The home side started the brightest, receiving a deep kick off and working the ball well in the forwards before returning fly-half Dan Storey booted Phoenix into Hull territory. With the visitors unable to properly clear their lines, Phoenix returned a poor kick with vigour, winger Carey Thomas made an outside break before feeding captain Andy Ellis who ignored a two on one to go unsuccessfully for the line himself from 5 metres. Despite butchering the original opportunity, the Doncaster men maintained field position and from a 5 metre lineout flanker Joe Horrocks burrowed his way over for an early opening try, converted by Storey.

Peacey’s men kept their foot on the gas, and continued to apply pressure in the forwards with Storey’s boot putting the pressure on the visiting back three. With hooker Scott Plevey back in the pack the Phoenix lineout was running like a well-oiled machine, and it was from another lineout in the Hull 22 that the second score was made. A driving maul was halted just short, and enjoying the front-foot ball Storey found full-back Craig Deakin with a perfectly executed backs move to put him in under the posts. 14 – 0.

The remainder of the half was played out mainly in the middle third of the field, with both sides falling foul of the referee as well as committing several unforced errors. It wasn’t until the final minutes of the half that either side posed any major threat. First home number 8 Ryan Peacey was well tackled on the Hull try-line to prevent what looked a certain score, and then Hull enjoyed some possession and made a dangerous break from a scrum on halfway. A kick-through from the impressive Hull scrum-half was well recovered by the retreating Phoenix defence, however the pressure eventually told with man of the match Ross Owen sent to the sin-bin and the resulting penalty kick stroked over by the visiting full-back for a half time score of 14 – 3.

As expected, Hullensians came out firing at the start of the second half and made an early break with the visiting winger being well tackled by Peacey just metres from the line. In the resulting ruck the ball was held in the tackle and Peacey received ten minutes in the sin-bin for his trouble. With the Phoenix pack now down to 6 men, and with the visitors having enjoyed superiority in that department all game thus far they understandably went for the drive-over scrum on the Phoenix 5 metre line. However, with big winger Carey Thomas lending his weight to the flank the Phoenix scrum superbly held out the Hullensians drive to earn a penalty to relive the pressure.

This marked a turning point in the game, and within minutes the home side had worked their way into the Hullensians 22. With the visitors frustration now boiling over, they too had a man sent to the bin. With Ross Owen returning to the action to even things up, Phoenix then all but put the match to bed as another strong forward drive stretched the Hull defence to send Deakin through for his 19th try of the season.

To be fair to the visitors their heads didn’t go down and they came back at Phoenix once again, with their winger scoring a good try out wide after a missed tackle by the home side. It was to prove nothing more than a consolation though, as Doncaster completed the scoring for the day from yet another line out and driving maul. This time the visiting forwards were forced to collapse the Phoenix drive, preventing a certain try and leaving the referee with little option other than to award a penalty try – the only complaint about the decision coming from Ryan Peacey who was unable to add to his tally for the season.

A solid, if unspectacular, bonus point victory for Doncaster Phoenix who maintain their lead at the top of Yorkshire 2 following bonus point wins for both Selby and Yarnbury. Next week sees Phoenix back on the road as they travel to Leeds to face an unpredictable Leos side who always pose a threat and should never be underestimated.