Doncaster Phoenix vs Barnsley

What a pleasure it was to be at Castle Park, where our hosts looked after us really well, and then to play on the first team pitch – wide open spaces, and room to run. Barnsley opened Phoenix up from the start and were two tries up in no time, with good handling sending Scorah and then Appleyard over the line. A Jensen penalty completed a great start but the home team were determined not to capitulate, and scored tries themselves in quick succession in the light of Barnsley sleepwalking.
Jensen, having his best game for a long time, then broke through and gave Appleyard an easy run in for his second try, converted by Jensen. Again Phoenix hit back and it took a Jensen penalty to take the half time score to 17-23 in Barnsley’s favour. The second half began badly for the visitors when Norris had to limp off, but replacement Iles came on to give a strong performance with some powerful tackling and covering, working well alongside the back row where Reed and Wragg were formidable when driving forward. The Barnsley line out also returned to normal service, with Casson hitting his catchers repeatedly. Gaunt twice broke the home defensive line, but no score came when the final pass was misplaced, and another Jensen penalty extended the lead. Gradually Barnsley applied the pressure, and the move of Buckingham to inside centre seemed to open the game up, as he and Jensen took the play into phoenix territory.
Hinchcliffe was showing his genuine pace whenever he had the chance, and he broke away to set up Appleyard for his hat trick, duly converted by Jensen. Attacks from phoenix continued, and to their credit they continued to threaten the Barnsley line, but Jensen kicked them back into their own half with some fine touchfinders. Francis almost stole a try only to be brought back by Mr Kent, and a Phoenix chance for points was ruined when their players chelped at the ref. The reversed penalty saw Barnsley attack yet again, and then Hinchcliffe intercepted a Phoenix pass to put Gaunt over to extend the lead to 21 points, all scored in the second half without reply. Dave Reed continued in search of his match try but was well tackled by Phoenix defenders, and when no side was blown, what looked like an easy win had been hard work for the Barnsley team. All the points had been scored by the backs – a confidence booster as we approach the run-in to season’s end. A well- earned rest next Saturday, as others in the promotion chase play catch up matches, but Barnsley remain in top position with 4 matches to play – and they deserve to be there!