Guernsey 0 Doncaster Knights 95: Knights post club record win in opening friendly

Doncaster Knights posted a club record 95-0 win over Guernsey in their first pre-season friendly on the holiday island.
Lloyd Hayes scored a hat trick in the win at Guernsey.Lloyd Hayes scored a hat trick in the win at Guernsey.
Lloyd Hayes scored a hat trick in the win at Guernsey.

Centre Lloyd Hayes led the way with a hat trick with both Andy Bulumakau and his younger brother Junior, who was making his debut, both capping impressive games by bagging a brace.

Two other debutants, Charlie Foley and Tom James, also touched down.

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David Nelson, Paul Jarvis, Tyson Lewis, Michael Hills, Dougie Flockhart and Alex Shaw also got their names on the trysheet.

“It was a great exhibition of running rugby and we were ruthless and clinical,” director of rugby Clive Griffiths told the Free Press.

“It was a glorious day and the pitch was immaculate and well suited to a fast game that we wanted to play and we played that way from start to finish.

“The forwards took control and our attacking play was well orchestrated by the halves and the moves were finished off by the outside backs which is what you want to see happen.

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“It was nice to see some of the things that we’ve worked on in training come off as we look to play an off-loading game whenever possible this season.

“As you would expect, there were some areas where we let ourselves down but you can’t complain when you win by that score.

“We could have topped the 100-point mark had we taken all our chances.

“But they are a good club with good people and I didn’t want to embarrass them. I didn’t really expect us to win by that score.”

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Added Griffiths: “It was also pleasing to keep a clean sheet, though they never threw in the towel and we had to defend well on our line on three or four occasions to deny them a try.”

Knights had spent several days in a training camp on the island in the build-up to the game and the Welshman declared the whole experience a success.

“They were excellent hosts,” he said.

Academy youngsters Sam Jones and Alex Keeton were included in the

Knights returned to training at Castle Park on Tuesday this week ahead of Saturday’s trip to Newcastle Falcons.