Doncaster Knights 14 Rotherham Titans 15: Doncaster see victory bid blown away at the death

A severe critic will find fault with the less than satisfactory level of skills and careless mistakes made by both teams, but, in terms of effort and commitment, no-one can complain.

Indeed, the finale is likely to be talked about as long as both clubs are locked in a parochial battle.

This scrap was supposed to be a Yorkshire affair; yet it was settled by a Scotsman and an Irishman, also played an influential role.

Winger Shane Monahan scored two tries as Rotherham completed their first away league victory at Doncaster in nine attempts.

With Rotherham losing 14-12 and struggling to escape from their 22 deep into stoppage time, Doncaster must have thought that the spoils belonged to them.

They were badly wrong. Within seconds, fortunes had changed rapidly.

Doncaster’s apparent control, established by two first-half converted tries, a penalty try and then a thrilling score by flanker Zack Farivarz, was immediately jeopardised on 87 minutes.

After Rotherham broke out of defence, Doncaster’s forwards were penalised as they fought to stop the counter-attack.

The referee awarded the Titans a penalty – a golden opportunity to claim a fortunate win in the final minute.

Given that Rotherham’s Scottish fly-half, Garry Law, had earlier failed with three kicks at the posts, the odds were that Doncaster would survive and cling to their two points’ lead and emerge as winners.

Sky Sports’ viewers and the excellent crowd were about to watch a moment of high drama as Law struck the penalty.

Initially, Law’s kick veered to the left of the posts, but suddenly the wind blew it inwards and, remarkably, the ball changed direction and shot through the upright.

Instantly, Law’s match-winning kick – the last play of the contest – sparked Rotherham celebrations.

By contrast, Doncaster, not surprisingly, looked shell-shocked and, indeed, they will be even more shattered at the end of this week after participating in a crazy schedule of two Championship games at London Welsh on Wednesday, followed by the game at Bristol only 48 hours later on Friday.

Understandably, Law, the Championship’s leading points’ scorer with more than 200, was mobbed by his team-mates.

Later, he reflected calmly on his memorable contribution.

“I’m full of relief, having missed a couple of kicks in the first half and then in the second, the conversion toppled off the tee. I was standing there and the wind was coming right to left.

“I could also see the big flag in the corner and the wind was blowing left to right, so I didn’t really know what the direction was. When I kicked it, I thought it was too far to the left.

“It was embarrassing, but then it just took off and swung out. Actually, I thought it was going to hit the bar but it went through. I guess I’m really relieved about that.”

On the other hand, Brett Davey, Doncaster’s frustrated coach, who says this week’s programme of games “stinks”, saw his team lose for the second time in four days.

“I pretty much thought we’d won, but I know what we are like. We have a tendency to make mental errors at the end of games.

“We allowed Rotherham to gain a field position and gave away a cheap penalty. To be fair, Law’s goal was a great penalty kick. Credit to him, he nailed it.

“We didn’t get much ball movement and therefore, we didn’t create many chances.

“We didn’t do anything in the second half and played at a pace which allowed Rotherham to be more organised.”

After successive defeats by Bristol and Cornish Pirates, Rotherham’s all-round performance was a substantial improvement.

However, they still find it hard to smash defences and their discipline must sharpen.

More than a dozen penalties were conceded against Doncaster, and, at one stage, Rotherham were reduced to 13 following yellow cards against forwards Ben Harris and Shane Cahill, but as coach Andre Bester pointed out:

“We now have a lot of self-belief going into the play-offs.”

Doncaster Knights: Flockhart, Goss, Burdon, Gidlow, Keating, McDonogh, Hallam, Davies, Boden (Yeandle 60), Brown, Challinor, Parsons, Boyde (Makaafi 45), Farivarz (Planchant 64), Noone (Kettle 59).

Rotherham Titans: Hamilton, Foden, McCall, Nonu, Law, Williams, Harris, Stagg (Baines 35), O’Donnell 35), Dickinson (Kirwan 66), Patrick (Maddison 45), Copeland, Dougall, Taulava.

Referee: S Lee (RFU).