» July 1st 2001
» Town 34 : 16 Doncaster

After losing to Sheffield the previous week Town's hopes of reaching the play-offs depended on results elsewhere going in their favour and of course they had to beat today's visitors Doncaster Dragons.

Town finished the season with a win, but at the end of the day the result had no real bearing on Town's final league placing. Hull KR's win at home to Oldham meant Town would finish in 9th position in the league and miss the play-offs.

Town were never in any real danger of losing this game and a good first half performance saw Town leading 22-0 thanks to some excellent defence coupled with enterprising attacking play.

Tane Manihera had the first chance to register points on the board after Town were awarded a penalty for offside in the 3rd minute. The kick missed the posts and failed to go dead.

It wasn't too long until Town eventually got another scoring opportunity and when it came in the 7th minute they used it well. Good handling by Gary Charlton and Matt Sturm created an opening for Stuart Hoyles to burst though and round the last defender and continue on to score under the posts. Tane Manihera added the conversion.

Lynton Stott further extended the Town lead after 16 minutes. Tane Manihera delayed a short pass to Anthony Samuel who timed his pass well to release Lynton Stott who raced into score in the corner from 35 metres out. Tane Manihera scored with the conversion attempt from out wide to make the Town lead 12-0.

Good work by Town in the 20th minute saw the ball kept alive and the pass out wide from Steven Wood created the overlap for Graeme Lewthwaite who went in at the corner. Tane Manihera was successful with the touchline conversion attempt.

Town continued to control the game and some of their attacking play was scintillating. Neil Frazer broke through the Doncaster line twice, but lacked support as he was caught.

Doncaster were starting to mount attacks on the Town line. Mansson and Hepi calling the shots, but they were unable to crack the Town defence.

Just before halftime Town scored their forth try. Matt Sturm drove the ball at the Doncaster defensive line and passed out of the tackle to the supporting Graeme Lewthwaite who sprinted in to score in the corner from 40-metres out. Tane Manihera missed with the touchline conversion attempt.

The second half started much in the same vein as the first had finished. Steven Wood collected a Doncaster kick inside his own half and drove deep into the Doncaster half with a penetrating run. Good pressure from Anthony Samuel and Owen Williamson saw Town continue testing the Doncaster defence. Town were awarded a scrum on the Doncaster 15-metre line. Kevin Hetherington and Tane Manihera combined well to engineer the space for Jamie Beaumont to collect the ball and go into score. Tane Manihera hit the post with the conversion attempt.

Town continued to attack the Doncaster line at every opportunity. Stuart Hoyles put out a neat pass to Graeme Lewthwaite. The winger put in a grubber kick and he was unlucky with the chase as the ball just went dead in-goal.

Tane Manihera was in great form and was creating the space for the forwards. Lokeni Savelio and Jamie Beaumont both made good attacking yards. Town were keeping the ball alive well, Jamie Beaumont again made yards he passed to the supporting Kevin Hetherington who in turn passed out to Lynton Stott. The centre made a great break, but good Doncaster covering saw him tackled into touch on the Doncaster 20-metre line.

A penalty for holding in the tackle saw Tane Manihera elect to kick in the 54th minute. The stand off had no problems floating over the kick to extend the Town lead to 28-0.

The last 20 minutes saw Town go to sleep and allow Doncaster to run in 3 tries. Paul Mansson sliced through the Town defence to score after 64 minutes. Wayne Green missed with the conversion attempt.

A few minutes later Town were caught out again, this time substitute forward Ian Ramskill was able to go through to score after Maea David had made a good break and passed out of the tackle. Wayne Green added the conversion to reduce the Town lead 28-10.

Jamie Beaumont scored his second try of the day in the 71st minute after a good break by Carl Sice split the Doncaster defence. The second rower collected the pass from the hooker and burst through 3 tacklers to go in from short range. Tane Manihera easily added the conversion.

Doncaster scored the final points of the day after Anton Garcia burst through some weak tackling to score close to the posts. Wayne Green added the conversion to make the final score 34-16.

Teams
Town: Steven Wood, Matthew Woodcock, Neil Frazer, Lynton Stott, Graeme Lewthwaite, Tane Manihera, Kevin Hetherington, Matt Sturm, Owen Williamson, Hitro Okesene, Stuart Hoyles, Anthony Samuel, Gary Charlton
Subs: Matthew Tunstall, Lokeni Savelio, Carl Sice, Jamie Beaumont

Doncaster: Wayne Green, Johnny Woodcock, Craig Lawton, Anton Garcia, Carl Oakes, Paul Mansson, Brad Hepi, Maea David, Peter Edwards, Alan Langham, Phil White, Peter Green, Tony Miller
Subs: Billy Conway, Dean Colton, Troy Kini, Ian Ramskill

Attendance: 993
Referee: Robert Connelly (Wigan)