GAEL Force completed their preparations for the inaugural British and Irish Cup with a 20-19 win at English Championship side Doncaster Knights.
Having already beaten Oxford University 27-21 at Murrayfield in September the match was the Force's second outing as a team and, despite occasionally struggling with the heavy-weight Doncaster set-piece, the Force played to their strengths with some
dynamic running rugby to come back from two tries down.
Gael Force, whose squad is drawn from the National Academy and two professional teams, begin their British and Irish Cup campaign later this month with an away double-header against Cornish Pirates in Penzance (22 November) and Exeter (28 November). They play home games against Plymouth Albion and Leinster next year.
Last night Doncaster exerted early pressure, using their physicality in a bid to stamp their authority on the game which they did after just nine minutes when a try by prop Lewis Thiede was converted. The hosts then doubled their tally ten minutes later when their set-piece dominance was rewarded with a penalty try, which was duly converted for a 14-0 lead.
However, the resilient Gael Force fought back using skill and pace and winger Chris Kinloch crossed the line for the young Scots' first, though stand-off David Blair put the conversion wide.
Gael Force registered their second try on the stroke of half-time when Ryan Grant spotted the slightest of gaps at the corner, took a quick tap and, with the support of the Force pack, piled over to bring the try count level. Blair made up for his miss with a fine conversion from right on the touchline.
Despite the first-half heroics Gael Force went further behind in the 58th minute when Chris Planchant went over but the missed conversion attempt meant that they remained in reach at 19-12
A cleanly struck penalty from full-back Jim Thompson brought the side within a score before substitute winger Dougie Fife answered the call with a fine finishers try five minutes from time to pip the Knights by a single point.
Gael Force head coach, Stephen Gemmell, said: "We showed great character tonight. We took a while to get up to the pace of the game and struggled a bit with the physicality of their set-piece which meant we were often playing off scraps, but when given the opportunity we created try-scoring chances with ball in hand.
"We showed tonight that when we play our game we can be dangerous. We were behind for the whole match but we dug deep which shows we're now building a strong team ahead of the competition."
Gael Force: J Thompson (Edinburgh); C Kinloch (Glasgow), S Wilson (N Acad & Edinburgh Accies), A Dunbar (N Acad & Selkirk), A Turnbull (Edinburgh); D Blair (Edinburgh, capt), R Samson (Edinburgh); R Grant (Edinburgh), K Bryce (Heriot's), E Kalman (Glasgow), F McKenzie (Edinburgh), G Gilchrist (N Acad/Stirling County), D Denton (N Acad/Edinburgh Accies), N Rodger (N Acad/Haddington), S McInally (N Acad/Watsonians). Subs: D Orr (N Acad/Haddington), N Little (N Acad/Hawick), A Spence (N Acad/Haddington), J Hill (N Acad/Heriot's), D Gilmour (N Acad/Stirling County), P Jericevich (N Acad/Glasgow Hawks), D Fife (N Acad/Currie).
