photo by Ian Lovell

Celtic Crusaders edged a dramatic Northern Rail Cup tie on Friday night, beating a well-disciplined Doncaster side 30-22 at the Keepmoat Stadium.

They now need to beat London Skolars at the Brewery Field next Saturday evening to seal the group and qualify for the last 16 as champions

On this form, Doncaster will be one of the favourites for promotion from National League Two this year and Sheffield Eagles, who suffered a shock 50-32 home defeat to London Skolars on Friday night, need to watch their backs as they face a tough game at the Don Valley next week.

Due to the signings that Doncaster have made over the past fortnight, this game proved to be the potential problem fixture for the Crusaders in their Northern Rail Cup campaign as they pushed the Crusaders throughout the whole game and were unlucky not to emerge triumphant.

Joining Zebastien Lucky Luissi at the Keepmoat Stadium were Leeds Rhinos’ pair Kyle Briggs and Jamie Thackery. Both started the match on the bench but Great Britain international Thackery made an early appearance, coach Ellery Hanley introducing him to the game immediately after the Crusaders’ first try. This proved to be an influential decision from the experienced coach.

Hanley believed that his side were unfortunate not to win and that it was the fitness that counted in the end.

“When you’re a part time side playing a full-time side, you have to play at your best for 80 minutes and not 20 minutes,” he said. “Fitness proved to be the factor today and that was where Celtic excelled and they were composed right up to the end. I was pleased of my team today as we pushed them all the way.”

Crusaders opened the scoring after being given a penalty close to the tryline on 11 minutes which they chose to run in. This proved to be the correct decision after Tony Duggan set up Luke Dyer to score. Van Dijk converted.

But the Dons pulled a try back just four minutes later after Paul Crook played a nice one-two with Corey Laurie to ground. The half-back attempted the tricky conversion himself but was unsuccessful.

There was a chance for Crusaders to extend the lead from their next attack but winger Paul Ballard fumbled the pass that Dyer sent to him.

Doncaster took advantage of their good fortune and during the next set were awarded a penalty in front of the sticks where Crook made no mistake this time around to level things.

And from kick-off the Crusaders were behind for the first time in a competitive match since August 30th 2007 after Thackery forced his way over the line and Crook converted.

But Crusaders were back on the board

straight away after Dyer did well to stretch and place the ball over while under pressure. Van Dijk’s kick levelled things at 12-12.

Doncaster missed an opportunity to take the lead again after Crook sliced a penalty kick when Crusaders were penalised for holding down in the tackle but he made no mistake after Crusaders gave away their 10th penalty of the first half just before the hooter to give the home side a two-point interval lead.

Crusaders missed an opportunity to get back into the game. Damien Quinn, Ian Webster and Aaron Summers were all denied while close to the line and Terry Martin mishandled when just metres away himself.

But they took the lead again on 55 minutes when Mark Lennon went over in the corner. Mark Dalle Cort did likewise eight minutes later after being set up by Dyer.

Doncaster were level again three minutes later when debutant Briggs scored with Luke Gale converting before the full-back gave his side the slenderest of leads from kick-off with a drop goal.

Briggs added another one-pointer for good measure five minutes before the end thinking that he’d sealed what would have been a deserved win for the Dons.

However an excellent break from Josh Hannay down the wing put the Crusaders two points up on 77 minutes while Ian Webster’s try right on the hooter gave the Crusaders their 17th straight victory.

Crusaders coach John Dixon knew that the Welsh side won a tough contest.

“I thought Doncaster dominated possession in the first half on the back of a healthy penalty count and they made the most of it,” he said. “We could have got some returns in the first half but we didn’t due to some ball-handling errors. We also had to defend a lot in the first half and were thankfully still in the game at half-time.

“I’d support what Ellery said, we were composed with a small amount of time left on the clock, we knew where to get the ball where the best chance of a result was, so congratulations to our players for getting the ball there and for Josh Hannay for scoring a wonderful try.”

Doncaster: Luke Gale, Dean Colton, Zeb Luissi, Andreas Bauer, Joe Brown, Paul Crook, Kyle Wood, Alex Benson, Corey Laurie, Mark Castle, Craig Lawton, Chris Buttery, Pete Green. Subs: Scott Jones, Tom Burton, Kyle Briggs, Jamie Thackery.
Tries: Crook (15), Thackery (26), Briggs (66)
Goals: Crook 3/5, Gale 1/1
Drop-goals: Gale, Briggs.

Crusaders: Tony Duggan, Paul Ballard, Luke Dyer, Mark Dalle Cort, Mark Lennon, Ian Webster, Jace Van Dijk, Jordan James, Neil Budworth, Gareth Dean, Terry Martin, Darren Mapp, Damien Quinn. Subs: Josh Hannay, Aaron Summers, Jamie I’Anson, David Tangata-Toa.
Tries: Dyer (11, 29), Lennon (55), Dalle Cort (63), Hannay (77), Webster (79)
Goals: Van Dijk 2/5, Lennon 1/1

Referee: Dave Merrick (Castleford)
Half-time: 14-12
Attendance: 966

article by Ian Golden
23 February 2008