Doncaster Knights 19 Jersey 24: Knights vow to come out firing in key derby

There were a few stunned looks on the faces of Knights’ fans after Fautua Otto’s last-minute try gave dogged Jersey victory in this British & Irish Cup tie.

However, it perhaps should be no surprise the Channel Islanders were the first team to defeat the South Yorkshire outfit since Yorkshire Carnegie in October.

That is because, during Doncaster’s 12-game unbeaten sequence, they had come closest already, twice drawing with them, so it was always likely to be tight.

Nevertheless, there remain no real dramas for Clive Griffiths’s side; they were competitive, led for most of the encounter and still topped Pool Five although they dropped to fifth seed, which means no home quarter-final and, instead, an arduous trip to Cornish Pirates in March.

If anything, the soft manner in which they conceded two of Jersey’s three second-half tries will have concerned the director of rugby – it was very unlike Doncaster who, in charging to second in the Championship, have prided themselves on their steeliness this term – but it is hard to imagine them being as feeble again.

They return to league action on Sunday, where they are seven games unbeaten, at home to Rotherham Titans, their derby rivals who are in dire straits, having lost seven games on the bounce but who might now sense some vulnerability in Knights’ ranks.

For Michael Heaney, Doncaster’s former Ulster scrum-half in his second stint at Castle Park this season, the message is clear.

“This Rotherham game is unbelievably key especially after what happened against Jersey,” he said, his smart 44th-minute effort their only try of the game.

“That defeat was difficult to take. We knew what they would bring and what they needed to do to get out of the group and they managed that. They have reached the quarters, too, now.

“But it was very disappointing for us and we have to take some lessons from it into next week.

“It’s important we get back to winning ways against Rotherham. We’ll be looking to continue our unbeaten run in the Championship and the games don’t get much bigger than Rotherham so we’ll come out all guns blazing.”

Jersey’s pack has always been their strength and they did cause all problems for Doncaster in the scrum, in particular, in the first half, legitimately or otherwise.

However, Knights’ Dougie Flockhart and the visitors’ Brendan Cope had traded a penalty apiece to leave it 3-3 at half-time.

Knights started with more zest in the second period and, after winning a scrum against the head, Heaney showed fleet feet to dance over as they took the lead.

“I’ve made a career out of avoiding people in contact; I’ve been working on that for about 25 years,” he mused. “To be honest, though, I’d trade that for a win here any day. We felt we had parity in a lot of areas but it was a lottery whenever it came to scrum time, which made it hard for us.

“In those tight games, though, unless you get yourselves more than a score ahead you’re always going to be susceptible to conceding tries at the end and losing.”

That is just what happened; Jersey – once Otto had returned after being yellow-carded for a professional foul on Heaney – showed some splendid offloading for Pierce Phillips to score, even if Doncaster’s defence was unusually tame, Cope improving.

Though Flockhart added his third penalty, Jersey’s trademark driving maul saw Gary Graham’s try improved by Cope as they went ahead after 64 minutes.

Flockhart’s next penalty soon saw that lead overturned but late visiting pressure via another driving maul gave Rory Jennings, the on-loan Bath fly-half only just on the field, space to find Otto, who angled through some poor efforts to claim victory, Cope converting.

Doncaster Knights: Jarvis; Flockhart, Bulumakau, Clark, Lewis; Cusack (Humberstone 68), Heaney; List (Pasquali 68), Hunter (Veikoso 65), Quigley (Sproston 68), Challinor (Phelan 65), Hotson, Makaafi, Hills, Stedman (Shaw 65).

Jersey: Ross; Thomas, Fautua, Cooke, Lane; Cope (Jennings 77), Fisulau (Winter-Moates 61); Lockwood (Sainz-Lancuba 68), Selway (Garcia-Veiga 50), Tomaszcyk (Kerrod 46), Phillips, Rowlands (Koolafai 61), Freeman (Rae 45), Graham, Haining.

Referee: M Hudson (RFU).