Yorkshire Carnegie 35 Coventry 10: Four-star Carnegie continue bonus run

Yorkshire dominated the second half of a predominantly scrappy encounter.

The first half was particularly scrappy, as Yorkshire seemed to have lost the combination of organisation and flair that had seen off Bedford, London Irish and Scottish in the run up to this fixture.

The deadlock was broken on 13 minutes when Carnegie’s second catch-and-drive attempt proved successful. Dan Temm came up with the ball over the line while Jade Te Rure’s conversion effort was just wide of the upright.

After the try, the tide turned as Coventry were more assertive in attack and made Yorkshire defend well in their own half.

The pressure eventually told as the ball found itself in the hands of Coventry winger Max Trimble, who danced past two defenders to score in the corner. Will Maisey missed the conversion attempt from out wide and the scores were even.

Te Rure reinstated the Carnegie lead as he converted a penalty into three points from in front of the posts.

But Coventry ended the half the stronger as Yorkshire’s errors pushed them further back into their own half. The hosts’ defence was strong enough, however, to hold on to their 8-5 advantage at the break.

The visitors went off the boil in the second half and it took Yorkshire Carnegie only seven minutes to score two tries and all but seal the win.

Before the tries were scored, full-back Chris Elder stepped up and converted a penalty from the halfway line.

Elder was on the score sheet again as he gathered a clearance kick inside his own 22, ran over three would-be tacklers and then around the Coventry full-back to cap off an impressive 80-metre score.

The second try of the half came from George Watkins, as the winger received a looping ball and danced around two defenders to score under the posts. Te Rure converted both early tries to take the game out of Coventry’s reach.

Coventry hit back with one of their own as fly-half Maisey exploited a gap in the defence to race over. The half-back missed the conversion.

Yorkshire sealed the win on 55 minutes as Andy Forsyth’s powerful run saw him score under the posts, Te Rure converting.

And it was Elder on the score sheet one last time to take the game away from the visitors with another long-range penalty conversion.

Yorkshire Carnegie: Wolfe-Elder, Watkins, Forsyth, Lucock, Niko, Te Rure, Bruzulier, Mayhew, Buckle, Mitchell, Mayhew, Lemalu, Bainbridge, Kiri Kiri, Temm. Replacements: Donnellan, Hill, Foster, Smith, Wilson, Wolstenholme, Thoroughgood.

Coventry: Halaifonua, Knox, Stevens, Owen, Trimble, Maisey, Kessell, Ellis, Tolmie, Boulton, Voss, Oram, Peters, Ram, Adam. Replacements: Nilsen, Gibbons, Brighouse, Russell, Nutley, White, Bulumakau.