Yorkshire Carnegie 26 Coventry 66: Yorkshire Carnegie earn bonus point but are no match for ruthless Coventry

Four tries from James Stokes stole the show at Emerald Headingley as Yorkshire Carnegie fell to a 66-26 defeat against Coventry.
Callum Bustin who scored two tries for Yorkshire CarnegieCallum Bustin who scored two tries for Yorkshire Carnegie
Callum Bustin who scored two tries for Yorkshire Carnegie

Four tries from James Stokes stole the show at Emerald Headingley as Yorkshire Carnegie fell to a 66-26 defeat against Coventry.

Coventry hooker Scott Tolmie opened the game with a quickfire brace of tries.

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Inside of eight minutes, Tolmie peeled off the back of a rolling maul to crash over untouched.

He would be over again minutes later as a Yorkshire lineout went straight over the heads of the players and into the arms of Tolmie, who crashed over.

Senitiki Nayalo then added his name to the scoresheet after a break by James Stokes put Coventry in a dangerous position.

A few phases later, Yorkshire were found short on numbers and Nayalo scored from short distance.

Carnegie stepped up and applied pressure of their own.

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Callum Bustin took the ball from a Yorkshire scrum and galloped his way over, but it proved brief respite as Coventry saw out the remainder of the half with three more tries before the break.

First, Will Maisey benefitted from a swift movement left to break through the Yorkshire line and score before Nayalo took advantage of another dominant maul to score his second .

Then Stokes capped off the half with a great break away effort down the middle to score in the corner and make it 38-7 at half-time.

Yorkshire scored inside five minutes of the restart. From the scrum feed, Bustin stumbled through the defensive line and fed the offload for James Seabrook, who returned the pass for the number eight to score.

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But again Coventry responded in kind, Stokes scoring his second of the game after a quick move to the right side allowed Knox to make the initial break before passing inside for the full-back.

Against the run of play Yorkshire edged closer to a bonus point thanks to Jamie Elliot.

Ryan Shaw benefitted from a dropped ball by David Halaifonua to set Alex Woolford free, with the substitute feeding the ball to the onrushing Elliot, who had the easiest of finishes.

Stokes added gloss for the visitors as he scored his third and fourth tries of the match before Knox scampered through.

The home side would have the last say though.

A great rolling maul from Carnegie overpowered Coventry and reaching the line, Jake Brady touched the ball down to get Yorkshire the bonus point.

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