REPORT | Dons 44 Midlands Hurricanes 16

The Dons made it six wins on the spin in the Betfred Championship with a professional victory over Midlands Hurricanes at the Club Doncaster Sports Village.

Richard Horne's side scored three tries in the first half through Connor Jones, Connor Robinson and Reece Lyne and led by ten points at the break.

Jacob Jones, Muizz Mustapha, Sam Smeaton and Luke Briscoe added further tries in the second half, but the damage had already been done in the first half as the Dons ploughed on to take a 28-point win.
Horne made eight changes to the side that took a dramatic late one-point win away at Barrow Raiders four days earlier, with Briscoe, Lyne, Harvey Horne, Bureta Faraimo, Tom Whitehead, Suaia Matagi, Sam Smeaton and Loui McConnell all handed spots inside the starting XIII.
The Dons got off to the perfect start back on home soil and took the lead on eight minutes. Connor Robinson marauded through the middle and palmed the football off to Connor Jones, who scored comfortably and easily by the posts for his sixth try in three games. Robinson added the extras.
The hosts were in no mood to be hanging about early on and furthered their lead after 14 minutes. Robinson threw a smart dummy pass and then showed neat feet to weave his way across the line. Robinson converted.
The Dons were awarded a penalty at close range 11 minutes later, and they quickly signalled that they would be going to kick for the two points. Robinson converted the penalty kick routinely. 14-0.
Horne's men didn't have it all their own way, though, as Matthew Chrimes marked the scoresheet with a try on the left on 29 minutes.
And then Ross Oakes also found the line on the left for Midlands after 37 minutes. Chrimes added the extras.
The Hurricanes were back within four points.
But that would be as close as the visitors got to the hosts for the remainder of the afternoon, as the Dons scored again during the final minute before the half time hooter. Lyne darted inside from the right-hand side and smashed his way through a number of Midlands men to cross the try line. Robinson added the extras again.
The Dons went into the interval with a scoreline of 20-10 to hand and in their favour.
The home side were firing on all cylinders again after the restart and extended their lead four minutes into the second half. Connor Jones turned to the left from out near the right wing and found Jacob Jones, who crashed over the line to score a try for himself. Robinson converted again.
And on 52 minutes, the Dons were in again. After fine work on the left-hand side, the hosts worked their way back inside and left Mustapha to go over and score beneath the uprights. Robinson added the extras again.
The Dons were motoring on and got themselves over the try line again on the hour mark. This time, in a reverse of the try before, Horne's men took play out to the left from the centre and gave the ball to Smeaton, who eventually scored after tussling with the last Hurricanes man in front of him on the line. Robinson converted again. 38-10.
Midlands looked to have gotten themselves in again through Chrimes on the left after providing a rare second half threat, but the referee disallowed the try and pulled play back for an earlier forward pass in the buildup to it.
The Dons weren't content with their point-scoring act up to that point for the day and scored their seventh try of the match after 77 minutes. The home side created an almighty overload on the right wing, and Lyne handed to Briscoe, who crossed the line easily to score himself a try on his latest return to action. Robinson added the extras again.
The game as a contest was essentially long since over, but the Hurricanes scored a late consolation try seconds before the final hooter through Tyler Dickinson close to the centre. Chrimes converted.
The full time hooter sounded immediately after the successfully taken kick and left a full time scoreline of 44-16 that meant the Dons had made it six consecutive wins in the second tier, three of which had come inside the last seven days.
Dons: Gebbie, Briscoe, Lyne, Horne, Faraimo, Whitehead, Robinson, Mustapha, C. Jones, Matagi, Smeaton, Johnson, McConnell. Interchanges: Sutcliffe, J. Jones, Hepi, Boas.