Yorkshire Carnegie
Carnegie break Castle Park hoodoo – but it’s not enough
Machine
By Hax
May 8 2016
So now we know, Doncaster Knights will represent Yorkshire in the Championship play off final. They did enough last week to justify their place, but Carnegie must be kicking themselves for missing a golden opportunity to go through themselves.
On a glorious afternoon at what is probably the best ground in the Championship, (currently), Yorkshire Carnegie had ample opportunity to overcome the 13 point deficit carried over from last week. Once again Leeds’s discipline let them down, and that, along with a couple of contentious refereeing decisions, saw them bow out of this season’s competition.
It took less than a minute for Carnegie to concede their first penalty, and with 10 minutes on the clock, Donny had extended their advantage with a Cusack penalty. They almost increased that when a crossfield kick looked to have set up Tyson Lewis for the first try, but he was denied by a cruel bounce, and the visitors cleared their lines.
Yorkshire fought back, and following a great break by Lucock, the forwards were rewarded with a penalty try, and a yellow card for Donny’s Makaafi. The visitors couldn’t capitalise, and another penalty, this time for not rolling away in the tackle enabled Cusack to narrow the gap to 1 point.
Burrows made a terrific run deep into Donny territory but lacked support, but Carnegie had a line out close to the line. Having won the ball, they conceded a penalty for crossing, and the chance was gone. Another chance went begging when a line out was adjudged not straight. Then another fine drive by the forwards saw the ball shipped quickly across the field, only for Hodgson to drop the ball with the line gaping in front of him.
By now Donny had mastered the art of not putting the ball into the scrum and getting a penalty, and when it happened again, Beech was sent to the bin, and Cusack gave the Knights the lead. On the stroke of half time, Carnegie won a penalty out wide, but Sinfield’s kick hit the post, and Donny went in at half time, leading by 9 points to 7.
Carnegie started the second half needing a quick score, but the first 90 seconds probably summed up their entire season. Hodgson kicked off, and Beck smothered the catcher, but Donny won a penalty which was kicked into the visitors 22. The catch was clean, and the ball moved quickly inside to Hurrell, who from 25 yards waltzed through some poor defending to cross in the corner.
At 14 -9 down on the day Carnegie had a mountain to climb, but a raft of substitutions gave the visitors some impetus, and apart from the odd foray, Donny rarely crossed the half way line for the remainder of the game.
Pete Lucock knocked on going over the line, then Jonah Holmes made a magnificent break, only for Prell to drop the pass, but it mattered little, as shortly after, Andy Saull, who had replaced the magnificent Chris Walker, crashed over to put Carnegie back in the hunt.
Carnegie were now in the ascendancy and Donny resorted to time wasting tactics to slow down the momentum, with the visitors winning numerous penalties.
The first contentious decision came when Pete Lucock crashed over underneath the posts. To everybody’s amazement the ref adjudged him to have been held up and awarded a 5 metre scrum. Poor decision by the referee, duplicated shortly afterwards, when following another penalty, Burrows took a quick tap and crashed over by the posts, only to be brought back. Had either of these ‘tries’ been allowed to stand, we would have had a very exciting end to the game. As it was, the visitors did cross the white wash again when Jonah Holmes ran onto a clever kick by Sinfield to cross in the corner to give Carnegie the lead, Carnegie were over the hosts like a rash, but with nobody to straighten up the attacking line, and the ball going from side to side, Donny held on to their advantage
Some good individual performances today. Beck and Walker had terrific games, Smith led the line out well, and James Tideswell, in his last game for Carnegie put in a big shift. But once again, my man of the match goes to the machine that is Ryan Burrows. He has been the outstanding forward over both games, and his efforts today were superb. To say he was distraught at the end is an understatement.
Over the two games, Donny deserved to win, and once again Carnegie’s discipline has let them down. I wish them all the luck in the world as they represent Yorkshire in the play-off final.
There are however a couple of consolation’s for the fans. The first is, Carnegie have lifted the curse of Castle Park. The second is that next season we will have the pleasure of visiting St Helier and Penzance, so it is not all doom and gloom
And finally, (again), thank you to everybody at Castle Park for the welcome we received today. From the car park attendant who took my £3 with a smile, (£5), to the turnstile operator and programme seller who took my £12 with a smile, (£15), and to the bar lady who took my £3.50 for a pint of Guinness with a smile, (£4.50), and to every Donny fan I spoke to, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. Figures in parentheses are comparable prices at Headingley. Take note!!
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08/05/2016 20:30
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:06:04:12:40:14 by Wildwillie .
Also great to meet Leeming although unfortunately he left his flying jacket and medals at home.
Good luck to Donny, a forward thinking Club, with a great future. Now go beat Bristol! You CAN do it. It would be good to see the top Yorkshire Club in the Premiership!
Only when Colin went off (and he is about 34 years old - though looks older with his grey hair) did the Carnegie scrum prevail in both matches.
Strangely we went from losing every scrum with a penalty to pushing Donny off the ball.
Another theory is that both refs did not like Charlie Beech.
I concede that do not understand the dark arts of the scrum, but we cannot let this happen in vital matches next season.
Apart from the aggregate result I really enjoyed it yesterday. Was nice to meet and stand with some of the messageboard regulars and watch the rugby in the sunshine. A few things stood out for me:
1. Great atmosphere and sense of occasion at Castle Park. What a fantastic set up they've got there. Really friendly staff and supporters as well, made for a really good day.
2. We're our own worst enemy half the time. A sorry mix of unnecessary penalties, unforced errors and basic mistakes playing havoc with the good stuff we did. As Hax says above, it could've been different. Bryan Redpaths honeymoon period is definitely over.
3. Kevin Sinfield. If all else failed, I thought he was supposed to be able to kick. Great RL player and it was a lovely kick through for Jonahs try but, sadly, he has to join the list players who couldn't adjust to union.
4. As has been said by others on another thread, I felt for the players at the end. Buzz was immense, as always, and looked distraught at the end. I also felt sorry for Chris Pilgrim. It hasn't worked out for him here and he didn't play well yesterday but he looked to me like a player whose confidence is completely shot and that's never nice to see. I wish him well in whatever he does next.
A massive well done to Donny, deserved winners and the best of luck to them in the final. I genuinely think they might do it. If they don't, I'll look forward to another trip to Castle Park next season.
Brush has constantly thought we were hard done by with the refs this year. Something we need to sort once and for all next year. As for all the other issues under our control.
Your right about pilgrim. That first knock on summed it up. I think he got out of the ground pretty quickly too.
The players brush signed as his quality go too men haven't done the business. Guys like saull will be 3rd choice 7 after the form this year. Hopefully we will see the true form of these players next season.
Sounds like JL is staying by players comments. Hopefully the new structure can get the team where it needs to be.
A mountain of work to done that's for sure.
All in all a bit of a disappointing end to the season. Hopefully next season we'll play with a bit more of a smile on our faces and play a running/offloading game. It really is the only way to break down defences these days. Accept you will concede but you will also score a lot and entertain.
