THERE were no surprises to think Doncaster would be smarting after their league defeat to the Cornish Pirates a fortnight earlier, writes Martin Woollatt.

But it was agonisingly close for the Pirates not to repeat their heroics in this British & Irish Cup second round tie at Castle Park on Saturday.

Just like two weeks earlier, the visitors had weathered a storm or two along the way and had found themselves in a good position late on to take the spoils.

Atkinson and Townsend both dotted down in the space of seven minutes towards the end and set up another grandstand finale.

However, the Knights full back Paul Jarvis had other ideas as the last play of the game splintered away from the pitched battle on the Pirates line and spread to the left flank.

His hat-trick completed, once referee Rhys Thomas had made some consultation, and the anguish on the youngsters face spoke volumes with the losing bonus point proving scant compensation at that moment in time as inevitably they will consider the what-if’s.

They should not beat themselves up too much though as they produced a good display overall.

The early onslaught was as predictable as a balmy summer like day in South Yorkshire in mid-October.

Paul Roberts had missed a reasonably simple penalty even before Jarvis had nailed his first of the afternoon after barely four minutes.

Despite this setback, it seemed to be less than enough from the hosts as the Pirates began to claw their way back into contention.

A couple of missed penalties by fly-half Laurence May were a blow to any early ambitions, but the young man finally made it third time luck on the half hour to get his side on the board.

Rather like the proverbial flow of busses, a second duly arrived only five minutes later and the Pirates went in search of more.

Even then they did not need to wait long as newly signed Richard Lane squirmed his way through a forest of flailing Donny arms to scamper over for a debut try at the Club House End.

May’s conversion dissected the uprights and a half time lead looked do-able.

But as the break loomed, enter Jarvis for his second and a premonition of things to come.

Roberts nailed the conversion too but with only a single point in it this time around, hopes were high.

More so given Jamal Ford-Robinson had given everyone a scare when requiring prolonged attention after a collapsed scrum with fears he may be joining the unfortunate Tyler Gendall onto the injury list were temporarily at least very real.

At resumption of play, these hopes had to be put on hold as the Cornishmen began rather shakily.

Home fly-half Roberts added a penalty to increase the hosts lead to four whilst his opposite number May suffered miss number three.

To rub salt into the wound, winger Craig Holland then was shown a yellow for a deliberate knock on and with half an hour remaining, the Knights’ gnarly old warhorses must have fancied their chances greatly.

Their ambition had to be put on hold however when Phil Eggleshaw had to be stretchered off as the number eight was not as fortunate as Ford-Robinson had been earlier.

As if in salute though, Tyson Lewis immediately rounded off a fine move to score the Knight’s third try upon play restarting.

Yet in the tradition of true cut and thrust cup rugby, a moment of madness turned fortunes once again.

Will Foden’s high tackle on Pirates centre Alex Dancer had only one outcome, a yellow card, and the visitors capitalised.

Joe Atkinson’s try had been coming with the five metre scrum forming it’s foundations, which had been awarded after a 20m maul had been held up.

Thus when debutant scrum-half Stuart Townsend’s opportunism followed quickly after, the Pirates were on fire.

Jarvis’s dampener only went to show that it’s a funny old game, but it was a fantastic match nonetheless.

PIRATES: 15 Bodilly, 14 Holland (Hopkin 61), 13 Hendrickson, 12 Dancer, 11 Lane, 10 May, 9 Townsend, 1 Ford-Robinson, 2 Elloway (Brooker 75), 3 Paver (Andrew 64), 4 Graulich (Garratt 68), 5 Carrick Smith, 6 Cheesman (c) (Morgan blood 39-40,75), 7 Atkinson, 8 Parker.

UNUSED REPS: Cattle, Jones.

TRIES: Lane (37), Atkinson (67), Townsend (74).

CONS: May 2/3.

PENS: May (30, 35).

SINBIN: Holland (51-61).

DONCASTER: 15 Jarvis, 14 Flockhart (Lennard 25), 13 Bulumakau, 12 Armitage, 11 Lewis, 10 Roberts (Lennard blood 12-16), 9 Bravo (Tresidder blood 65-76); 1 List (Davies 55), 2 Hunter (Bergmanas 69), 3 Davies (Quigley 54), 4 Hotson (Challinor 54), 5 Phelan, 6 Makaafi, 7 Hills (c), 8 Eggleshaw (Foden 55).

TRIES: Jarvis (4, 40, 80), Lewis (56).

CONS: Roberts 3/4.

PENS: Roberts (47).

SINBIN: Foden (61-71).