The home side were coasting home after a near-perfect first half as they went 16-0 up on half an hour. They tackled well, caught well, defended well and attacked well. Both sides had a similar amount of errors – two penalties given away each and Midlands ahead on scrums 4-3, but the Hurricanes were the side who took advantage.
They took the lead on five minutes. After winning a six-again, the extra tackles helped them upfield leading to Luis Roberts picking up a chip kick to run home. Lewis Else converted. The second try was almost a carbon copy of the first, Roberts scored following a six-again, but this was at the end of a good passing move with the try being scored in corner. Else couldn’t convert.
Midlands’ third try came on 29 minutes. It was another good attacking set from Midlands with Else spotting a large gap in the Doncaster line to run through and score. He converted his own try nicely from just a metre in to put the score onto 16-0.
The near-perfect first half for Midlands was only spoiled when a scrum was given away on their own 10-metre line with 90 seconds remaining. Edene Gebbie took advantage and scored in the corner, on the first occasion that Doncaster had gone past the ten-metre line in the game. The kick was missed, the hooter went, and Midlands were 16-4 up at the break.
That try came at the right time, and Doncaster continued their comeback four minutes after the break when Reece Lyne scored out wide, following a scrum and six-again. Cory Aston missed goal for the second time.
But Midlands struck back straight away. The ball was dropped from kick-off and Ryan Johnson ran over from the resulting scrum. Else couldn’t convert but the home side regained their two-try advantage.
Following a scrum and six-again, Doncaster got another try back. Muizz Mustapha going in just left of the sticks and Aston converting. They nearly levelled on the hour, with the first try of the match that hadn’t come from an error. It was a good set of six from Doncaster, which ended with Aston diving on his own grubber. However, he couldn’t convert and Midlands held a two-point lead.
However, Doncaster’s next try certainly came from an error. Aston picked up a loose ball and ran 90 metres to score under the sticks, making it easy for himself to kick the goal.
Doncaster had their chance to seal the win as they pounded the Midlands’ line. In the space of five minutes, they forced a goal-line drop-out, a scrum in an attacking position, a six-again, then another goal-line drop-out, but still didn’t score.
Midlands went back on the attack and got the winner. It was a stunning try in the corner from Chrimes. Else did well to create it, and Chrimes defied gravity to ground the ball one-handed when diving and under pressure. Else’s touchline conversion was equally as stunning and Midlands were back in front.
There was still four minutes to go and Doncaster did have some possession, but Midlands carried on to defend well until the hooter went.
Man of the Match:
Conversions:
Attendance:
