Doncaster 55 Moseley 5

Mar 10 2008

THE good news is that Moseley scored a good try from a catch and drive by skipper Neil Mason.

The bad news though is that the Knights scored nine as the Red and Blacks were just outplayed and overrun.

With most of the Gloucester contingent recalled as Dean Ryan coped with 10 players away on international duty at Kingsholm, Moseley were forced into major changes, and it showed.

Knights, playing into the strong wind, went ahead after 10 minutes after winning a scrum against the head which saw centre Tom Luke go over.

Former Bees fly-half Mark Woodrow added the extras and when they scored again from the kick-off Moseley probably knew it was not their day.

The forwards powered the ball back and then the backs took over with Woodrow eventually going over and converting his own try. On 33 minutes No.8 Chris Planchant drove through to make it 21-0 and flanker Bryn Griffiths added another for a bonus point before the break.

Playing with the strong wind Moseley had managed to turn around 26-0 down.

With the wind now at their backs the Knights needed little encouragement to add to their score with left wing Donavan Van Vuuren grabbing two then right-wing Paul Bailey not to be outdone, collected a brace of his own as Doncaster scored almost at will.

It was perhaps a measure of the wind that Woodward only managed three conversions while Cerith Rees, who replaced him just before the hour managed two.

Mason was philosophical about the defeat.

The flanker said: "We had one of those days when everything seemed to go wrong for us and they capitalised on almost every chance they had.

"We will now regroup and work hard for the next game against Bedford at home."

DONCASTER KNIGHTS: Carter; Bailey; Bishop; Luke; Van Vuuren (Davies 57); Woodrow (Rees 57); Jones (Scully 75); List (Toke 46); Boden (Phillips 54); Davies (Rawson 75); Fa'aoso; Ken-worthy; Griffiths; Grainger (Jones 46); Planchant

MOSELEY: Binns; Bressington; James (Cox 11); Trueman (Stenhouse 76); Winter; Hayes; Lewis; Williams; McMillan (Caves 40); Bayliss (Buxton 57); Stott; Atkinson (Arnold 70); Mason (Evans 70); Bignell; Rodwell