Plymouth Albion 3 Doncaster Knights 41: Hat-trick for McColl in Knights try spree

Knights kicked off into the strong wind and showers and, for the first 10 minutes, the game was fairly even. Then, in the space of six minutes, they scored three tries.

The first came from fly-half Tristan Roberts, who evaded a tackle to score; the second through scrum-half Chris Hallam after a break close in by centre Oli Goss and the third went to full-back Steve McColl when, almost from the restart, he joined the line at pace and raced in from 50 metres to score wide out. Roberts converted the first two.

After a scoreless 10-minute spell, the Knights ran in three more tries in 12 minutes. The first came from Roberts after a 40-metre break. The second came when Roberts chipped ahead and gathered before linking with McColl, who put winger Dougie Flockhart over in the corner. The third came when Plymouth spilled the ball just inside the Knights half where it was gathered by flanker Zac Farivarz, whose quick pass put McColl on an unstoppable 50-metre run for his second try.

Turning around 34-0 ahead, the Knights decided to use the elements to pin Plymouth in their own half whilst introducing all of their replacements.

Plymouth started to play with a bit more spirit and, although they knocked on several chances, they were marshalled by the Knights defence.

Such was the pressure they were under that Plymouth, when they had a penalty chance close in, opted to kick for goal and Lee's success at least put them on the scoreboard.

The Knights scored their final try after 75 minutes after a 40-metre break by Goss was followed by a pass inside to young full-back McColl, who went over for his hat-trick try that was converted by replacement Christian Lewis-Pratt.

Plymouth Albion: Lee, McLoughlin, Johns, Tuipuloto, Coleman (Mercer 46), Hallett, Cushions (Kessell 68), Porter (Newport 74), O'Meara (Evans 50), Hopkins (Morton 65), Copeland, Hotson (Skelding 52), Stephens, Hocking (Carpenter 65), Watts-Jones.

Doncaster Knights: McColl, Wright, Goss, Gidlow (Briers 68), Flockhart, Roberts (Lewis-Pratt 52), Hallam (Jericevich 68), Corsar (Frazier 60), Lawrie (Boden 56), Thiede, Challinor, Craig (Kenworthy 58), Farivarz, Jackson, Cochrane (Walker 71).