand on their own try line showed they had the substance to back up their flair.

However, they were finally breached after a succession of scrums led to Strange finding Hinton on the right wing and he atoned for his earlier mistake by dragging three players over the line with him.

Strange missed the kick, but Leeds were back in it, and when Hepworth made a dashing run from between his own posts to halfway to alleviate the pressure of a Doncaster attack, the tide had turned.

Strange's penalty from in front of the posts after Hallam had gone in from the side, narrowed the deficit to two points at half-time.

The hosts had to wait 13 minutes of the second half before taking the lead as their pack started to take control.

The go-ahead try came from the unlikeliest of sources, hooker Rob Rawlinson bundling over in the corner with Doncaster down to 14 men after Wes Davies was sin-binned for flattening Hinton with a high challenge.

No sooner had Davies returned to the field than prop Richard List was sin-binned, Strange kicking the penalty to extend the lead to eight.

Doncaster dug in but any hope of a comeback was erased when Hinton burst over for his second try, using the decoy run of Tom Biggs to eliminate the obstacle of the Doncaster defence.

The only remaining question was the bonus point which never arrived after a try-saving tackle from Tonga'uhia on Richard Welding and then a poor kick beyond the try line from Hendre Fourie, when he tried to set up a stoppage-time lineout.

"If we'd have kicked those points we missed we'd have been there or thereabouts," claimed Doncaster coach Howells.

"We had a few unforced errors in there in the the first half, but it was a good performance all round and we have showed we can compete at this level."

Leeds Carnegie: Hinton, Welding, Hepworth, Barrow (Dunbar 67), Biggs, Strange (Vickerman 78), Bedford (Mathie 59), MacDonald c, Rawinson, McGee (Bucknall 70), Murphy, Pendlebury, Myall, Fourie (Clark 70), Oakley. Replacements not used: Nilsen, Dunbar.

Doncaster Knights: Carter, W Davies, Tonga'uhia, Armitage, Hughes, Lennard (Warnock 69), Hallam (Albinson 40), List, Jenkins, Tau (Cusack 40), Griffiths, Kenworthy (Smith 80), Afu, Grainger, Planchant (T Davies 62). Replacements not used: Smith, Cochrane, Hughes.

Referee: D Pearson.