Match Report: PARFC 17 - 28 Yorkshire Carnegie (C'ship)
By Flanker 7
March 22 2015
This could well have been the day the trap door opened for Albion, in what should have been a carnival atmosphere due to many walking and donating funds to St Luke’s Hospice. The club also opened its new shop and many home supporters sported new fleece tops, replica shirts and much other club merchandise. Visitors Yorkshire Carnegie introduced Bryan Redpath to their set-up, someone with vast rugby experience who will doubtless relish coaching their backs. There looked to be a healthy number in attendance (actually 1 772), but the vast majority would depart the Brickfields hugely disappointed.
Albion started playing towards the clubhouse in the first half with an increasing breeze from behind which did not work in their favour. In a rather dour first forty, Yorkshire Carnegie dominated for long periods, with good possession and territory in abundance. They starved Albion of the ball at the lineout and won penalty after penalty at the scrum. A few minutes in, the visitors were awarded a penalty which struck the post but stayed in, and Albion had real difficulty clearing their lines. This set the pattern for the half; on the rare occasions when Albion ventured into YC territory, they either threw too long and coughed up possession or the YC pack proved to be more than a match for the home forwards. It would be easy to say that the game could have been put to bed in the first period, as their dominance was at times imperious - only their own errors denied them a bigger half time lead.
Harry Leonard (Yorks fly half), kicked his side into an early three point lead and before Albion could regain any forward momentum, they conceded another penalty; Albion 0 - 6 Yorks. In another raid shortly after an Albion error, YC thought they had scored in the corner, but after referee Gamage had a word with his assistant, the end result was a 22 drop out to Albion. It was so frustrating to see them struggle to get into this game and try to win a game on YC errors which were few and far between - their fire, spirit, and passion all seemed to be missing.
With Albion under constant pressure, the respite came in the form of a penalty from the scrum which Declan Cusack fired in from 25 metres out; Albion 3 – 6 Yorks. A few minutes later Albion were awarded an opportunity to level the scores from near the 10 metre line, but this time it was pulled wide. Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, Yorks drove up the field and open-side flanker Chris Walker emerged from the fray to touch down. Leonard’s conversion from out wide was successful; Albion 3 – 13 Yorks.
Albion's defence was now overworked and stretched to the limit; very quickly, persistent infringement play led to Rhys Oakley being sin-binned and in his absence YC drove over right on half time to extend their lead with an unconverted try; Albion 3 – 18 Yorks.
At the restart, Toby Howley-Berridge did not appear after struggling with a back injury; his place taken by Marc Koteczky who did good work at centre, finding holes in the visiting defence which had been absent in the first half. Albion appeared to be more fired up after the interval. With Yorks making more errors as the game wore on, a quick tap penalty took Josh Davies to within centimetres of getting Albion’s first try. But the visitors managed to clear their lines and immediately looked dangerous again at the other end of the field. To the complete astonishment of many in the stands, Leonard danced his way past several ineffective challenges to effectively seal the game with another unconverted try; Albion 3 – 23 Yorks.
As time slipped away and several changes were made by both sides, Albion all of a sudden came to life and exerted some serious pressure which resulted in a penalty try that Albion skipper Cusack swiftly converted; Albion 10 – 23 Yorks. With the Albion support lifted and the team reinvigorated, it was now the home side’s chance to turn the screw and they were soon able to put the Yorks defence under strain. With 10 minutes to go, Koteczky turned over the ball and got it out wide where replacement Mark Kohler scored right in the corner. From the touchline Cusack landed a difficult conversion; Albion 17 - 23 Yorks.
“Game on!” was premature. Albion spilt the restart, allowing Yorks to move the ball across their backs, engineer an opening and leave every Albion supporter disconsolate by simply strolling in to secure all the points. An LBP would have been just reward after long periods with nothing on the cards.
Many would question why Jake Henry was permitted to stay on the park, carrying what looked like a certain hamstring injury or lower back spasm restricting his movement in the latter stages of the game and leaving him unable to challenge in the area YC opened the space to score their final try.
Final score; Plymouth Albion 17 - Yorkshire Carnegie.
With four games to go - Cornish Pirates (A), Bristol (H), Moseley (A) and finally Doncaster Knights (H), next Sunday’s derby at the Mennaye takes on a different complexion. Albion now desperately need to add points to their tally. Moseley went down 49-28 at Nottingham, but still managed a 4T bonus point.
I still in my heart believe Albion can stay up, but after today the task is far more difficult. After the current crop of injuries, the trip to Penzance will not be for the faint-hearted - a win of any description is a must.
Come on Albion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Keep the faith)
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I can't say they weren't up for it, or that they lacked passion but they were oddly subdued in the first half and lived off scraps of possession. The second half was better in that the forwards managed to secure some ball which helped the backs create a few more opportunities. But the tackling didn't improve and the Carnegie 10 wriggled his way through 4 Albion tacklers when it looked for all the world that 1: he was too far out to be a threat, and 2: the centre cover was there....
Carnegie were unrecognisable from the team we played at Headingley, made very few mistakes and took their chances well.
To top it off, on 79 mins, Albion turned over possession inside their own 22 and gifted Carnegie their 4th try in the corner when it seemed we had sufficient cover. That lost us a losing bonus point. How crucial will that be?
Can't now get down to the Pirates game, which is one I've been targeting for some while, but I hope that the lads can pick themselves up from this disappointment and re-ignite themselves in the Mennaye Cauldron!.