Post by Jamie Crawford on Apr 9, 2024 12:49:29 GMT
Caldy preview
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Round 18, Castle Park, Sunday 14th April, KO 2.30pm
The Knights had an extra week off league action last week when they were due to play Jersey Reds in Jersey. All teams except Ampthill and Ealing Trailfinders had the weekend of Saturday 30th March off. Ampthill won 29-21!
The Knights’ last game was therefore the home game against the then second-placed Cornish Pirates. I think DoR Joe Ford, the coaching team and the Knights will be happy with the draw, especially after beating the Pirates in Penzance earlier in the season – we did the double over them! Even more satisfying was to draw after recovering from being 22-3 down at one stage. It was only the converted try scored in the last few minutes that drew the scores. To add insult to injury, the Knights played with 14 players for just over half of the game after ex-Pirate Maliq Holden was shown the red card just before half time for something that supporters couldn’t identify. The consensus is that it was retaliation to a Pirate prop possibly putting his knee on Maliq’s chest. You are taught from when you first start to play rugby to never retaliate. It is highly probable that the referee won’t see the original foul but he will see you retaliate! Easier said than done but the match was streamed live, so all the action was caught on camera.
Maliq received a one match ban (v Caldy) but the Pirate prop escaped punishment.
Fifth-placed Knights have scored 9 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses and ninth-placed Caldy have recorded 4 wins, 1 draw and 10 losses so far this season.
Last December Caldy beat the Knights 24-19 at their Paton Field, the Wirral home. With all due respect to Caldy, it was a surprise defeat because the Knights were in the top quarter of the table and Caldy were in the bottom quarter. I would venture to suggest top 4 and bottom 3 respectively. Caldy try-scorers on that occasion were right wing Nicholas Royle, No 8 JJ Dickinson and hooker Ollie Hearn. The Knights will want to avenge that defeat and Caldy will want to do the double over a higher ranked team, with the knowledge that they have already beaten the Knights.
Caldy hooker Matt Gallagher is the ninth top points-scorer in the Championship, all of Gallagher’s 45 points come from 9 tries, making him the equal-second highest try-scorer. The Knights must be wary of Gallager peeling off the set piece to score, using his forwards to create a gap in the defence for him to exploit. Perhaps the Knights full back needs to cover behind the set piece near our try-line.
Unusually only Caldy played Ampthill on Saturday 6th April, the other 4 games took place on the Friday evening before. They lost 20-29, Caldy scored 3 tries, they were scored by full back Rys Hayes, scrum half Chris Pilgrim and hooker Ollie Hearn. Fly half Lewis Barker converted 1 and scored a penalty kick.
Championship games taking place this weekend:
Saturday 13th April
Cambridge (11) v London Scottish (10)
Hartpury University (6) v Cornish Pirates (4)
Bedford Blues (3) v Ampthill (7)
Sunday 14th April
Nottingham (8) v Coventry (2)
Doncaster Knights (5) v Caldy (9)
Trailfinders (1) were due to play Jersey Reds.
Cov are 9 points below Trailfinders, so can’t catch them in 1 game.
So far this season;
Trailfinders, Cov, Hartpury, Nottingham and Cambridge have played 16 games.
The Blues, the Pirates, the Knights, Ampthill, Caldy and the Scottish exiles have played 15 games.
The Scottish exiles rose further off the bottom spot last Friday after beating Hartpury 29-26. They are now 5 points above Cambridge, so Cambridge (the team) need a bonus-point win to retake tenth place because they would have equal league points as Scottish but will have won a game more if they beat them on Saturday. Scottish will still have a game in hand. The result of their meeting on Saturday could decide who finishes bottom of the Championship but there is no relegation this season after Jersey Reds left the division a team short.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
sponsored by Twenty Four IT Services (www.twentyfourit.co.uk)
Round 18, Castle Park, Sunday 14th April, KO 2.30pm
The Knights had an extra week off league action last week when they were due to play Jersey Reds in Jersey. All teams except Ampthill and Ealing Trailfinders had the weekend of Saturday 30th March off. Ampthill won 29-21!
The Knights’ last game was therefore the home game against the then second-placed Cornish Pirates. I think DoR Joe Ford, the coaching team and the Knights will be happy with the draw, especially after beating the Pirates in Penzance earlier in the season – we did the double over them! Even more satisfying was to draw after recovering from being 22-3 down at one stage. It was only the converted try scored in the last few minutes that drew the scores. To add insult to injury, the Knights played with 14 players for just over half of the game after ex-Pirate Maliq Holden was shown the red card just before half time for something that supporters couldn’t identify. The consensus is that it was retaliation to a Pirate prop possibly putting his knee on Maliq’s chest. You are taught from when you first start to play rugby to never retaliate. It is highly probable that the referee won’t see the original foul but he will see you retaliate! Easier said than done but the match was streamed live, so all the action was caught on camera.
Maliq received a one match ban (v Caldy) but the Pirate prop escaped punishment.
Fifth-placed Knights have scored 9 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses and ninth-placed Caldy have recorded 4 wins, 1 draw and 10 losses so far this season.
Last December Caldy beat the Knights 24-19 at their Paton Field, the Wirral home. With all due respect to Caldy, it was a surprise defeat because the Knights were in the top quarter of the table and Caldy were in the bottom quarter. I would venture to suggest top 4 and bottom 3 respectively. Caldy try-scorers on that occasion were right wing Nicholas Royle, No 8 JJ Dickinson and hooker Ollie Hearn. The Knights will want to avenge that defeat and Caldy will want to do the double over a higher ranked team, with the knowledge that they have already beaten the Knights.
Caldy hooker Matt Gallagher is the ninth top points-scorer in the Championship, all of Gallagher’s 45 points come from 9 tries, making him the equal-second highest try-scorer. The Knights must be wary of Gallager peeling off the set piece to score, using his forwards to create a gap in the defence for him to exploit. Perhaps the Knights full back needs to cover behind the set piece near our try-line.
Unusually only Caldy played Ampthill on Saturday 6th April, the other 4 games took place on the Friday evening before. They lost 20-29, Caldy scored 3 tries, they were scored by full back Rys Hayes, scrum half Chris Pilgrim and hooker Ollie Hearn. Fly half Lewis Barker converted 1 and scored a penalty kick.
Championship games taking place this weekend:
Saturday 13th April
Cambridge (11) v London Scottish (10)
Hartpury University (6) v Cornish Pirates (4)
Bedford Blues (3) v Ampthill (7)
Sunday 14th April
Nottingham (8) v Coventry (2)
Doncaster Knights (5) v Caldy (9)
Trailfinders (1) were due to play Jersey Reds.
Cov are 9 points below Trailfinders, so can’t catch them in 1 game.
So far this season;
Trailfinders, Cov, Hartpury, Nottingham and Cambridge have played 16 games.
The Blues, the Pirates, the Knights, Ampthill, Caldy and the Scottish exiles have played 15 games.
The Scottish exiles rose further off the bottom spot last Friday after beating Hartpury 29-26. They are now 5 points above Cambridge, so Cambridge (the team) need a bonus-point win to retake tenth place because they would have equal league points as Scottish but will have won a game more if they beat them on Saturday. Scottish will still have a game in hand. The result of their meeting on Saturday could decide who finishes bottom of the Championship but there is no relegation this season after Jersey Reds left the division a team short.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
