First-half tries from Drew Locke and Nick Haining and an Aaron Penberthy conversion gave the Reds a deserved 12-11 half-time lead. But a series of unforced errors, compounded by injuries and the whistle of referee Andrew Jackson, meant they were unable to improve on their tally after the break with Christian Georgiou’s 69th minute try proving enough for Carnegie to claim an ugly win.
| P | W | D | L | BP | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 19 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 89 |
| Worcester | 19 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 86 |
| London Scottish | 19 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 59 |
| Nottingham | 19 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 50 |
| Rotherham | 19 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 49 |
| Yorkshire Carnegie | 19 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 44 |
| Cornish Pirates | 19 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 43 |
| Jersey | 19 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 38 |
| Doncaster | 19 | 6 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 33 |
| Bedford | 19 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 32 |
| Moseley | 19 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 9 | 27 |
| Plymouth Albion | 19 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 20 |
Having beaten Doncaster and drawn with Rotherham on previous visits to the White Rose county and buoyed by last week’s famous win over Worcester, Jersey travelled north with hope.
Certainly if the management were worried about this being a case of ‘After the Lord Mayor’s Show’ they need not have been. The Reds were well up for the fight, two bouts of fisticuffs in the first half testament to their spirit, and after falling behind to an eighth minute Harry Leonard penalty the Reds scored a peach of a try when a string of precise passes and an injection of pace into the line from full-back Aaron Penberthy sent Locke away in the right corner. Penberthy landed the conversion two metres in from the touchline.
Leonard kicked his second penalty and helped Carnegie restore their lead shortly afterwards when his superbly executed crossfield kick was gathered in at the second attempt by Oli Goss.
Jersey came under more pressure when flanker Ryan Hodson passed to an opponent instead of his own man just outside the 22, but hooker Joe Buckle put in a great cover tackle to dislodge the ball from the grasp of Pete Lucock and avert the danger. Punches appeared to be thrown in the aftermath but the referee opted not to take any action.
With the rolling maul proving an effective weapon, Jersey gained a foothold in the Carnegie 22 as the first half wore on. After a period pounding away at the line, scrum-half Samisoni Fisilau found Haining wide out on the left with a cut-out pass and the unmarked No 8 strolled over. Once another fracas had died down, Penberthy attempted to turn the five points into seven with the conversion but his attempt caught the strong wind and was short and wide.
Jersey had further chances to score but Locke was bundled into touch metres short and Penberthy was unable to knock over a scrum penalty on the stroke of half-time.
Neither side was able to get any momentum into their game in a scoreless third quarter as play lumbered from one set piece to another. Sadly, the only time Jersey lost a lineout, and they had 19, came when they were five metres from the Carnegie line. Buckle’s throw sailed over its intended target and Carnegie scrum-half Sam Egerton pounced on the loose ball and raced 50 metres upfield before being hauled down in the 22.
Shortly after play resumed following lengthy treatment for Haining, Carnegie grabbed the only points of the second period when Taylor Prell outpaced Fisilau and passed inside for Georgiou to score the match winner.
JERSEY head coach Harvey Biljon admits that the overriding feeling was one of frustration after his side surrendered a slender half-time lead and had to settle for the consolation of a losing bonus point away to Yorkshire Carnegie, writes Jon Newcombe.
‘We scored two very good first-half tries and set ourselves up for a win away from home at Yorkshire, which is no easy task,’ he said. ‘But we didn’t control or manage the game as we should have done in the second half.
‘It is a game of small margins in the Championship and we weren’t accurate enough whether that was at the lineout, with the final pass or just keeping hold of the ball when we needed to.
‘The players know there were opportunities to put the game away but we just didn’t do it.’
Eighth-place Jersey now have three games left – Cornish Pirates (home), Bristol (away) and Moseley (home) – to finish the season on a high, and Biljon is hoping that a free weekend will enable some of his walking wounded to recover from knocks.
‘Today’s game has taken a fairly serious toll on us if I’m being honest, some key individuals picked up knocks,’ he said. ‘We’ll just have to wait to see what the medical information is on Ryan Hodson, Nick Haining and Tua (Otto).
‘I think the physicality of the Worcester game told on the player’s energy levels in the last 20. It was pretty tough going out there.’
Centre Drew Locke, who is expected to play for London Scottish next season, crossed for his eighth try of the season when he touched down in the 13th minute.
And the 28-year-old echoed the sentiments of his coach by bemoaning the Reds’ inability to kick on and secure a first-ever win at Headingley.
‘We planned to keep the ball in the first half when we were playing into the wind and we took our chances well,’ he said.
‘It was pleasing to get a try off first phase because we’d been looking at that all week, and then we clocked up the phases for the second try, which was a good team try.
‘The focus in the second half was to control the pitch but we made too many silly errors and unfortunately we weren’t able to close the game out.
‘The attitude is there in abundance with the players, we just need to build on our accuracy ahead of the game against Cornish Pirates.’
