Defeat sees Doncaster allow their rivals to close in at the top

Being 22-3 down at the break to third-placed Fylde was a position the visitors were unable to recover from.

The Knights were 10-0 down within as many minutes, with Stephen McGinnis’s try being converted by Chris Johnson, who added a penalty shortly after.

Douglas Flockhart reduced the arrears for the Knights with a 22nd-minute penalty, but the home side responded quickly, their second try coming courtesy of Thomas Burtonwood, with Johnson once again on hand to add the extras in the 28th minute.

When Warren Spragg went over in the 36th minute, the visitors’ troubles were compounded with a red card for Adam Kettle.

The 52nd minute brought renewed hope for Doncaster when a collapse of the hosts’ scrum brought a penalty try that was converted by fly-half Flockhart.

Another penalty for Johnson made it 25-10 with just over 20 minutes remaining, but it wasn’t until the closing minutes that Doncaster were able to get over the line, Mat Clark working well with Paul Jarvis to touch down with Flockhart stepping up to slot over the conversion.

The 25-17 defeat allowed second-placed Rosslyn Park to also close the gap on the leaders, their 37-13 win over Old Albanians taking them to within three points of Clive Griffiths’s side with Fylde a further seven points back in third place.

Esher remain in fourth but they are now under pressure from Wharfedale who moved to within five points of them after edging them out 28-26 at Molesely Road.

An early Luke Daniels penalty gave the Surrey-based hosts the lead, with the full-back on hand to convert Michael MacFarlane’s fifth-minute try.

The Greens pulled back to within three by the 24th minute when Thomas Barrett stepped up to convert Joseph Donkin’s try.

Shortly before the break, Donkin went over the line again, enabling Barrett to double his tally and give the visitors a slender 14-13 advantage.

But, with Aaron Myers sin-binned, the home side made their numerical advantage count, earning themselves a penalty try converted by Daniels.

Despite going further behind during Myers’s absence Wharfedale were already looking the better side, their pressure on the home side showing with a number of skirmishes off the ball which produced by the end of the match four yellow cards for Esher, two to the same player.

Despite their depleted numbers, Esher played well enough to make life difficult for the Greens, until a driven try by Dan Stockdale drew the scores close, before Josh Prell scored out wide.

Hull Ionians were left empty-handed once again after going down 28-14 at home to Henley.

Visiting winger Chris Bart raced in after just four minutes, but Ionians stayed close with scrum-half Isaac Green kicking penalties on nine and 24 minutes, either side of a kick from James Comben for Henley which gave the visitors an 8-6 lead.

Bart’s second try extended the Hawks’s lead, but Green added a third penalty and, when No 8 Mark Wigham touched down three minutes before half-time, Ionians were 14-13 ahead.

Henley regained the lead with a Comben penalty, before Liam O’Neill’s 72nd-minute try out wide stretched the visitors’ lead to seven points.

The game was all over moments later when the visitors went over the line again, this time James Hadfield grounding the ball ahead of Comben’s conversion.