Doncaster kept up their impressive form and made it five wins on the bounce by crossing for 34 points in each half to thrash North Wales Crusaders.
The home side should’ve been playing in front of supporters for the very first time at their new home in Colwyn Bay, but it was switched to behind-closed-doors because of an increase in the number of COVID-19 Delta variant cases in the local area.
Two Crusaders players tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the match, while head coach Anthony Murray needed to self-isolate and miss the game after coming into contact with a positive case outside of the club.
A frustrating week for North Wales went from bad to worse as Doncaster ran riot in the sun, with Crusaders falling to their heaviest home defeat since Toronto Wolfpack’s 80-0 victory at Queensway Stadium back in 2018.
From the first minute until the last, the Dons were far superior to Crusaders in every department and looked a class above, playing some scintillating rugby league at times.
Doncaster took the lead early on when, despite Crusaders nearly forcing him into touch, Misi Taulapapa managed to squeeze over in the corner.
It didn’t take the visitors long to build on their advantage as space opened up down the right for Sam Doherty to cross.
Ollie Greensmith forced his way over out wide, before Liam Johnson broke a tackle down the left and knocked off a couple of attempted tackles on his way to the line.
As they once again assaulted the left side, the Dons added another through Taulapapa, who walked over after they managed to keep the alive with some nice offloads.
Ben Johnston then made a break down the right and there was plenty of space for him to stroll in for the Dons’ sixth try.
The Yorkshiremen completed the scoring for the first-half as Sam Smeaton scooted over from acting half down the right.
Following Tyme Dow-Nikau’s sin-bin for a late charge on the kicker early in the second-half, it was only a short while before Doncaster added their eighth, with Smeaton putting Doherty over in the right corner.
After keeping the visitors out for the remainder of Dow-Nikau’s sin-bin period, the Dons managed to cross again through Brad Foster, who took advantage of some missed tackles to dive over next to the sticks.
Another try followed soon after as Doncaster produced a nice right to left shift for Greensmith to grab his second in the corner.
Alex Holdstock then took advantage of some slack Crusaders defence to barge his way over next to the sticks, before Foster waltzed in for his second.
Greensmith rounded off the afternoon’s scoring and completed his hat-trick, making the most of some expansive play down the left to keep the ball alive.
CRUSADERS
1 Tommy Johnson
15 Pat Ah Van
3 Tyme Dow-Nikau
4 Jack Holmes
5 Rob Massam
6 Elliott Jenkins
7 Joe Sanderson
16 Brad Brennan
9 Karl Ashall
13 Chris Barratt
11 Gav Rodden
12 Ben Morris
10 Jordy Gibson
Subs:
14 Andy Ball
17 Brad Calland
18 Jack Cottington
8 James Thornton
Sin-bin: Dow-Nikau – late hit (44)
DONS
1 Misi Taulapapa
5 Sam Doherty
3 Sam Smeaton
4 Jason Tali
32 Ollie Greensmith
1 Ben Johnston
7 Matty Baharrell
15 Ryan Boyle
26 Ross Whitmore
16 Brandon Wilkinson
23 Liam Johnson
11 Danny Bravo
12 Brad Foster
Subs:
27 Aaron York
17 Ross Peltier
19 Aaron Olmert-Hobson
22 Alex Holdstock
Tries: Taulapapa (4, 22), Doherty (9, 45), Greensmith (15, 58, 79), Johnson (18), Johnson (29), Smeaton (39), Foster (58, 77), Holdstock (73)
Goals: Baharrell 3/8, Doherty 5/5
Referee: James Vella
HT: 0-34
