Help Sitemap Home Skip Navigation Contact Us Disability Statement

 
 
Monday, 1st December 2008

Premium Article !

Your account has been frozen. For your available options click the below button.

Options

Premium Article !

To read this article in full you must have registered and have a Premium Content Subscription with the n/a site.

Subscribe

Registered Article !

To read this article in full you must be registered with the site.

Tongan is a shining Knight



Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image

Published Date: 15 October 2008
Knights 34
Coventry 22

Doncaster's new signing, Tongan international Josh Afu, made a promising start to his career at Castle Park where his efforts in the pack contributed to Knights' fifth win in seven National One games.
Doncaster forwards were too strong for Coventry, and the highly satisfactory performance, following the defeat at Nottingham, keeps Knights in fifth place behind Nottingham, Bedford, Exeter and Leeds Carnegie.

Tries by flanker David Griffiths, centre Bevon Armitage, winger Donavan van Vuuren and the award of a penalty try put Doncaster in a confident mood as they prepare for Saturday's more testing home game against Cornish Pirates.

Another positive aspect of the victory was the excellent and accurate goal-kicking of fly half Jamie Lennard who struck four conversions and two penalties.

Since arriving in the UK last Sunday, Afu has been adapting quickly to his new club, but as he says, he has been helped by knowing three other Tongans at Castle Park:

"The boys have been great to me and to have Tau, Toke and Tonga'uiha from back home in the squad has made all the difference.

"This was my first game in National One, but what struck me is that it's very physical and if you want to learn some hard, tough rugby week in week out, this is a good competition."

After the disappointing result and performance at Nottingham, director of rugby, Lynn Howells was a much happier coach:
"You've got to be pleased with five points. It was only a matter of time before we ground them down because we were always going to be more physical than Coventry.

"Our defence was a lot better in the second half and our back line looked a lot more fluent after the interval.

"We are moving in the right direction but we are not a good side yet. However, I would have bitten anyone's hand off after making 20 new signings in the summer to be told that we'd have five wins out of seven at this stage.

"As regards Afu, I think he was a bit shell shocked by the physicality of the game, but he's a quality player and his skills were good."
Doncaster, leading 24-15 at the break, controlled much of the ball and territory in the second half and therefore, it was surprise that they could not manage to cross Coventry's line for the fourth time until 69 minutes.

A fine move was completed by Van Vuuren, capitalising on pressure by Doncaster's forwards in Coventry's 22.

One the reasons Doncaster found it hard to break through for almost 30 minutes into the second half was that Coventry's forwards defended their line successfully for long periods.

Credit must also go to the Midlands side for sustaining their competitive attitude from start to finish; they also scored three tries during a display which stretched Doncaster.

However, the Knights' fifth league win was seldom in doubt but there might have been the odd worry or two when Coventry led 15-10 after 32 minutes.

Doncaster Knights:
Carter, Davies, Tonga'uiha, Armitage, Van Vuuren, Lennard, Hallam, List, Boden, Cusack, Smith, Kenworth, Griffiths, Cochrane, Afu.

Replacements: Toke, T Davies, Tau, Grainger, Albinson, Warnock, Hughes.
Tries: Griffiths, Penalty, Armitage, Van Vuuren, Conversions:Lennard 4. Penalties: Lennard 2.

Coventry: Dorrian, McLean, Dixon, Sanders, Winster, Hayes, Jones, Whitehall, Whitehead, Dugard, Walton, Burgess, Miller, Clayton, McGlone.
Tries: Dorrian, Miller, Jones. Conversions: McLean 2.Penalty: McLean.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

READ MORE

Blades Watch 08-09 - The Season So Far
Owls Watch 08-09 - The Season So Far
Watch Premiership highlights, international football, golf, tennis, darts and much more
Football headlines
More Blades
More Owls
More Spireites
More Rovers
More Reds
More Millers
More Ice Hockey
More rugby league
More rugby union
More boxing
Sports columnists
All sport categories

The full article contains 641 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 15 October 2008 11:18 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Sheffield
 
 
  

 
 


Sister Newspapers:
Press Complaints Commission

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.