AFTER a distinctly shaky start, which saw them trailing 12-5 a couple of minutes before the interval, Waterloo finally settled down and claimed the three additional tries they needed to gain their third consecutive victory and a useful National Two bonus point.
Admittedly, they had a strong wind at their backs after the interval and their under full strength opponents began to run out of energy, but it still represented a very useful performance.
Probably the key moment came after 20 minutes when scrum half Luke Stringer was forced to be replaced, as had been feared since he suffered a nasty injury a fortnight ago.
Fly half Alex Davies was switched to take his place, with Arno de Jager moving from full back to partner him quite efficiently, and once they had settled down, there was little doubt about the result.
New winger James Rothwell from Doncaster had given his side the lead with an unconverted try very much against the run of play after only five minutes following an interception and that stopped Waterloo dropping too far behind.
They did concede two first-half tries, scored by prop Jason Isaacson and powerful centre Adam Deharty, but then hit back right on the stroke of half-time.
Replacement Rob O’Donnell, later crowned man of the match, broke away to touch down in the corner for a fine try that was brilliantly converted by Davies and that enabled Waterloo to change ends on level terms.
The pack drove forward to gain a second try for O’Donnell, that Davies again converted soon after the resumption and they collected their valuable fourth try when their pack drove weary opponents back several yards before the referee gave them a penalty score and Davies converted the easy chance.
Largely due to their half back problems, Waterloo played little open rugby, especially in the first half, and did not win all that much clean ball from lineouts or loose play.
However, their defence was generally excellent.
Waterloo did have a problem when skipper Jason Duffy was booked near the end, but fortunately the visitors were too tired by then to take advantage.
