History Making Dons Prove Point

Doncaster: Champions at last.
 
Doncaster RLFC 16 v 13 Barrow Raiders
Co-Operative Championship 1 Grand Final
Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
Doncaster registered their second grand final win in five years, but did so for the first ever time as League Leaders - rubber stamping their name in the history books as Champions after withstanding a late scare at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Just weeks after finishing the regular season in 1st place, the Rugby Football League had dramatically denied the south Yorkshire side the title of Champions.

Tony Miller’s men emphatically avenged that call from the governing body as well as the narrow defeat inflicted by the same opponents at the Keepmoat Stadium a fortnight ago in a semi-final qualifier.

A try from Man of the Match Craig Fawcett proved to be decisive in the driving rain as he crossed on the hour to edge out the Cumbrian side in an nervy, yet entertaining, finale to the season.

Without the injured Paul Cooke, due to a broken kneecap, the Dons’ defence ultimately proved the difference, but they began poorly and were breached early on when Chris Larkin went over as a result of some excellent handling.

Excellent handling was something of a rarity however considering the appalling conditions. To say that the weather was not conducive to expansive rugby would be an understatement and the ball often resembled a bar of soap. 

This didn’t deter Dons wing Stu Sanderson though, who scooped and dived headlong over the whitewash to restore parity. Neither Andy Ballard or Tom Hodson could convert the respective scores.

It was then the turn of both sides to have tries disallowed in quick succession – Ryan Duffy, of Barrow, and the aforementioned Sanderson, both missing out due to forward passes.

Ballard did convert a routine penalty in front of the sticks to nudge the Raiders in front before Scott Kaighan took the chance to further the lead by a point with a drop goal on the stroke of half time.

Spurned opportunities were plentiful in the second half as repeat sets had to be defended valiantly by the Dons, who countered through Lucas Walshaw and Lee Waterman- the latter touching down beneath the sticks for the 35th time this season.

The cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake came 12 minutes later when Fawcett took the game away from the Raiders. Darren Holt’s side were denied by the video referee more than once, and though Aaron Low’s score gave faint hope to Barrow, it was too little to late on a day that firmly belonged to Doncaster.

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