Poor first half Doncaster Knights' downfall, says Griffiths

But Knights, who drew both games there last season, didn’t come away empty-handed with their spirited second half showing earning them two points.

The first came when dual-registered flanker Glen Young touched down for their fourth try with Knights also banking a losing bonus point draw.

“That’s eight tries in our last two games so our attack is functioning better,” said director of rugby Clive Griffiths.

The former Wales defensive coach was less impressed with the quality of Knights’ defending at times in the first half as Jersey raced into a 32-7 interval lead after the Castle Park side had elected to play into the strong wind.

“They just ran through us for a couple of their tries,” he said.

Griffiths rung the changes at half time, replacing both half-backs with Simon Humberstone and dual-registered Ben White and bringing Sam Edgerley in on the the wing and moving Paul Jarvis back to full-back.

Griffiths said all those who came on in the second half did well, and Leicester Tigers’ prospect White certainly caught his eye.

He added: “We dominated the second half and we had all the momentum going into the final stages and had we played another five minutes we’d have won the game.”

Although Knights had earlier failed to make inroads into Jersey’s lead, Griffiths argued: “We didn’t lose the game in the third quarter: we lost it in the first half.”

Prop Richard List (calf) joined the growing injury list.