Gateshead Thunder 10 Doncaster 48: Waterman prospers with four-try display

Former Hull and Hull KR half-back Paul Cooke played 50 minutes on his Doncaster debut in a comfortable win at Gateshead.

Doncaster had the game all but won by half-time despite Lee Waterman missing four of his five conversions.

The Dons got plenty of joy out wide, particularly on the right, and Waterman converted his own sixth-minute try from close in.

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Quick hands then put Stewart Sanderson over and Kyle Keswick assisted Tom Hodgson over in the opposite corner.

Waterman crossed for his second of the evening and then centre Liam Cunningham had time and space to touch down Cooke’s crossfield kick.

Gateshead got on the scoresheet a minute from the interval through Jason Payne.

Normal service, however, was resumed after the restart when the Dons ran in three tries in the opening 10 minutes.

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Hodgson darted over in the corner, Carl Hughes put Mick Butterfield over the whitewash on the opposite side and then Waterman completed his hat-trick.

Debutant Brett Waller grabbed a debut try for Gateshead before Keswick exploited more weak defence to score the Dons’ ninth try.

Waterman completed the scoring nine minutes from time when he took Dean O’Loughlin’s high pass to score his fourth try of the night.

Gateshead Thunder: Neilson, Peers, Mitchell, Brown, Williams, Walsh, Stamp, Payne, Clarke, Waller, Barron, O’Mara, Bate. Substitutes: Stoker, Welton, McBride, O’Sullivan.

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Doncaster: Butterfield, Sanderson, Cunningham, Waterman, Hodgson, Cooke, Fawcett, Robinson, Kewswick, Castle, O’Loughlin, Kelly, Edwards. Substitutes: Edwards, Hughes, Bibb, Sampson.

Referee: Joe Cobb.