Cornwall take positives after 12-man defeat by Doncaster

Luke Collins was sent off for a comment he made towards referee Aaryn Belafonte

Cornwall boss Neil Kelly says he can take positives from his side's second-half performance after they lost 44-10 to Doncaster in League One.

Cornwall were 32-10 down at half-time, having had Luke Collins sent off after just 12 minutes for dissent.

Having conceded six tries before the break Doncaster scored just two afterwards, the second in the final moments of the match.

Cornwall remain second-from-bottom of the League One table.

"Even before we had a man sent off I felt there was an element of going through the motions about our performance that I wasn't totally happy with," Kelly told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"But sometimes you just need that break, that big tackle, that makes everyone else wake up and play with that urgency and speed, that's just part and parcel of our learning curve, but what we know is we're becoming more competitive.

"From what we did at half-time when we were 32-10 down, in previous versions of Cornwall rugby league club, that's led to a 60 or 70 point defeat.

"I think the players have really dug in and it would be wrong of me and the people here to not pay credit to that."

Hooker Collins' red card - with his side already a try down - made Cornwall's hopes of a second win of the season almost impossible.

But Kelly says he is surprised that Collins would be the sort of player to be sent off for a comment towards the referee.

"You can't legislate totally for what comes out of people's mouths.

"I don't know what's come out of my player's mouth, but it's difficult really to do something that stops the players saying something at that moment.

"Knowing the player that's been sent off, Luke Collins, he's a totally inoffensive lad, so I'd be really surprised if he had done anything to get sent off for, but that's as much as I can say on it."