Old Crossleyans RUFC

Doncaster Phoenix 28 – 34 Old Crossleyans 1XV

With the 2025–26 campaign entering its final quarter, Old Crossleyans travelled to face a Doncaster Phoenix side still searching for their first win of the season. Despite being plagued by handling errors, the Crocs did enough to claim a valuable five-point victory in what proved to be Doncaster’s closest result of the campaign.

Old Crossleyans struck first after six minutes when slick interplay between Chris Vine, Alex Thompson and Brockson Brown allowed James Johnson to offload to Josh Hunt, who crossed for the opening try.

Doncaster responded with a converted driving maul to lead 7–5 after 15 minutes. Brown restored the advantage midway through the half after sustained pressure from two lineouts close to the line. The lead was short-lived, however, as Doncaster scored from close range to move 14–10 ahead.

Handling errors continued to interrupt promising Crocs attacks, but after good breakdown work from Seb Da Silva and a penalty to the corner, Jacob Pollard powered over for a converted try to regain the lead. On the stroke of half-time, quick thinking from Vine released Hunt, who offloaded to Johnson for another converted score, sending Crossleyans into the break 22–14 in front.

An early second-half injury to Brown disrupted rhythm, and frustration grew as further chances went begging. However, Hunt produced a perfect pass to send Thompson over for the fourth, bonus-point try.

Doncaster fought back strongly. After sustained pressure, they forced their way over to reduce the deficit before Crossleyans responded immediately. From the restart, Doncaster knocked on, and from the resulting scrum Jacob Pollard surged clear for his second try of the afternoon, converted by Hunt to extend the lead to 34–21.

A yellow card for James Johnson invited late pressure, and Doncaster capitalised with another converted try to close the gap to 34–28. A further Doncaster attack was halted by a crucial forward-pass decision before tempers flared, resulting in a red card for a Doncaster player and a yellow for Crocs captain Tom Metcalf.

Crossleyans finished with six tries to Doncaster’s four, securing five important league points. The Crocs now have a week off before returning home to face Pontefract next Saturday in another key league fixture.