Battle in the Baltic
By Carnegiette1
February 1 2015
Yorkshire Carnegie recorded their first home win of the campaign – and a much needed bonus point win for good measure, but it wasn’t without the usual heart in the mouth moments for the freezing Carnegie faithful on a bitterly cold afternoon.
Expectations were high following 3 recent much improved performances, where the win had eluded us. We started brightly with Buzz making hard yards and us finding our way to within feet of the try line. But that set the tone for the first half, we had possession and territory but we struggled to convert this into points. By contrast Moseley took the lead with a penalty try, awarded after infringements at the maul. Some of our decision making looked suspect, but having turned down 2 early kickable penalties, Leonard got us on the scoreboard reducing the gap to 3-7.
Jarad Williams is looking better and better every game, and he was on the end of some good forward play scoring under the posts which Leonard duly converted. But it was Moseley who ended the half on top, our defence having gone missing allowing Anthony Carter to break through and score. The conversion was missed, as was another penalty kick by Ollie Thomas at the end of the half. 10-12 -it had been a frustrating and nervy half, lacking the sparkle of the London Scottish or Bristol games, perhaps the players were feeling the pressure of a must win game. Moseley, who have a much lower playing budget than us, had scored points from almost every visit to our 22.
The second half was much improved in terms of composure, starting with Doc who amongst the chaos had the vision to spot a mismatch in the Moseley defence, change direction and score. After another 3 points from Leonard, Egerton them came on for Pilgrim, and livened things up, combining well with Georgiou for the latter to score a try on the left wing. And better was to come, after Moseley were reduced to 14 for collapsing a maul, Egerton scored the bonus point try after a Williams pass. The curse of the last 10 minutes did strike when Moseley scored down the right wing, but it was too little too late and the end result was a comfortable win.
We finished the weekend still in 9th, due to results around us, but with a confidence boosting home win under our belts. There’s still plenty to work on, but for once our bench was used well and improved our performance. The loanees have enhanced the squad and increased competition for places. Bainbridge again looked good, but I agree with the official Man of the Match – Jarad Williams gets the bottle of fizz from me. 4 wins in February has to be the target and phase 1 is complete, which should raise the confidence levels. Onwards and Upwards!
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015:02:19:13:36:39 by Gelbel.
COME ON LEEDS.
We've been through it all together.
The other thing I would say is that the penalty try should never have been given as a Moseley player shoved Tideswell (I think it was) right into the middle of the ruck that made it collapse. Don't know what the touch judge was doing on that side.
First half was a bit worrisome but 2nd half much improved. Tough assignment next week though.
Jarad is doing a much better job at 6 than Jones did, but as NNS says the lineout jumpers worked well enough to destroy the Mose throw in. I have thought people on here have been harsh on Pilgrim and Leonard but it now looks like they might become the replacements next time. Ben Hooper was so far down the pecking order that I'd almost forgotten him but he was very busy when he came on and looked keen to get his place back.
Quote:ellishicks
I have thought people on here have been harsh on Pilgrim and Leonard but it now looks like they might become the replacements next time.
I suppose Egertons performance has to be balanced against the fact that he entered the fray when Mose had shot their bolt, as it were.
Perhaps he will be given the opportunity next weekend to show that he can do it from the start.
Thanks for the report Carnegiette - you'll have to do them more often as we get 4 try BP wins when you do.
Completely forgot I was doing the report until I was walking back to the car at the end. Thank goodness for the club Twitter feed
Fantastic energy, intelligent running lines, awesome power in contact, great hands and a half decent turn of pace for such a big bloke. A star of the future I reckon.
Regarding Doc, I just think that he always looks good against the lesser teams (no disrespect intended to Moseley). I'd like to see him do that against Worcester/Bris/Scottish when we really need it.