'king Awful
Hornets given the once over by Dragons

Doncaster have a bit of a reputation as a bit of a bare knuckle outfit - and they used their rudimentary approach to great effect to gain an unsightly win at Spotland.

But given unlimited leeway by referee J. King - who showed all the spine of a jellyfish - the Dragons resorted to ridiculous rough-house tactics at every opportunity: and how it worked.

By the time Hornets hauled themselves back into this game around the hour mark with a penalty try for Gareth price and two kick and chase tries by Alstead and Campbell from Bowker's chips, Doncaster had inflicted enough damage to have effectively sealed the game.

Trailing 20-2 at half time Hornets had been largely anonymous for the first 40 - the only real moments of note were the regular, underhand brutal attacks from Doncaster players: Golden going in late twice with the knees; Moana smashing a forearm into Campbell's face. Despite the intervention of the touch judge, J. King's muted reaction gave the signal that thuggery was perfectly acceptable.

But it's a shame that Doncaster base their game on such a base gameplan, because when they move the ball around, they look like a side that can play a bit. Raking kicks from Graham Holroyd repeatedly pushed Hornets back and the Dragons fizzed the ball wide at every oportunity causing havoc in the Hornets ranks. First half tries from Harland, Miles, Cockayne and Farrell proof enough of that.

Doncasterbegan the second half much as they ended the first, the ball threaded tidily through traffic for Lawton to score; Holroyd adding the extras from the touchline.

With Hornets desperately trying to claw their way back into the game, Doncaster persisted with causing as much disruption as possible; laying all over tackles; third 'tacklers' flopping in; hands in every ruck. Their effors culminated with fat prop Gareth Handforth kicking a Hornets player on the floor; the touch judge intervened; J. King turned a blind eye and gave a penalty for 'raising a leg'. Weak and pathetic, really.

To their credit, Hornets did rally slightly. The three tries round the hour bringing Hornets back within a surmountable 10 points. But as Sub. Sam Butterworth wriggled free in centre field with ten minutes remaining, his spoeculative pass was snaffled by Doncaster's Lawton who ran the interception back 70 metres to kill the game.

Butterworth did make amends three minutes later when he jinked and steped trough a series of tackles to score.

But it was too little to late. Hornets had effectively been bullied out of a game that they could -and should - have won. It was disappointing that Hornets couldn't find the steel to withstand such basic tactics, but Doncaster knew their only chance of getting anything out of this game was to stop us playing - by whatever means.

As it was Hornets got sucked into a bar-fight and lost sight of the objective. This was reflected in a complete absence of cohesive football for long periods and the increasing desperation with which the ball was shipped up and down the line, when what was really needed was someone to take the game forward.

Ultimately, the game will be one to forget; memorable only for the levels to which Rugby League can descend and still be deemed acceptable by a referee.