Commanding performance '˜had been coming', says Richard Horne after Dons' win at Hunslet

A commanding second half performance laid the foundations for Doncaster RLFC's 30-14 Betfred League One win over promotion rivals Hunslet at the South Leeds Stadium.
Richard HorneRichard Horne
Richard Horne

The result looked to be in the balance when the home side led 14-6 at the break after being decidedly second best to an impressive-looking Dons in the first quarter.

But four converted tries saw the Dons claim the victory which saw them climb above their hosts into sixth place on points difference.

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Defeat for the Dons would have seen them trail the Leeds club by four points with eight games to go.

“The games against Hunslet and Oldham this weekend were always going to be massive for us in our bid to make the top five,” said head coach Richard Horne. “We knew that if we lost both that it would be very hard for us.

“We’ve been building towards this sort of performance and it was a pleasure to see but we’ve not got to let our standards drop.”

The Dons have been guilty of making a slow start on a number of occasions but Horne had no cause for complaint.

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“We set off well and probably deserved to be further ahead than 6-0 at the end of the first quarter because we’d had a couple of other chances,” he said. “They capitalised on the sin-binning of Matty Beharrell and scored two tries to lead 12-6 prior to having what would have been a try disallowed for a forward pass.”

Hunslet head coach Gary Thornton argued against the referee’s decision and claimed it could have changed the outcome of the game had they opened up a 12-point lead.

“The referee was perfectly placed to make the call and you can only trust his judgement,” said Horne.