With Knights reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes through a yellow-carding for Adam Hopkinson, Edinburgh closed the gap to just two points with tries either side of half-time. First hooker Harri Morris burrowed over and Ross Wolfenden added the conversion, then Paterson scored again following a huge carry by Tom Currie.
Edinburgh surged into the lead for the first time in the contest on 69 minutes when Henry Widdowson‘s chip over the top found Ross McKnight and a series of offloads eventually sent MacArthur over, who then converted his own score.
Monkey see, monkey do, and Doncaster quickly struck back with a cross-kick created try of their own. Morgan Bunting picked out Thom Smith, although there was no need for any inter-passing on this occasion, with the back-row collecting the ball brilliantly and making a beeline for the line all by himself. There was no conversion, leaving the scores tied at 24 points apiece.
Edinburgh then shot themselves in the foot by kicking the ball dead at the restart. Knights opted for a scrum back at halfway, from which they squeezed a penalty, kicked to the corner, and a monster drive at the line-out ended with George Roberts driving over. Bunting added the extras to make it 31-24 to the hosts with just four minutes left on the clock.
But Edinburgh refused to raise the white half, and a pulsating final five minutes saw Edinburgh bombard their opponents’ line relentlessly, eventually finding a way over by shipping the ball to the wing for Davidson to scamper home, setting up that excellent late conversion which left the scores tied at the final whistle.
Teams –
Doncaster Knights: T Veainu; R Olowofela, S Rokoduguni, C Edwards, J Olowofela; R Bennett, A Dolly; C Davidson, B Chapman, L Thiede, B Murphy, J Williams, A Hopkinson, J Bainbridge E Timor Viliamu. Sub used: G Roberts, L Mulipola J Jones, E Ehizode, M Jones, T Smith, O Fox, M Bunting, R Tait, J McGuire, M McNab, Z Kerr, J Margetts.
Edinburgh ‘A’: R McHaffie; M Satala, N Moncreiff, M Davidson, L Wells; R Wolfenden, H Patterson; J Stewart, H Morris, O Blyth Lafferty, S Byrd, C Lindsay, T Dodd ©, F Douglas, T Currie. Sub used: J McAughtrie, T Banatvala, B White, M Rutherford, O Duncan, H MacArthur, H Clark, H Widdowson, R McKnight, H Kesterton.
Scorers –
Doncaster Knights: Tries: Olowofela 2, Chapman, Smith, Roberts; Cons: Dolly 2, Bunting
Edinburgh: Tries: Patterson 2, Morris, MacArthur, Davidson; Cons: Wolfenden, MacArthur 2
Scoring sequence (Doncaster Knights first): 5-0; 10-0; 12-0; 17-0; 19-0; 19-5; 19-10; 19-12 (h-t) 19-17; 19-22; 19-24; 24-24; 29-24; 31-24; 31-29; 31-31.
Yellow cards –
Doncaster Knights: Hopkinson (36 mins)