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Nottingham prove too strong for Leeds Carnegie
OUT OF LUCK: Leeds Carnegies Will Cliff saw his pass intercepted by Nottingham late on which led to the home sides winning try.
Despite a brave display in testing conditions Leeds Carnegie slipped to their second successive defeat at Nottingham on Wednesday afternoon.
Leeds head coach Diccon Edwards named a much-changed side to the one that lined up against Esher as his team aimed to bounce back from their defeat against bottom-placed Esher, whilst fifth-placed Nottingham were hoping to extend their unbeaten run to four.
Leeds were were boosted by the inclusion of new signing, Ed Williamson, who was handed a place in the starting line up to make his debut for the club.
With the wind at their backs Nottingham made a strong start and took the lead after just three minutes, through their full-back Savage. After a scrum in the Leeds 22, Nottingham played into the visitors’ midfield and Leeds missed a crucial tackle that allowed Savage in for a straightforward try. James Arlidge added the conversion to give his side a 7-0 advantage.
Dominate
Leeds were dealt two early setbacks with Phil Nilsen and Cameron Zeiss both forced to leave the field with injuries.
Nottingham continued to dominate the game for the first 30 minutes and although the Carnegie defence prevented them adding a second try, they did stretch their lead with a successful Arlidge penalty on 25 minutes.
With 10 minutes to go in the first half the visitors found some composure and with increased possession they began to threaten their hosts. Will Cliff made a solid break back towards the ruck but despite this promising period of play they were unable to get the try they deserved and their only score of the first half was a penalty from Jordan Davies in the final minute of the half.
Within three minutes of the restart Leeds narrowed the deficit with a well-worked try. Ollie Richards made the break before finding the supporting Ollie Denton who went over for the try. Davies though was unable to add the conversion but at 10-8 it looked like Leeds were in a strong position to get something from the game.
Minutes later Nottingham extended their lead when Leeds were ruled to have made an infringement at the scrum and the referee awarded the home side a penalty try, which Arlidge converted.
The Carnegie men used the wind to their advantage in the second half but Nottingham regularly won their own line-out ball to prevent Leeds from gaining any momentum.
Davies kept Leeds in the game with another penalty to bring the score to 17-11, but with just over 10 minutes to play Nottingham grabbed a try which ultimately put the game beyond Leeds. Arlidge intercepted a Cliff pass and then ran unopposed to the tryline. He converted his own try to make it 24-11.
Both sides to their credit attempted to play expansive rugby during the course of the second half but neither could break through for a further score and Leeds now head into their final regular league game on the back of two defeats, although they will be more encouraged by their performance in this fixture as they aim to finish in a strong play-off position.
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
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