Yorkshire Carnegie 26 London Irish 12

10/03/2019

By Tom Clayton

Yorkshire claimed a dominant win over shell-shocked league leaders London Irish on Sunday, as the visitors and favourites for promotion were denied league points for the first time this campaign.

Carnegie asserted their dominance over their visitors early on with hard running and an aerial attack that would challenge the toughest opponents.

Yorkshire were evidently much stronger up front in the first half, forcing Irish to concede six penalties in the first half from scrums alone.

The first score of the game came from an opportunist move set up from the lineout. As the Irish defence rushed up, Te Rure chipped and Lucock hacked the ball on towards the line. Lucock won the footrace and put the hosts ahead on 10 minutes.

Irish then got into the game and pegged back Yorkshire inside heir own 22 area. However, a resilient defence forced errors from the London attack and Yorkshire cleared.

In a flash, Yorkshire found themselves with a penalty and put it in the corner. As London expected the catch and drive, along with the spectators, the ball came out wide, and a few phases later, Pete Lucock ran a peach of a line and dotted down under the posts. Te Rure added the extras to make it 14-0.

The visitors got one back before half time as they drove in close and Irish prop Ollie Hoskins scored from close in. Keatley kicked the conversion and the lead was down to seven going in at the break.

HT – Yorkshire Carnegie 14 – 7 London Irish

It appeared as though the Carnegie discipline had gone out the window after the break. Five penalties in ten minutes gave the visitors an early try as Topsy Ojo scored outside from a set of phases. The kick was missed but Yorkshire still held onto the lead at 14-12.

This woke Yorkshire up again and Irish didn’t have the ball in the Carnegie half again in the remaining 30 minutes.

Yorkshire put on a masterclass of how to break down the league leaders in being physical and well-disciplined in defence.

It took Irish to lapse in concentration for Yorkshire score their third as Lucock offloaded to Elder who shipped it to the on-rushing Elijah Niko, who scored his sixth try in nine games. The kick was missed giving the hosts a slender lead at 19-12.

Irish began to concede penalties again and again, they retained possession for a moment before a knock on found its way into Andy Forsyth’s hands and the centre broke clear for the hosts’ bonus point try, the kick converted by Elder.

The game finished as it had started, a pair of strong packs and good defensive work from either side, but Yorkshire couldn’t be broken down and eventually came away with a crucial win over league leaders London Irish.

FT – Yorkshire Carnegie 26 – 12 London Irish