Bedford Blues 38 Doncaster Knights 26: Doncaster suffer relegation Blues

Clive Griffiths’s men started brightly, but it was the home side who claimed an early try bonus point thanks to a brace of tries for Scott Spurling and Ollie Dodge.

On-loan Saracens hooker Spurling grabbed his first from a close-range driving maul, while his second saw him stroll in unopposed with Doncaster down to 14 men as Chris Hallam saw yellow for an infringement in the ruck.

Dodge was the beneficiary when James Short split the Knights defence before offloading to the grateful Blues centre. He collected his second from a quick lineout. Myles Dorrian, on loan from Exeter Chiefs, didn’t put a foot wrong converting all four attempts.

Knights’ single try came through captain Matt Challinor, barrelling over the touchline after a scintillating break by Dante Mama.

The second half didn’t bring a halt to the try fest as debutant flanker Joseva Nayacavou made an instant impact to place Doncaster on the front foot. From the set-piece Knights powered through the Bedford pack only to be collapsed illegally and give Dougie Flockhart the chance to add to his tally from a penalty try.

The Castle Park outfit registered two further impressive tries through Mama and Connor Braid to stay in the hunt, but Bedford proved too strong with two tries of their own through former Knight Neil Cochrane and Short to sink Doncaster to National Division One with a 38-26 defeat.