Yorkshire Carnegie
Sixways to lose a rugby match
By Gelbel
April 12 2015
Don't turn up for the first 20 minutes. Don’t have two kick-offs go straight to touch. Don’t miss two kicks to touch. Make your tackles (actually – tackle full stop).
And if all that had happened, with a pair of spectacles for Sir who missed several blatant blockings and crossings and who was slightly inconsistent, then the result may’ve been different. I am not saying Yorkshire Carnegie deserved a win, they certainly deserved the losing bonus point they squandered in the last minutes, but once they woke up they scared Worcester and gained lots of praise from their fans for the hardest home game they’ve had all season.
Worcester were immediately on the attack, putting lots of pressure on Yorkshire Carnegie and were 5-0 up after five minutes with an iffy try allowed after a player acted as a shield to prevent any tackle attempts. Yorkshire had the upper hand in the first scrum; they’d shoved Worcester backwards, who stood up but the decision went against them. And that set Mr Tempest’s mind for the majority of scrums in the first quarter despite Yorkshire having the upper hand.
When Yorkshire Carnegie was penalised, Worcester opted to kick to touch. It was a drive off an ensuing line out that gave Worcester their second try. 12-0 after 12 minutes.
For a brief moment, Yorkshire just got into Worcester’s half and should’ve spent longer there but an opportunity to attack due to an obstruction was squandered when Grimoldby failed to find touch. An error at a line out led to Worcester’s third try. 19-0 after 19 minutes. We fans lowered our expectations and were ready for it to get worse. For a couple of minutes it did, as Jones was sin binned for some misdemeanour or another. But then Yorkshire realised they were meant to be playing and they woke up. A huge maul shoved Worcester 20m backwards and they could only pull it down. Egerton scored after a nice off-load, under pressure from Walker. 19-7 after 30 minutes with Yorkshire still down to 14.
Driving maul after driving maul and Worcester had a player binned for consistent pulling down. The Yorkshire forwards were rampant and Walker crashed through for a try. 19-14 at half time. Buzz had a ‘discussion’ with the referee and his team had a huddle before going off the pitch.
The kick-off went out on the full and Worcester started off the second half dominantly. When awarded a penalty, instead of kicking to touch, they went for the three points; which showed how rattled they were with Yorkshire's performance – Nilsen pointed his finger at them and laughed when they signalled their intention. 22-14 after 45 minutes.
A period of pressure from Yorkshire saw some nice moves from the second and back rowers that set Hill up for a skilful try. 22-19 after 50 minutes.
Worcester cancelled that try out with their fourth try which happened after a string of missed tackles and Georgiou actually backing out of a tackle. Goss prevented the conversion with a superb charge down. 27-19 after 55 minutes.
By now the Grand National was in full flow and in keeping with the horsey theme Georgiou had a mare of match – only one or two of his darting breaks, missed tackles, that backing out and a pass to Doc that’d should’ve been run or kicked that exposed Doc who was knocked into next week. His performance in this match lost him a couple of fans’ player of the season votes (not mine – already done and it wasn’t him).
Grimoldby’s last touch and kick of the ball was to put the restart straight out and we had our first view of our player of the month nominee as he was replaced by Leonard. Worcester stepped up a gear and had Yorkshire under much pressure; for a while our defence held firm with a superb drive at Worcester’s scrum on our 5m line to win a penalty – you’d thought we’d won the match from the pack’s celebrations. But Worcester kept up the pressure to score. 32-19 after an hour.
Yorkshire were not prepared to back down and when Egerton went over for his second, and Yorkshire’s fourth try after more nifty work from the back rowers, the Worcester fans applauded their efforts nearly as much as one of their own tries. 32-26 as Leonard converted with 10 minutes to go. The Yorkshire side continued to attack and at one stage it looked as if the impossible might happen as Goss, Fitzpatrick, Doc and Leonard started to fire – it didn’t and a poor scrum on Worcester’s 22 saw them get the bit between their teeth to score a converted try in the last minutes of the match. 39-26 at full time.
My man of the match goes to Chris Walker; as one of our number said, since Tommy left he’s been playing well – back to his mobile best.
As it’s been mentioned on this board, that match summed up our season – sloppy start giving us a mountain to climb, some fabulous play, great defence at times, lovely tries and a tendency to nod off to let the opposition back in. Having said that, it was a more sustained performance (once we got going) than we’ve enjoyed so perhaps we’re seeing Redpath’s experience starting to come through.
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12/04/2015 10:32
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:04:22:07:58:01 by Gelbel.
Other than the long walk from the "park and walk" which they had the cheek to charge a fiver for, I really liked Sixways. Excellent stadium and friendly natives.
Before the match I posted on another thread that I was looking for a "performance" from Carnegie and despite the misgivings induced by the first twenty minutes, I got just that. Well done boys!
To be honest I was expecting a bit of a spanking down there so I was pleasantly surprised by the result. With Roth winning by a point against Donny I think our play off aspirations are over for a season now. Not a bad thing in my book. Longer rest and better prepared for next season.
Got to say Sam Egerton excites me. There has been criticism of his passing on other threads but I don't see that, certainly compared to the alternatives. Also, as has been said above senior Walker seems to have found a new lease of life. Long may that continue.
Surprised by the individual criticism of CG as I think he's been one of our most consistent performers all season. Have to say I've just watched the highlights on t'offy and technically his defence when "backing out" was quite correct. Gossy flew up out of the line (2nd time in as many games leading to a try for the opposition) leaving us exposed 2 on 1. Full back always takes last man so he was trying to hold the centre while Lucock got across for the cover tackle (missed). I assume that was the backing out referred to (when Stelling scored). If not apologies, but in the games I've watched I haven't seen him miss a tackle all season and he rarely makes mistakes.
Finally I think the last word must go to Ben Harris. Prop, back row and now 2nd row. He might be leaving us for pastures new but what a player to front up and slot in to the 2nd row like that in a game of that magnitude. I don't know much about forward play but I, for one, take my hat off to him. Well done Ben and good luck with your new club.
Glad to see Carnegie playing positively and look forward to a trip to Franklins Gardens!
Look forward to better games and times ahead!
COME ON LEEDS.
We've been through it all together.
