Doncaster RLFC: Thornton takes positives from defeat to unbeaten Toulouse
But the Dons, who dropped a place to fifth as a result of yesterday’s 38-18 defeat by unbeaten Toulouse, performed much better than in the embarrassing defeat by Barrow a fortnight earlier.
“It was a much better showing and I thought we built on the win at Hunslet last time out,” said Dons boss Gary Thornton.
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Hide Ad“Toulouse are a very good team and they showed that when scoring their two first half tries. They are very clinical when it comes to turning defence into attack.
“Their No 6 Ford was a big influence but I thought we contained him well for most of the game. “I thought we played very well ourselves in the first half and as well as defending well off set-plays we also created several other chances and we were perhaps unlucky not to come in level as I’m convinced Ryan Wright scored.
“They increased their 12-6 interval lead but we got it back to 22-18 and we were back in the game at that stage.
“But we always knew that with them being a full-time team, and being very fit, that they would finish strongly – just as they had in the game in Toulouse – and they scored three further tries – a couple of soft ones from our perspective.”
“It didn’t help that we lost centre Liam Welham with a shoulder injury during that period.
“As I say, there were a lot of positives and I didn’t feel they were 20 points better than us.”