Doncaster Knights 35 Cornish Pirates 15: Telusa Veianu inspires a ninth win in a row

The Knights extended their winning sequence to nine league contests, and while they started slowly against a highly competitive Pirates team, once the fluency was established and the forwards grabbed hold of the ball, Doncaster dominated, scoring three first-half tries and then another three in the second.

Their opening score by full-back Telusa Veainu, pictured, a New Zealander who plays for Tonga, and a genuine star at Leicester Tigers and Stade Francais before joining Doncaster this season, was one of the great tries seen at Castle Park for many, many years.

Once in possession, Veainu’s pace, running skills and rapid ability to beat embarrassed defenders is a joy to watch, and his try as he ran more than 50 metres was quite brilliant, and from then on, Doncaster were never seriously threatened.

Indeed, their second try, by the former England and Bath winger, Semasa Rokoduguni, was almost as good, but more of a team effort as he finished a thrilling move involving forward Adam Hopkinson and fly half Russell Bennett.

The third try followed pack pressure which flanker Archie Smeaton exploited, and after leading 17-3 at the break, Doncaster’s second-half performance was equally productive, producing tries for prop Logo Mulipola and two from winger Jordan Olowofela, taking his total to 19 in the Championship.

This was Doncaster’s 14th win in 21 league games, but wasn’t without faults as coach Joe Ford admitted: “I didn’t think we got out of third gear, and we left four tries out there in the first half.

"Pirates make life difficult, but we were never in trouble.

“From where we are now to where we were at Christmas, we are making lots of progress, and the players understand that we are trying to move the ball more than most other teams.

“Looking ahead, there’ll be up to six new signings, so that we can rotate. We are looking for a No 8 because Morgan Strong is off to Coventry.

“I have enjoyed it overall. There were some dark days when we lost to Nottingham and London Scottish at home, but this group is tight and we said it would come good, and since that win at Sale in the Premiership Cup in February, we haven’t lost.”

After Ampthill, the players will have six weeks off and report back for pre-season training on Monday July 14.

A friendly has been arranged against Edinburgh in September and then another preparatory game will be organised for Castle Park before the new league, and its fresh format and name, begins in October.

As Ford says: “I love the new set-up with the play-offs and if it’s place now, the way we’ve hit form, we’d be the team to fancy.”