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Knights get revenge by beating Pirates
DONCASTER Knights held on to claim a 12-10 Championship win against Cornish Pirates at Camborne yesterday.
Knights rode their luck in the closing stages, to avenge a 21-10 home defeat in September, as full-back Rob Cook missed a penalty and fly-half Jonny Bentley fired wide with last-gasp drop goal.
Knights, who climbed out of the relegation zone on the back of their fifth win of the season, made the early running and would have taken the lead after just two minutes had fly-half Ali Warnock converted a kickable penalty.
Warnock helped make amends after the break, picking out wing Andy Wright, who touched down in the corner, with a pin-point crossfield kick.
Cook reduced the visitors' lead to 5-3 with a 57th minute penalty.
Knights increased their lead on the hour when hooker Steven Lawrie backed up a break by strong-running centre Bevon Armitage, and made a diagonal run to score under the posts.
Warnock added the extras to make it 12-3.
Doncaster continued to defend well, but their line was eventually breeched when winger Rhodri McAtee raced in at the corner.
Cook added the touchline conversion to set up a grandstand finish, but Knights held out to repeat last season's victory at Camborne.
Meanwhile, Rotherham Titans must make quick improvements or risk finding it increasingly hard to move out of the bottom four after a 15-0 home defeat at the hands of Bristol.
If they do not, current form indicates that Titans will be caught up in the relegation play-offs, writes Guy Williams.
A win at London Welsh this coming Saturday would be a step in the right direction, and having lost successive league matches and with only four victories in 13 games, Rotherham are in some trouble at the wrong end of the table.
As a defending team, as was seen against Bristol at Clifton Lane, the Titans tackle well and they can be satisfied that they prevented their opponents gaining a winning bonus point.
However, when it comes to attacking play, Rotherham are failing to take their chances; sadly against Bristol, who won by three tries to nil, the Titans threatened little and limited their scoring opportunities by making too many mistakes.
The appearance from the start of centre Kevin Maggs was an encouraging factor.
With home advantage, Rotherham should have created lots of pressure and while they defended solidly against the side that is second in the Championship, they rarely looked like scoring a try.
After a poor first half performance, Rotherham did play with much more conviction and organisation in the second.
As the Titans prepare the squad for Saturday's game, they will be keen today to find out the extent of the injuries to two important players – skipper Michael Whitehead and wing Brad Hunt.
Whitehead's ankle is sore, and if he is unfit for the trip to London Welsh, it will be a serious blow because without him, Rotherham struggle to go forward whether Whitehead plays fly half or full back.Hunt, like Whitehead, can attack with flair and pace and if his shoulder has not recovered, his absence will also be a setback.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
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