Jersey Reds 'unfortunate' in Championship Cup defeat at Doncaster

Jersey Reds began their Championship Cup campaign with a home defeat by Newcastle

Jersey Reds boss Harvey Biljon said his side were "unfortunate" in their 32-26 Championship Cup loss at Doncaster.

Despite matching the hosts' four tries with scores by Will Homer, Leroy van Dam, Kyle Hatherell and Antonio Harris, two Sam Olver penalties for the Knights proved decisive.

The loss left Jersey third in their Championship Cup pool.

"We played a lot of good rugby, we definitely weren't going to get the rub of the green," Biljon told BBC Jersey.

"We played at a good tempo, real endeavour from the players, we were just unfortunate."

Jersey were guilty of missing a number of chances for further tries as George Spencer, twice, and Tom Williams went close and Hatherell had an early touchdown ruled out by the referee.

"It could have been very different," Biljon said.

"But you've got to give Doncaster credit, they slowed the game down at the right time, they put the referee under pressure to make a couple of calls and he did.

He added: "I think what we'll find is there'll be some good learning coming out of this game, we're working out again what's working for us and areas.

"We need to make sure we can keep our composure, build and apply pressure and then hopefully come away with some points."