Carnegie show plenty of spirit but lose out again

It was a frustrating night for Carnegie who – six days after a record 72-5 drubbing at London Irish – showed flashes of enterprise and did some solid work in defence, but let themselves down with basic errors.

Scottish should have been further than 12-5 ahead at half time, but Carnegie showed some resilience in defence after a shaky start.

They matched the visitors in the third quarter, but a third Scottish try with 18 minutes left denied Yorkshire what could have been a precious bonus point and condemned them to a seventh defeat in eight matches.

The return of centre Peter Lucock, after a four-game injury lay-off, was the major positive for Carnegie who included new signing Craig Mitchell following his return to the club from Newcastle.

But the Leeds side’s injury woes continued when James Thraves suffered a damaged shoulder after just five minutes.

Four minutes later Tom Bullough did well to halt Joe Luca Smith just short after he had taken advantage of a wicked bounce from a kick by Lucock.

The pressure, however, stayed on and Smith was again involved as Rob Stevenson slid over for the opening try, though Jacob Perry’s conversion attempt bounced away off a post. Carnegie conceded a flurry of early penalties and one of those led to the visitors’ second touchdown.

Matt Williams took advantage of some poor defence in the middle of the field to supply Grayson Hart and his pass sent Miles Mantella between the posts.

Perry’s conversion made it 12-0 after only 13 minutes, but the home side got back into the contest nine minutes before the break.

Scottish were pressing when Chris Elder snapped up a loose pass around halfway.

He turned the ball to Andy Forsyth and Elder sped over from the return pass, but could not add the extras.

Yorkshire were put under more pressure at the start of the second half, but Scottish’s lack of ideas in attack was obvious and they failed to take advantage of some poor work by the hosts in the lineout.

Replacement JB Bruzulier was unfortunate to be pulled back for a penalty to Scottish when he looked set to race clear, but there were no opportunities to either team in a flat third quarter.

Scottish moved further ahead through their third try, 18 minutes from time, Mantella finishing smartly at the corner off Smith’s pass after Mike Bright, Rory Brand and Perry had handled.

Perry could not tag on the extra two and that kept alive Carnegie’s hopes of a bonus point and they finally managed to mount some sustained pressure in the closing stages, without being able to apply the final touch.

Yorkshire Carnegie: Brown, Bullough, Watkins, Lucock, Elder, Forsyth, Fox, Thraves, Buckle, Mitchell, Britton, Myerscough, Ward, Bainbridge, Temm. Replacements: Donnellan, Vaughan, Ilnicki, Frost, Currie, Bruzulier, Davey.

London Scottish: Smith, Mantella, Williams, Veratu, Stevenson, Perry, Hart, Brodley, Saunders, Palframan, Hodge, Uanivi, Tyas, Wynne, Bright. Replacements: Harding, Dawe, Waldren, Douglas, Brand, Davidson, Duncan.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (RFU).

Attendance: 1,720.