Doncaster came to the Gardens as a team on a roll with their six wins from six. And after collecting their own kick-off the Knights dominated the first quarter. Indeed they set about looking for a score in under five minutes with their progress only halted when Glen Wilson held onto the ball in contact.
Mark Woodrow missed a 45-metre drop-goal attempt in the 12th minute and there were further palpitations when Scott Gray’s kick ahead rebounded off a home player for a Knights five-metre lineout. Sean Tomes was pinged this time for holding on but it appeared only a matter of time before the visitors scored.
Much of the possession Saints were getting at this stage was being kicked away from the back foot and even when offensive moves were on they were ended with the ball going to ground.
It took eight minutes for Saints to get out of their half, and another eight before they got any meaningful possession in Knights territory. Given the way the rest of the first quarter was going it was perhaps inevitable that it would lead to a score to the visitors.
A wayward pass was picked up and kicked cross-field by Woodrow. Justin Bishop collected and though he was caught by James Downey, Scott Gray was in support to cross for a deserved try. Woodrow nailed the conversion to give the Knights a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Woodrow missed a long penalty five minutes later and would miss another 10 minutes after that. Saints made Doncaster’s fly-half pay for his mistakes by first equalising though Bruce Reihana then taking the lead through Stephen Myler.
Reihana finished off a superb move begun by Neil Starling’s tackle-busting midfield break. Carlos Spencer was in support and the Knights’ defensive line hadn’t recovered when the ball went left to Reihana for the score.
Myler, on for Barry Everitt, converted and added a penalty in the 36th minute. Then two minutes later he had the straightforward task of converting Chris Ashton’s try. Tom Smith’s opportunism set up the score with a cheeky 22-metre drop-out to Starling and when Ashton got the ball he had everything to do from fully 80 metres.
Three sidesteps in quick succession wrongfooted Wes Davies completely and then the acceleration took the winger clean into the space and between the sticks. It was a worthy score to end the first half with Saints having breathing space at 17 points to seven.
Ashton was at the heart of the action twice more 10 minutes into the second half with the first being as good as the second was bad. The good was his catching a Myler cross-kick and feeding to Spencer for another try between the sticks. The bad, only two minutes later, was a shoulder charge on Brad Hunt that resulted in a yellow card.
Woodrow punished this with a penalty but Saints were soon further ahead on the score board and on level terms on the pitch. The try was scored by Damien Browne and again came from a Myler cross-kick. Mark Hopley was on the end and his interaction with Darren Fox and Paul Tupai took Saints close to Doncaster’s line.
A few phases and some good play by Paul Shields later and Browne was over in his last act of the game. Myler missed the conversion but Saints were still ahead 29-10 going into the final quarter. Despite the deficit the Knights kept plugging away and were rewarded by Gray’s second try of the afternoon.
Woodrow landed the conversion but the final words belonged to man of the match Myler, firstly with a 76th-minute penalty then an 85th-minute conversion of Sean Lamont’s breakaway try that added some gloss to the final 39-17 score.
Teams:
Northampton Saints – Spencer (Lamont 74mins); Ashton, Starling, Downey, Reihana (capt); Everitt (Myler 19mins), Vass; Smith (Tonga’uiha 63mins), Shields, Stewart, Browne (Lord 63mins), Rae, Tupai (Rudzki 63mins), Fox, Hopley.
Doncaster Knights – W Davies; Bishop, Hunt, Davey (Luke 71mins), Van Vuuren (Carter 63mins); Woodrow, Nicoud; B Davies, Boden (Rawson 51mins), Tau (List 51mins), Tomes, Kenworthy, Grainger, Gray, Wilson (capt)(Cook 63mins).
Scorers:
Northampton Saints – Tries: Reihana, Ashton, Spencer, Ashton, Lamont; Cons: Myler (3); Pens: Myler (2).
Doncaster Knights – Tries: Gray (2); Cons: Woodrow (2); Pen: Woodrow.
Yellow card:
Ashton (50mins)
Tomes (58mins)
Travis Perkins man of the match:
Stephen Myler
TIMELINE:
18mins KNIGHTS Try Gray Con Woodrow 0-7
29mins SAINTS Try Reihana Con Myler 7-7
36mins SAINTS Pen Myler 10-7
38mins SAINTS Try Ashton Con Myler 17-7
HALF-TIME SAINTS 17 KNIGHTS 7
48mins SAINTS Try Spencer Con Myler 24-7
50mins SAINTS Yellow card Ashton
51mins KNIGHTS Pen Woodrow 24-10
58mins KNIGHTS Yellow card Tomes
61mins SAINTS Try Browne 29-10
69mins KNIGHTS Try Gray Con Woodrow 29-17
76mins SAINTS Pen Myler 32-17
84mins SAINTS Try Lamont Con Myler 39-17
FULL-TIME SAINTS 39 KNIGHTS 17
