Doncaster Knights 18 Falcons 42

Saturday 01 February 2025 Written by: Mark Smith

Newcastle Falcons maintained their unbeaten start to the Premiership Rugby Cup on Saturday at Castle Park, withstanding a competitive challenge from Doncaster Knights.

The visitors led 21-6 at half-time and were in front as early as the seventh minute, when Freddie Lockwood supported a Max Pepper line-break down the right-hand side to score from five metres out.

Brett Connon added the touchline conversion, but the Knights got themselves off the mark on 13 minutes when scrum-half Alex Dolly chipped over a simple penalty from in front of the posts.

Newcastle re-asserted their dominance with a period of red-zone pressure around the quarter mark, earning repeated penalties and finding a second try when Max Clark’s cross-field kick under penalty advantage found Ben Stevenson for a dot-down in the left corner.

Connon once again sent over the touchline conversion, and a scrappy period of play from both teams was finally interrupted just after the half-hour when Dolly’s second penalty from in front double Doncaster’s points tally.

The Falcons ended the half in positive fashion, however, when Yorkshireman Louis Brown scored a try in his home county, accepting an inside offload from Pepper as Newcastle reclaimed a high bomb and clinically dispatched the half-chance. Connon’s conversion from in front put his side up by 15 points.

Newcastle chalked up the four-try bonus point just three minutes after the resumption when Max Pepper powered through an attempted tackle and reached out an arm to ground the ball – Connon again converting from in front.

The Knights responded on 50 minutes when prop Connor Davidson scored from a pick-and-go in the left corner, with Dolly’s conversion cutting the gap to 18.

The visitors were in no mood to take it lying down, however, and hit back with a length-of-the-field converted try, rounded off by Connon as the fly-half received an inside ball from Stevenson following a flowing move.

Doncaster responded when full-back Telusa Veianu sped into the left corner for an unconverted try from a slick back-line play, but Lockwood’s second try reinforced Newcastle’s dominance as the flanker hit a hard running line from a couple of metres out to complete the day’s scoring.

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Louis Brown (Connor Doherty, 57), 14 Max Pepper, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Max Clark, 11 Ben Stevenson (Kieran Wilkinson, 68), 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart (Joe Davis, 70); 1 Adam Brocklebank (Micky Rewcastle, 71), 2 Jamie Blamire (Ollie Fletcher, 63), 3 Luan de Bruin (Murray McCallum, 53), 4 Sebastian de Chaves (John Hawkins, 63), 5 Kiran McDonald, 6 Philip van der Walt, 7 Freddie Lockwood (Reuben Parsons, 71), 8 Callum Chick (captain).

Scorers – Tries: Freddie Lockwood 2, Ben Stevenson, Louis Brown, Max Pepper, Brett Connon. Conversions: Brett Connon 6.

Doncaster Knights: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jordan Olowofela, 12 Zach Kerr, 11 Maliq Holden, 10 Morgan Bunting, 9 Alex Dolly; 1 Conor Davidson, 2 George Roberts, 3 Joe Jones, 4 Ben Murphy (captain), 5 Josh Williams, 6 Adam Hopkinson, 7 Rhys Tait (Shaun Adendorff, 40, Archie Smeaton, 43), 8 Morgan Strong.

Scorers – Tries: Connor Davidson, Telusa Veianu. Conversions: Alex Dolly. Penalties: Alex Dolly 2.

Referee: Richard Gordon. Attendance: 1,823.