After ten minutes of the game Phoenix were staring down the barrel after failing to get out of the blocks and conceding two converted tries in quick succession. The first came from a Phoenix mistake after the ball was dropped in the Moortown 22, their speedy outside centre picked up and raced 70 meters to score under the posts, whilst the second followed a missed tackle on Moortown's dangerous inside centre, his break was well supported and eventually finished off near the posts, despite strong claims from the Phoenix defence of the ball being held up.

Earlier in the season Phoenix may have capitulated after this early setback, however they regrouped and struck back to score a try of their own as 10 stone outside centre Tim Elliott was on hand to finish off following a break by 18 stone inside centre Jono Storey, who bamboozled the home defence by sending his belly one way and running the other.

Moortown struck straight back though, as they converted a penalty from out wide before a large slice of luck was involved in the scoring of their third try when a long kick downfield bounced wickedly back over Phoenix winger Tom Elliott's head and into the hands of the grateful Moortown player who scored the unconverted try out wide to leave the scores at 24-7 to Moortown.

Crucially, Phoenix managed to get one further score before halftime as winger Dan Greenslade made a break before the ball was quickly recycled and sent in-field for Dan Morris to flop over the line for a converted try to leave Phoenix still in touch at half time at 24-14.

An inspiring half time team talk from captain Pete Atkinson and self-appointed team manager Drew Redknapp-Noble saw Phoenix start the second half with a bang with second row Greg Neill in particular standing out.

After putting together several phases of play Phoenix span the ball wide and worked space for wing Tom Elliott to race over in the corner for a try that was excellently converted from out wide by fly-half Dan Storey. Almost instantly from the restart Phoenix worked another scoring chance, this time the forwards combined well down the blind-side of a ruck to send the hard working, big chinned Number 8 Nick Byrne in under the sticks, and all of a sudden Phoenix had powered in to a lead that they held for the rest of the afternoon.

With tries now coming thick and fast, full-back Craig Deakin (switched to centre at half time) was the next to add his name to the score sheet as he finished off a well-worked backs move to score under the posts - despite more than a hint of him dropping the ball over the line!

Moortown then secured their bonus point as Phoenix failed to deal with another kick downfield and the ball ended up in the hands of the Moortown centre who raced over for his second try of the afternoon.

The day belonged to Phoenix though as they proceeded to pile yet more points on the Leeds side, starting with an opportunistic drop-goal for Dan Storey, before Tim Elliott sent his brother Tom in for his second try of the day with a fine off-load. Craig Deakin then finished off another good backs move for his second of the day.

The final score came with the last play of the day as Phoenix returned a Moortown clearance kick and Deakin cleverly avoided buying a hat-trick jug by sending impact-sub Mark Longworth over for his customary try for the season. The conversion was the only kick that Dan Storey missed all day to leave the final score at 57-29 to Doncaster Phoenix.

Phoenix face a trip to Halifax based Old Rishworthians next week who find themselves rooted to the foot of the table and without a win all year. However they have recruited several players over the winter break and on their own ground should not be underestimated. If Phoenix manage a victory there they then have two home games to look forward to over successive weekends.

Match Report: Dan Greenslade