Chinnor 18 A 13 Doncaster Knights ( att : 782 ) – 2024/25 English Championship

December 7, 2024

Here we are at the first Saturday in December, and Chinnor have only their third home league game of the season as they host Doncaster Knights. It would be the first ever meeting between the two sides.

Chinnor have played once since the Not The Prem Cup encounter against Cambridge covered by these diaries, narrowly losing 13-15 at Cornish Pirates, with the Cornish side kicking a late penalty to win the match. That result saw Chinnor drop to 7^th in the Championship table.

Doncaster Knights

Doncaster are the only side in this season’s Championship who are eligible for promotion to the Premiership under the RFU’s current restrictive criteria, although Coventry have submitted an application to be considered for promotion. Doncaster would have to win the Championship and then a two-legged play-off against the bottom placed side in the Premiership.

Doncaster have played in the Championship for every season since 2009/10 apart from 2013/14, when they spent one season back in National League One, but won that league to be promoted back to the Championship. Their best finishes were in 2015/16 and 2021/22 when they came second. Last season Doncaster finished in 6^th place in the Championship.

The Knights play at Castle Park, which has a capacity of 5,000.

Doncaster Knights This Season

Doncaster began the season with a comfortable 45-31 home win over Ampthill but then unexpectedly slipped up at home with a 14-30 defeat at the hands of Nottingham.

The Knights bounced back to record an impressive 36-35 victory at title-favourites Ealing Trailfinders to get their campaign back on track, only to fail to score at home to London Scottish in a 0-12 loss, and then suffered a heavy 18-34 defeat at Bedford Blues.  

When the Championship took a 5 week break for the Premiership Cup, Doncaster sat in a lowly 9^th place in the table, but when the season resumed last weekend, The Knights chalked up a 52-17 home victory over Cambridge to move back up to 6^th

The Knights’ average home attendance after league 4 matches was only 1,175, down from the 1,851 from last season.

In the Premiership Cup, a crowd of 2,408 turned up see the Knights run a Sale Sharks side close, losing 37-43 after conceding two converted tries in the last 5 minutes. Doncaster put up another good show when going down 28-31 at Newcastle Falcons, but then racked up a comfortable 43-19 win at Caldy.

Doncaster Knights Squad

Ex Leicester Tigers and Nottingham winger Jordan Olowofela was the leading try scorer in the Championship with 9 tries whilst ex-Jersey fly-half Russell Bennett was their next highest points scorer with 33 points ( one try ).

Amongst the notable names in the Doncaster squad were ex-Bath, RAF and England wing Semesa Rokodoguni ( 4 caps ) who signed in the summer from French side Montauban and ex-Leicester Tigers, Stade Francais and Tonga full-back Telusa Veainu ( 12 caps ) who joined from Sale Sharks. Another international in the Knights squad was ex-Leicester Tigers, Newcastle Falcons and Samoa prop Logovi’i Mulipola ( 33  caps )

Amongst their backs, Welsh centre Connor Edwards had played for Newport Gwent Dragons, fellow centre Zach Kerr was ex-Newcastle Falcons, whilst scrum-half Alexander Dolly had previously experienced playing at Kingsey Road when playing for Rotherham.

The Knights have three players on loan from Premiership sides, prop Andrew Turner from Bristol Bears, and back row forward Arthur Green and centre Will Parry from Bath.

Doncaster’s Director of Rugby is ex-Scotland and British Lions player and coach Ian McGeechan

Matchday Information

The journey from Doncaster to Thame is just under 160 miles and normally takes about three hours.

Adult tickets purchased online were £17 but £14 for members. For over £65s it was £13 and £12 for students. With the member’s 10% discount, a pint of XT Session Amber was £4.95 and a pint of Brooklyn IPA was £4.72.

Storm Darragh had hit Thame so at the 15.00 kick-off there were 55 mph gusts of winds but the heavy rain had stopped. The temperature was 6 degrees but it felt more like minus 6 degrees, and the infamous Chinnor breeze was a severe storm on the Beaufort scale ! All the football matches in the local region had been postponed due to waterlogged pitches and the poor weather certainly contributed to a lower than usual attendance.

Doncaster were in a kit of all red with white and black hoops across the middle of their shirts whilst Chinnor were in their usual black and white hoops with black shorts and socks.

No programmes were on sale, and despite being advised they are now all online, I wasn’t able to find todays anywhere.

Doncaster were unchanged from the XV that started against Cambridge.

However, Chinnor made four changes from last week’s narrow defeat at Cornish Pirates, most notably with the return of fly-half George Worboys, on a short-term loan from Ealing Trailfinders, with Connor Slevin unavailable. Elsewhere Ryan Crowley made his first league start of the season, with Morgan Passman dropping down to the bench and Grant Hughes moving to centre.

In the forwards, lock George Shaw picked up an injury in Penzance so there was a first league start of the season for Alfie North. In the back row George Stokes was selected in place of Kieran Curran.

Match Report

Doncaster kicked off towards the Showground end with the elements mostly in their favour, although the swirling wind was prone to changing direction.

Feeney gathered the kick-off and kicked to touch close to Chinnor’s 10 metre line. The Doncaster throw went long and Chinnor hooker Alun Walker claimed, enabling Chinnor to kick deep into the Knights’ half. Although Doncaster returned the kick, wing Keiran Goss’ return kick bounced into touch close to the Knights 10 metre line.

Chinnor again won the Doncaster throw, and won a penalty which took them into the Doncaster 22. However, this time Doncaster stole the Chinnor throw and were able to clear.

Chinnor won their lineout ball and after several drives the referee stopped play due to an injury to Chinnor lock North. Play resumed with a scrum to Chinnor, from which they were awarded a penalty. Chinnor opted to go for the posts and despite the difficult wind, Worboys stepped up give the home side the lead. 3-0 after 5 minutes.

The restart bounced into touch around 10 metres from the Chinnor try line, but Chinnor were able to win the lineout and cleared to their 10 metre line. Doncaster won their lineout and launched a Garryowen, but Rokodoguni could only push the ball into touch. Chinnor took a sneaky short throw at the lineout but then spoilt the move by kicking into touch on the full.

Play was scrappy in the difficult conditions. Doncaster knocked on at the line-out, and when Chinnor kicked clear, Veainu kicked straight out. A period of kick Tennis followed after which a grubber kick was knocked on by Goss to give Doncaster a scrum 5 metres from the Chinnor line.

The rain started to fall again, and good defence from the home side forced a knock on from the Donny forwards as they drove for the line, and they were also penalised for being offside.

The Knights forwards again won a Chinnor lineout, but the clearing kick was wayward and went straight out. This time Chinnor secured their lineout ball, and a series of drives gave them a penalty advantage which was wasted with a knock-on. However, the penalty was kicked to 5 metres, and after several drives for the line, prop Hardwick dived over the whitewash, and with Worboys adding a superb conversion into the wind, it was now 10-0 with 18 minutes played.

 Chinnor scrum-half Luke Carter caught the restart and sent a good kick into the wind into touch on the Chinnor 10 metre line. Doncaster again sent the ball high into the sky and again Rokodoguni knocked on and into touch.

Chinnor won a penalty after the lineout and were able to take play back into the Doncaster half. After winning their lineout Carter chipped ahead, but Doncaster were able to gather and clear, but Chinnor embarked on another series of forward drives, but when they unexpectedly gave the ball to their backs they forced a penalty from a high tackle. Again, Chinnor opted to try and take the points, and another excellent kick from Worboys extended their lead. After 26 minutes it was now 13-0.

The restart from Doncaster was good and bounced into touch 5 metres from the Chinnor line. The Knights won their lineout but good defence from Chinnor saw the Donny rolling maul pushed into touch. However, Doncaster stole the Chinnor line-out and after a number of drives at the Chinnor line they won a penalty and Chinnor centre Rokodrava was shown a yellow card.

Doncaster took a tap penalty and after a few drives the pressure told and they scored their first try, with hooker George Roberts getting the credit. A relatively straight-forward conversion was missed by Bennett, so the score was 13-5 after 29 minutes.

Shortly after the restart, Chinnor were awarded a penalty, and Edwards saw yellow for a high tackle to even up the numbers.

Chinnor drove for the line after winning their lineout but offended and Doncaster had a penalty to clear their lines. Doncaster gradually worked their way up-field, and had a series of drives for the try line, totally ignoring the unmarked Rokodoguni in acres of space on the wing. When they finally did look up and play a cross-field kick, Chinnor’s Carter was covering and did just enough to prevent the ex-England winger from gathering 5 metres from the line and the ball rolled into touch.

Chinnor won their 5-metre line-out but intense pressure from the Donny forwards prevented them from clearing, and eventually Doncaster were awarded a penalty. They opted for another tap, but after a few drives they knocked on and some handbags followed. The referee wisely decided to defuse the tempers by blowing for half-time !

Chinnor would have been pleased with their first half efforts in establishing a lead against the elements, with their forwards in particular putting in an impressive shift. During the interval the winds got stronger, and the rain returned. It was now even more uncomfortable for the spectators !

However, if anything, the wind was now directly across the pitch rather than across and into the far corner, so the weather was less in favour of the home side, and the swirling wind continued to be unpredictable.

Chinnor got off to a good start in the second half with wing Crowley sending a clever kick ahead to bounce into touch inches from the Doncaster line. The attempting clearing kick from the lineout was charged down and the visitors were unable to get out of their in-goal area, leading to a dropout from behind their line.

Chinnor continued to press but yielded a penalty to relieve the pressure. A slack pass in the Donny midfield nearly gave Chinnor the chance to attack, but Doncaster recovered possession and a super kick took them deep into the Chinnor half.

The visitors won a penalty at a ruck and decided to take the points, which Bennett successfully converted. After 47 minutes it was now 13-8.

After more kick-tennis, an attempted Doncaster clearance was charged down by Chinnor lock Scott Hall and with Veainu sleeping, Worboys dived onto the ball to score a try he had no right getting to. After a consultation with his assistant, the referee awarded a try and showed a yellow card to Veainu, presumably for some afters following the touchdown by Worboys. The conversion was missed so the score was 18-8 with 51 minutes played.

The game resumed with a penalty to Chinnor on the half-way line, which was superbly kicked to with 10 metres of the Doncaster line. The Knight successful defended a number of Chinnor drives, but at the expense of a penalty, which took play back to 5 metres from the Doncaster line.

Doncaster stole the Chinnor lineout and cleared to half-way, where Willie Ryan went on a surging run, but his pass went astray. Goss gathered and set off on a mazy run, but the Doncaster defence was good, and some scrappy play saw another penalty for Doncaster, who took play into the Chinnor half.

The Knights forced another penalty which was kicked to the corner, and after several drives had sucked in the Chinnor defence, Bennett’s accurate kick enabled Kerr to catch and dive over the line for Doncaster’s second try. Although the conversion looked straightforward, Bennett sliced wide, perhaps emphasizing how difficult the conditions were. It was now 18-13 with 59 minutes on the clock.

Chinnor looked to restore their advantage and Crowley’s kick ahead forced Veainu to touch down in goal for another goal line drop-out. When Chinnor gathered the clearance, Worboys attempted an ambitious drop goal which went low and wide and the Doncaster clearing kick caught the wind and sailed deep into the Chinnor half, where Feeney collected and kicked a 50:20 deep back into the Doncaster half.

Hooker Walker was deemed to have taken too long to take the throw into the lineout, so Doncaster were given a free-kick which they kicked high into the air. Feeney claimed and kicked back close to half-way.

As the sides prepared for a scrum on the half-way line the floodlights went out and after a brief period of confusion the referee took both sides from the field with 12 minutes remaining to played.

With no communication as to what was happening, the spectators headed to the bars for another drink, but after around 30 minutes it was posted on Twitter that the game had been abandoned and that the RFU would decide the outcome. It was an inappropriate end to an absorbing game played in dreadful conditions.

A couple of posters on the Rolling-Maul forum pointed out that the RFU’s rules are that if more than 60 minutes had been played then the result stands, less than this the game is replayed. Therefore, on this basis Chinnor should be given the win. However, given the way that the RFU are currently running things anything is possible ! They have already shafted Chinnor once this season, but on the other hand, they seem determined to prevent any Premiership side from being relegated so they may not want Doncaster to pick up any points ! Who knows, only time will tell………

With no result decided at the moment, Chinnor have dropped to 9^th in the table, but 4 points from the game would take them back up to 6^th.

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6StIxdoWi8

 

 

 

Moss FK 0-0 FK Haugesund ( att : 2,557 ) – 2024 Eliteserien Play-Off

December 5, 2024

These diaries made a few incursions into Norway’s Eliteserien in 2021 and 2022 and sort of adopted Haugesund as their favourite club, mainly because their nickname was the Seagulls, the same as Brighton and Hove Albion !

Haugesund finished in 10^th position in 2022 and 12^th in 2023. However, 2024 was not so prosperous as they ended the regular season in 14^th place, and so faced a two-legged relegation play-off to retain their place in the top level in Norwegian football.

Haugesund

Haugesund has a population of just over 37,000, which according to Wikipedia makes it the 37^th largest city in Norway. It is located on the North Sea coast, to the north of Stavanger. Its football side have been in the Eliteserien since 2010, with a best placed finish of third in 2013.

Haugesund play at the 8,754 capacity Haugesund Stadion, which is currently one of only 4 in the Eliteserien with a grass pitch.

In 2022, these diaries saw them beat Viking 4-2 at home but lose 0-1 at FK Jerv.

Haugesund This Season

The battle to avoid the one relegation play-off place was a closely fought affair, and with two games left to play just one point separated four sides.

Haugesund occupied the relegation play-off place on goal difference despite a 2-0 home win over rivals Tromso the week before and were one point adrift of Sandefjord and Kristiansund. Lillestrom and Odds BK had been cast adrift and had already been assured of the two automatic relegation places a few weeks before the end of the season.

However round 29 was a disaster for Haugesund as they lost 1-5 at Viking, Tromso beat Stromsgodset 2-0, Sandefjord won 3-0 at Lillestrom, and Kristiansund won 2-1 at KFUM Oslo.

Although Haugesund won their final league match 2-1 against already relegated Odds BK it wasn’t enough to overtake Tromso, who survived on goal difference despite a 1-2 reverse at Sarpsborg 08.

At the top end of the table, FK Bodo/Glimt were champions, finishing three points clear of SK Brann, with Viking a further two points behind. The Norwegian Cup Final is between Molde and Fredrikstad this weekend in Oslo, with the winners taking the final slot in Europe.

Haugesund Squad

From the players that featured in these diaries in 2022, only four are still with the club, namely keeper Egil Selvik ( 4 caps ), Danish centre-back Anders Baertelson, Danish midfielder Julius Eskesen, and ex-Hull City and Peterborough United forward Martin Samuelson.

The most notable departure was Greek midfielder Christos Zaferis who is now playing for Slavia Prague. Somalian forward Bilal Njie had moved to Odd BK, Senegalese striker Alioune Ndour was now playing in Belgium for Zulte-Waregem, and defender Peter Therkildsen is with Swedish side Djurgardens.

Defender Sorin Reese was now with Danish side Fremad Amager, Thore Pederson was now with Brann, as was midfielder Mads Sande. Midfielder Kevin Kygard was now playing for Lillestrom, after a short spell with Portuguese side Casa Pia. Nikolas Walstad was now with Stabaek and Alexander Sonderlund had dropped down two divisions to join Vard.

The mainstays of the current side were Norwegian centre-back Ulrik Fredriksen, Tunisian winger/forward Sebastien Tounekti ( 1 cap ), Capo Verde midfielder Bruno Leite ( 6 caps ), Swedish left-sided defender Oscar Krusnell and Danish midfielder Mathias Sauer, who is on loan from AGF.

Haugesund’s top scorer with 5 goals was Malian forward Sory Diarra ( 1 cap ), who has played in Romania for Petrolul Ploiesti. Defensive midfielder Anton Logi Ludviksson has won one cap for Iceland, midfielder Parfait Bizoza has been called up by Burundi but remains uncapped, unlike defender Claus Niyukuro who has one cap for Burundi.

Haugesund’s average attendance this season was 4,963, the 9^th best in the Eliteserien.

Moss

Moss is a coastal town, situated 55 kilometres south of the capital Oslo, and with a population of just over 30,000

It’s football side won the Norwegian title in 1986 and played Real Madrid on the first round of the 1988/89 European Cup. They also won the Norwegian Cup in 1983, which led to them playing Bayern Munich in the 1985/86 European Cup Winners Cup. The last time Moss were in the top level in Norway was in 2002, and they even played in the 4^th tier for one season in 2017.

Moss have been in the second tier 1.Division, known as the OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons, for the past two seasons. They finished third this year to enter the promotion playoffs, in which they beat Kongsvinger 3-2 with the help of two own goals in front of a home crowd of 3,079. Their average attendance during the league season was 1,861.

Home is the Mellos stadium, which has a grass pitch and a capacity of 3,200, but has an athletics track around the pitch. Moss are also known as Kaellane, which means The Lads.

Keeper Mathias Erikson played every minute of the 30-game league season whilst forwards Thomas Jakobsen and Sebastian Pederson appeared in all 30 matches. Pederson was the top scorer with 11 goals, followed by Jakobsen with 10. Attacking midfielder Bo Hegland was next with 8 goals.

Swedish attacking midfielder Noah Alexandersson had played for IFK Gothenburg whilst defender Saadiq Elmi has 4 caps for Somalia.

The coach of Moss was ex-Everton, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic keeper Thomas Myhre, who made 56 appearances for Norway.

Matchday Information

The journey by road from Haugesund to Moss is 470 kilometres, which would normally take around 8 hours.  Moss were offering free buses for supporters to go to the second leg !

The weather at the 18.30 local time ( 17.30 UK time ) was sleet with a stiff breeze and temperatures of 2 degrees. Snow was visible on the running track around the ground.

Tickets for the game ranged between 200-220 NOK ( £14 to £16 ) for adults, 150-165 NOK ( £10.50 to £11.75 ) for over 67s, and 100-110 NOK ( £7 to £8 ) for under 16s.

The match was streamed live on Bet365.com, who made Moss 5/4 favourites, with Haugesund at 21/10 and the draw at 11/5.

Moss made one change to the side that started against Kongsvinger, with Bierton Isufi replacing Hakon Vold Krohg in midfield. Haugesund made four changes, with keeper Selvik, full back Vegard Solheim, Swedish left back Oscar Krusnell and Tounekti all returning to the side.

Moss were wearing yellow shirts with black sleeves, with black shorts and socks. Haugesund were in their usual all white kit.

Match Report

Haugesund started quickly and in the first minute Sauer’s pass invited Solheim to run deep inside the Moss area to play the ball across the 6-yard line but Tounekti’s effort from beyond the far post was blocked by Cassidy. Krusnell forced a corner after retrieving the loose ball, but the set-piece was cleared.

The visitors won their second corner in the fourth minute but again Moss were able to clear their lines and launched a counterattack, but Elmi lacked support and had to turn and play the ball back towards the half-way line.

A minute later Sauer’s delightful ball with the outside of left foot put Tounekti in space on the left, and the Tunisian cut back inside, but his 20-yard effort was straight at Eriksen, who held comfortably.

The high tempo beginning was end-to-end stuff as Isufi’s defence splitting ball released Pederson, whose first time left footed shot from 14 yards was saved by Selvik.

With 10 minutes played Elmi crossed from the left but Jakobson’s header went well wide of the Haugesund goal. Elmi continued to figure in the dangerous moments for Moss with a surging run down the left wing, but although his attempted pass was cut-out the left-back regained possession and sent a bullet cross into the penalty area but it was too high for the Moss attackers.

The first yellow card of the game was shown in the 19^th minute when Tounetki needlessly pulled back Isufi midway inside the Moss half.

In the 23^rd minute Sauer ran towards the byline inside the Moss area, but his low cross was pushed away by Eriksen and the loose ball was hoofed to safety. 

Three minutes later, the Seagulls created another good chance. A long kick from keeper Selvik found Sauer on the right-hand touchline and the midfielder cut inside to shoot left footed from 20 yards. Eriksen made the save, diving to his left to push the ball away and Bizoza was the quickest to react, playing the ball across the 6-yard line towards Liseth, but offside was given against Liseth.

Haugesund forced another corner but the header from Fredriksen was high and wide.

With 30 minutes on the clock Hapnes showed good skill to make space for himself and then played a cute chip over the Haugesund backline for Pederson to run onto. Keeper Selvik was quickly off his line as both players challenged for the ball. Pederson went to the floor in the collison, the ball went through Selvik and was rolling towards the empty net, but Fredrikson got back to put it out of play as Jakobsen came hopefully sliding in.

Back at the other end Tounekti was fouled inches outside the Moss area, but Krusnell wasteful free kick went harmlessly high and wide.

A couple of odd pieces of officiating followed next. Pederson slid in to perfectly win the ball only for Bizoza to then fall over him. The referee awarded a free-kick to Haugesund ! This was evened up a minute later when Sauer was declared offside from a throw-in………

Moss produced the game’s most flowing move so far, involving Alexandersson, Jakobsen and Hegland before Jakobsen strayed offside.

Four minutes from half-time a cross from Elmi was headed away by Fredriksen but only as far Alexandersson, who shot first time from just outside the area but could only direct his attempt straight to Selvik, who made a regulation catch.

The game remained scoreless at the interval, with Haugesund having had a slight edge in possession with 54%.

The Bet365 stream ceased just before the start of the second half never to return. The YouTube highlights of the game suggest that not too much was missed !

For the visitors Solheim sent a left footed shot from 25 yards at the Moss keeper, and in the 51^st minute Hegland sent a 20-yard shot bouncing narrowly wide for Moss.

Cassidy picked up Moss’ first yellow card for pulling back Tounekti before the visitors had their best chance of the match to-date in the 72^nd minute. Substitute Nyhammer ran onto a pass from Tounekti to cross from the left to beyond the back post where Innvaer volleyed left footed over the bar when he should have done a lot better.

Haugesund had an even better chance a minute later when Krusnell’s curling cross found Samuelson unmarked 8 yards out, but his header floated over the keeper and onto the crossbar. Eriksen pushed away the rebound before Innvaer could prod home.

The final chance came the way of the home side, when with 4 minutes remaining Aksel Potur cut in from the right to shoot from just outside the Haugesund area, but Selvik pushed the effort over the bar.

There was still time for Krusnell to be shown a yellow card for illegally stopping Moss’ Angolan forward Mankoka Afonso.

However, it remained 0-0 so it is everything to play for in the second leg on Sunday.

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa2hbyUsHi4

Moss FK : Eriksen - Cassidy, Harrison, Kukleci, Elmi, – Jakobsen, Isufi, Hapnes, Krohg, Alexandersson ( Potur ) – Pederson ( Afonso ), Hegland ( Krohg )

FK Haugesund : Selvik  – Solheim,  Baertelsen, Fredriksen, Krusnell – Sauer ( Innvaer ), Ludviksson ( Nyhammer ), Bizoza, Kondradsen. –Tounekti ( Diarra ), Liseth ( Samuelsen )