Russell Bennett the hero as Doncaster Knights scrape past Coventry

The individual match winner, in a strong, all-round collective effort, was fly half Russell Bennett who finished with 19 points: two tries, three conversions and a penalty which illustrate that the 26-year-old is one of the most valued players in the competition.

Doncaster, and Bennett in particular, seized their match clinching moment ruthlessly. In a close contest about to enter its 80th minute,Coventry, who’d scored three tries and led 21-17- the Knights won a scrum about 40 metres away from the Coventry line.

Replacement fly half Morgan Bunting shot through Coventry’s defence with devastating speed and then passed to Bennett in support who completed a thrilling move and with it an unexpected victory that seconds earlier had appeared Coventry’s.

Bennett added the simple conversion to confirm an important win which ended a worrying run of league defeats by Bedford, Chinnor and Ealing Trailfinders.

Earlier, Doncaster’s other tries had been scored by hooker George Roberts(4mins) and Bennett himself on 26 minutes as he sprinted over from a scrum after Coventry had knocked on.

The Knights have now moved up a place in the Champ table to 10th with a record of three wins in eight matches and four defeats taking them on to 18 points, so they have still much to achieve to finish in the top six in order to qualify for the play-offs.

But as Bennett explains:

“ I think the Champ is tougher this year and each team can beat anyone which in previous seasons may not have been the case.

“ When teams come to Castle Park, it’s like a cup final for them because of the facilities, they are playing a full-time side, the pitch is nice, a good crowd and everyone likes to play against fully professional teams, so that’s a big challenge for us.

“ To come away with a win with the last play is a good feeling. We’ve talked about building momentum going forward and, of course, we’d rather win games in the first 60 minutes, but this league is strong.

“ I wouldn’t say we were getting anxious having lost three successive matches, but we were aware of the situation. None, though, were easy games and we’ve had a lot of tough fixtures.”

Bennett has now scored more than 80 points in the competition and is looking to repeat his top form in the next game this Saturday against Hartpury(Gloucestershire) who are enjoying a satisfactory campaign with five wins pushing them into sixth in the league.

Doncaster’s coach, Darren Fearn, inevitably looked far more relaxed and cheerful after this victory and was keen to stress this point:

“ We’ve not been as poor as people have talked about. I’ve been level-headed and now having beaten Coventry I’m not thinking we are the best team in the world.

“ But we played some good rugby although we were naïve at times. However, what filled me with confidence is how resilient we are. We have players here who care about this club and, importantly, we stick together.

“ As to Bennett, Russell is a talent with a high skill set and I’m excited about how he continues to develop. He was brilliant. As regards Hartpury, it’ll be a tough battle down there, they’ve not lost at home, so it’s a big challenge.”

Overall, against Coventry, Doncaster showed signs of improvement but probably kicked too much ball away rather than using their exciting three quarters and aren’t dominating teams at home as they’ve done in previous seasons.

Doncaster Knights: Olowofela(Chapman 78), Cross, Kerr, Margetts(Bunting 67), McNab,Bennett, Fox,Mulipola(Davidson 44), Roberts(Davies 56), J.Jones(Thiede 70), Ehizode, M.Jones(Bainbridge 47), Murphy, Tait, McGuire(Viliamu 65).

Coventry: Bacon, Opoku-Fordjour, Morris, Adderley-Jones(Bavadra 67), Sullivan, Mathews, Barton(Maunder 65), Trinder(Benze-Salomon 45), Poole, Salt(Johnson 45), Shine, Nayalo, Owen(Green 45), Ball, Strong.

Referee: Jonathan Cook.