McNamara boot sets up victory for Huddersfield

Doncaster 4 Huddersfield

On the day that Doncaster celebrated 50 years as a professional club, it was appropriate that they should stage a spectacle redolent of the days of coal fires and factory chimneys.

There was even something poetic in the way a parade of past players – who, by definition, spent much of their careers in obscurity – disappeared into the mist as they crossed the Belle Vue pitch at half-time.

One thing it was possible to discern through the fog on a day when you could see the floodlights, but not the pylons holding them up, was that Huddersfield are going to take some beating in the Northern Ford Premiership this season.

Newly-arrived from the sunlit uplands of Super League, this was a good introduction for them into the often blurred and disorientating environment in which they must now play their rugby.

Doncaster, a better than average NFP team, could be expected to make life difficult for them; they did so, without ever suggesting that they could become first to take the Division's most wanted scalp.

The first half was a gruelling slog in conditions where handling was as difficult as watching. It yielded just one score, when Paul March and Chris Thorman linked up in the 28th minute and Rob Roberts slid over the line despite a two-man tackle. The other opportunities were all from kicks, but the fog seemed to affect the radar with Steve McNamara and Johnny Woodcock both well off-target.

A factor that might come into play this season had a bearing on the second half, with Huddersfield too fit and strong for their part-time opponents.

Doncaster had a couple of good breaks from two of their players with Super League experience, Marvin Golden and Jason Lee, but there was no one there to finish them off.

By contrast, Huddersfield were able to come away with points. McNamara's kick sat up for Chris Langley – at least, we were assured it was Langley – to score their second and Mick Slicker's break paved the way for March to go over for the try that secured a match-winning lead.

It was not quite all over, because Paul Mansson intercepted from Adam Hayes to go 80 yards for Doncaster – a try accompanied by a furious punch-up in back play. But Woodcock missed the conversion and, when Mansson threatened a second intercept, the ball went to ground.

In the last minute, another McNamara kick gave the outstanding Paul Reilly a touchdown and the Huddersfield coach, Tony Smith, finished the afternoon well pleased. "We defended extremely well and didn't look like conceding a try," he said. "If it had been a sunny day, like it was predicted, it would have been a much bigger score."

Doncaster: Baker; Woodcock, Golden, Garcia, Lee; Mansson, Handley; Fielden, Green, Handford, Atter, Lawton, Moana. Substitutes used: Colton, Conway, Ramskill, Forsyth.

Huddersfield: Reilly; O'Hare, Crabtree, Cooper, Langley; Thorman, Moxon; Slicker, March, Molyneux, Atkins, Roberts, McNamara. Substitutes used: Rice, Foster, Wittenberg, Hayes.

Referee: I Smith (Oldham).