Wasps wake up to slay Dragons

Seven magnificent minutes rescued York Wasps from the brink of a Doncaster Dragons disaster.

Dashing Darren: Scrum half Darren Callaghan, whose partnership with Mark Cain got York Wasps was instrumental in their victory at Doncaster Dragons

Trailing 10-0 with nearly half an hour gone at Belle Vue, the Wasps grabbed three tries in a whirlwind spell to turn the game on its head.

Until that point under-par York had looked completely out of sorts and in danger of handing Doncaster only their second win of the season. But stand off Mark Cain instigated a remarkable revival, taking the game by the scruff of neck with two tries in the space of three minutes.

The Wasps then dominated the second half and should have won by more. Whistle happy referee Ron Laughton had other ideas though, and disallowed five tries in the course of the match, four of them by York.

That indicated the Wasps superiority as Cain and half back partner Darren Callaghan, growing in confidence with each game, controlled proceedings in the middle of the pitch.

Much of the credit must also go to Andy Precious, standing in for the injured Steve Hill, who was rock solid in the front row. With the other props in the side, Lea Tichener and Mick Hagan, both carrying knocks he was forced to play the full game, bar 10 minutes in the sin bin, and worked tirelessy right to the end. His magnificent kicking game also played a major part with many kicks for touch gaining 30 or 40 metres.

Debutant Leroy McKenzie looked an impressive prospect too, despite seeing little of the ball. An elusive runner, he looks to have pace if given the right service and is certainly no mug in defence.

It was almost a dream start for the wingman when he had the line beckoning after just two minutes but put his foot in touch on his way over.

After Dean Creasser had given Doncaster a sixth minute lead with a penalty for holding down, it was York again who came close to scoring when Leigh Deakin finished off a good move but the pass from Shaun Austerfield was adjudged forward.

Another penalty, this time for a high tackle, extended Doncaster's lead which soon became 10-0 after 23 minutes when Tony Miller sent speedy full back Lee Maher scampering over from close range for Creasser to convert.

That prompted Cain to come into his own and five minutes later scored the first of his try double. He took a short ball from Callaghan and stepped through two tackles before stretching out of a third and grounding the ball alongside the right upright, leaving Precious a simple conversion.

His second came almost immediately. Doncaster's kick-off didn't travel the required 10 metres and an excellent penalty by Precious set up play 15 metres from the Dragons line. Again Callaghan was the provider, offloading the ball for Cain who spun out of a tackle and found a gap to dart over. Precious again added the extras.

It was another Precious kick that made the third York try just four minutes later. This time his massive boot for touch brought the 40-20 rule into play to give York possession from a scrum 10 metres out. The ball was moved slickly along the line and Rich Goddard out-paced the defence to race over in the corner.

York were unlucky not to get a fourth try right on half-time. Edwards went over but the pass from John Strange was ruled to have gone forward even though it appeared to come off a Doncaster player.

Precious was shown the yellow card for holding down in injury time and Creasser slotted over the penalty to bring the Dragons back into the game at 16-12.

But three minutes into the second half the Wasps killed the game off. Austerfield was held up short of the line after being put through by Cain but the centre kept the ball alive and found the supporting Matt Lambert who crashed over. Callaghan, taking over kicking duties while Precious was off the field, landed a wonderful conversion.

In a free-flowing finale, Cain went close to his hat-trick but dropped the ball over the line, then Southernwood did the same for Doncaster before York made sure of the points. Edwards fed Callaghan on the last tackle and the scrum half went in from close range for a simple try which Precious goaled.

There was still time for Southernwood to sneak over under the posts when Doncaster were awarded a penalty two metres out, Creasser goaling, then York sub Mick Ramsden almost had the final say when he crossed the line only to have it ruled out for a double movement.

In the end it was comfortable for the Wasps but they will need to cut out the sloppy start next week when a certain Garry Schofield and Mike Ford bring their on-form Bramley side to Huntington Stadium.

Wasps Match Facts

Northern Ford Premiership at Belle Vue

Doncaster Dragons 18

Tries: Maher (23mins), Southernwood (73)

Goals: Creasser 5

Lee Maher, St John Ellis, Craig Moore, Ken Kerr, Dean Creasser, Martin Rowse, Graham Southernwood, John Bruce, Chris Watson, Steve Watene, Darrel Derose, Darren Summerill, Tony Miller. Subs: Alfie Goulbourne (for Ellis 39min), James Walker (Watson 54), Gareth Pratt (Derose 63), Gavin Morgan (Bruce 33). Re-subs: Bruce (Watene 59), Watson (Rowse 64)

Scrums: 6. Penalties: 13

Sin-bin: Morgan (62min, holding down)

York Wasps 28

Tries: Cain (28, 31), Goddard (35), Lambert (43), Callaghan (68)

Goals: Precious 3, Callaghan 1

John Strange 7, Leroy McKenzie 7, Richard Goddard 7, Shaun Austerfield 7, Leigh Deakin 6, Mark Cain 8, Darren Callaghan 8, Andy Precious 8, Alan Pallister 7, Lea Tichener 7, Chris Judge 6, Paul Darley 7, Peter Edwards 7. Subs: Matt Lambert (for Judge 25min) 7, Mick Ramsden (Darley 54) 6, Mick Hagan (Tichener 21) 7. Re-subs: Judge (Hagan 58), Darley (Pallister 72). Not used: Andy Preston

Scrums: 10. Penalties: 11.

Sin-bin: Precious (40min, holding down)

The Evening Press Man of the Match

Andy Precious: Not the flashiest player on the pitch but did a fantastic job in the absence of Steve Hill. Ran himself into the ground and took a lot of the pressure off with some superb kicking which set up two tries. A great effort.

Leroy's pledge to score tries

Flying winger Leroy McKenzie has promised the Wasps fans: "It we can make the chances, I'll score the tries."

The former Hull Shark made his York bow yesterday just three days after joining the club from Wakefield RU and showed enough touches to suggest he will become an immediate hit with the Huntington Stadium faithful.

Though he hasn't even had time to learn all the names of his new team-mates yet, he didn't look out of place in the side and expects to have no problems settling in.

After the win over Doncaster, McKenzie said: "It was difficult because I'm still getting to know the lads, I'm still learning all the names and all the moves and I'm getting bombarded with new things.

"But I knew a couple of the lads from the past, Goddard, Deakin and Darley, which has made it easier. The only thing I was worried about was my fitness. You can be fit but match fitness is a different thing so I had to use my experience a bit more."

The 29-year-old, who was thrust straight into action because of an injury to Jamie Benn, came close to opening his Wasps account after just two minutes following a pass from Chris Judge but stepped into touch. He recalled: "It was a difficult ball to take. I had to jump to take it and when I landed I had my foot in touch. I think the chances will come. We fluffed a few today in the first half but if we can keep making chances then I'll score."

Coach Dean Robinson praised the performance of his new winger. He said: "He was starved of the ball a bit but I couldn't have asked anymore of him. He made yards from acting half back, looked electric when he got the ball and his defence has been good."

Andy Precious, making his first start of the season in the front row, was also singled out by Robinson. "He's played particularly well today, as he has all season. I don't think he expected as good a run as he's having at the moment. I think his swansong was last year but here he is putting the performances in again. He's a great example to the younger members of the squad, he would rather be taken off on a stretcher than lose," said Robinson, who revealed the other props, Mick Hagan and Lea Tichener, had not really been fit enough to play.

Though criticial of the "patchy football" by his side, Robinson conceded: "I never thought we'd get beaten at any stage, even when we were 10-0 down. I have to give them credit because all wins on the road are hard to come by. They're giving their all at the moment but sooner or later we'll need some fresh blood because we can't keep patching players up every week to go out and play."

There was bad news for former Wasp St John Ellis who was stretchered off after falling awkwardly in a tackle by Matt Lambert.

It was revealed after the game that he had broken his leg just below the knee and could be out for eight weeks.

The defeat left Doncaster at the bottom of the table and the Dragons last night sacked coach Colin Maskill.

He had been in charge at Doncaster for just less than a year and has been replaced by former Hull hooker Carl Sanderson.

Struggling Doncaster had collected just one point from their last eight games and pulled in only 507 spectators for yesterday's visit of York to Belle Vue, which they share with Doncaster Rovers FC.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.