Doncaster Knights secure third in Championship while Yorkshire enjoy Roses triumph to set up Twickenham final
DONCASTER KNIGHTS finished their Championship campaign third in the standings after ending their schedule with a 29-19 win at Ampthill.
It was the 10 minutes or so either side of half-time where the game was won by Joe Ford’s team, securing a 15th win of the season and offering hope of eclipsing that come this time next year.
The Knights broke the deadlock in the seventh minute with a Koloti Veainu try converted by Alex Dolly, the hosts quick to reply and level through Byron Sharwood’s effort 10 minutes later.
A yellow card for Jordan Olowofela almost immediately after have the hosts an opportunity they took when Valentino Mapapalangi went over for a 12-7 lead, one which was wiped out before the break when Dolly hit back in the 34th minute.
That unconverted effort saw the teams go in level but the Knights came out firing on all cylinders after the break, forging ahead when Dolly converted Olowofela’s 43rd-minute try before Aidan Cross made it 24-12 three minutes later.
Maliq Holden made sure of the points for the visitors in the 77th minute, before Ampthill grabbed a late converted consolation try from Sione Vaenuku.
Hull Ionians playmaker Lewis Minikin produced a try-scoring man of the match performance as Yorkshire emphatically won 36-22 against Lancashire to book their place in the showcase at Twickenham in three weeks’ time.
The white rose scored six tries on Saturday as they made it four wins out of the last five clashes against their old adversaries in one of rugby’s most historic fixtures.
It sets up a tantalising re-run of last year’s final, with Yorkshire’s men looking to go one better after last year’s agonisingly defeat to Kent.
A nearly speechless Yorkshire head coach Lee Denham said: “I’m very happy, over the moon. My first year in charge and we’re going to Twickenham, it’s absolutely brilliant.
“We had a big aggressive defensive line; we fell out of shape a few times but the energy of the lads bore through, and the skill we saw from Lewis Minikin, setting up a try and scoring another, shows what a fantastic player he is. It’s just been such a good campaign so far, and we’ve given ourselves a chance to make history.”
With the sun beaming down on Fylde’s packed-out Woodlands Memorial Ground along the Lancashire coast, there was high anticipation for a winner takes all Roses clash and it didn’t take Yorkshire long to start where they left off from their 10-try annihilation of Somerset the previous week.
The white rose dominated the early territory, and a left-sided line-out on the fifth minute was worked right with scrum-half Elliot Fisher setting up Sheffield club-mate Chris Hooper to dash over and open the scoring.
By the 11th minute Yorkshire doubled their lead. Some slick running play led to Rotherham fullback Jack Townend skirting around Lancashire duo Will Hunt and Adam Lanigan to dot down in front of the clubhouse balcony.
Lancashire’s first real attack saw backs Sam Stott, Hunt and Cameron Smith linking up for the latter to dive over the right, but within four minutes a white rose scrum led to Ionians No.8 George Mewburn powering over on a first-phase ball.
Yorks Loma Kivalu saw yellow on the 22nd minute for a ruck penalty, and Lancashire utilised the extra man as loosehead Corey Bowker bundled over in the corner.
Once back to full complement the men in white re-established themselves with Eddie Crossland chipping to Minikin, who’s deft inside offload to Fisher allowed the No.9 to score behind the posts.
Some hard yards from openside Adam Brankley led to Minikin sliding over as Lancashire were caught napping at the start of the second-half.
Lancs shuffled their deck, and Sedgley Park No.8 Tom Ailes powered over in the left corner on the cusp of the hour-mark to keep the match alive.
But Yorks replacement Will Smith gathered and scored right of the posts to seal the win before Lewis Quinn’s consolation try for the home-side.