It was a case of new beginnings at Headingley on Friday night as Leeds Carnegie took on Jersey for the first time in the clubs’ history.
After a narrow 34-29 opening day defeat at Nottingham last Friday, Carnegie’s 2012/13 home Championship campaign would begin against a side unaccustomed to such heights in Rugby Union. Jersey’s rise up the lower leagues over the past decade has been remarkable and they began their pinnacle season with a 20-6 defeat at home to one of the division’s best teams, Cornish Pirates.
The Carnegie Times – the equivalent of a matchday programme – which is distributed freely around the stadium, spoke of the club’s ambition to achieve things this season and their recruitment process, which has seen 14 players sign over the Summer, has led to the division’s youngest-assembled squad with an average age of 22.5 years; well below the average.
The youthful setup, clad in green, black and white hoops, entered the sparsely-filled arena to the sound of a passionate set of home supporters out of the 2066 spectators present and were rewarded with the opening try of the game as Rugby League convert, Josh Griffin, wriggled through the middle of Jersey’s defence to land 5 points for Leeds. Joe Ford converted to put Carnegie 7-0 up after six minutes. Jersey were not letting themselves be bullied and earned a penalty just outside the 40-metre line which was kicked through the posts by Ross Broadbent to make the score 7-3.
On 13 minutes, a hush fell over the stadium as Ford prepared to kick a penalty from around 30 metres out and delighted the home support with his accuracy, reclaiming Leeds’ 7-point advantage. Leeds were comfortably the better side in the opening quarter but were dealt a bitter blow in the 22nd minute when Guy Thompson made inroads into the home defence with a blistering 30-yard run, and when halted, the ball was sprayed over to Mike Le Bourgeois on the left wing to go down for Jersey’s first try of the encounter.
Broadbent converted and Jersey had a barely-deserved points parity of 10 apiece after weathering Leeds’ early storm. Ford had the opportunity to restore Carnegie’s advantage with a penalty 40 yards out but hit the left-hand post on the half-hour mark. Tensions were building in the stands as Jersey attempted to spoil the Leeds fans’ night and things got worse for Carnegie as the travelling Islanders went 13-10 into the lead courtesy of Broadfoot’s well-taken penalty seven minutes before half-time.
Leeds created a scrum from a line-out a few yards from Jersey’s try-line and elected to kick a penalty they earned after the ball went loose from the pack with Ford grabbing another 3 points to level the scores in the 37th minute. Disaster nearly struck on the stroke of half-time after Ford’s knock-on clanger handed Jersey a penalty by the left-hand touchline which Broadfoot squandered, with a surprise half-time lead in the offing for Ben Harvey’s virtually-unknown outfit.
A half-time score of 13-13 was perhaps right for a half which was dominated by Leeds right up until Le Bourgeois’ try for Jersey. The effort gave the Islanders sufficient confidence to push Carnegie back for the remainder of the half and could have easily taken a significant lead into the break. Leeds coach, Diccon Edwards, responded at half-time by sending on Leeds Rhinos Academy starlet Jamel Chisholm onto the left-wing but the first big moment of the second-half came on the right-hand side as Leeds bashed into Jersey’s back-line before scraping over the line with captain, Jacob Rowan’s gritty try. Ford converted and Leeds were 20-13 to the good five minutes into the restart.
Jersey aimed to reply immediately but were thwarted by an impressive rearguard action from the right side of Leeds’ defence. Jersey kept knocking on the door and reduced the arrears on 55 minutes through Le Bourgeois’ penalty to make it 20-16 in Leeds’ favour. Le Bourgeois’ handled effort in the first-half swung the game in the away side’s favour and after such a strong spell in Leeds’ half, would the initiative tilt towards the new boys again?
Only a few minutes later, Le Bourgeois went for three points again from a penalty on the halfway-line but ended up skewing the shot wide but Leeds’ discomfort showed no signs of abating as Jersey looked to assert themselves on the Championship scene. The home crowd let out a relieved roar in the 65th minute when a delicately-chipped kick from Ford found the onrushing Chisholm who easily outpaced the Jersey defence to touch down in the left corner. The man who made the try then missed the conversion but, with a quarter of an hour remaining, only a persistent Jersey fightback could foil Leeds’ 25-16 cushion.
Le Bourgeois scored a penalty a few minutes later and, once again, nerves were frayed around Headingley as the visitors were within one converted try of taking the lead. In a frantic few minutes of scoring, Rowan then forced himself over for a seemingly match-winning try and suddenly the home fans could relax after witnessing a valiant effort from the Championship’s island debutants. Ford kicked the conversion to bring the score to 32-19 with seven minutes remaining.
Rowan’s second try had effectively killed off the game and Jersey resolved to attack for the extra points but the score stayed at 32-19 and ensured Carnegie earned their first win of the season. It wasn’t entirely plain sailing, thanks to Jersey’s stirring performance, but it could just be the platform Leeds need to set their young squad careering up the table and potentially drive the Loiners back into the Premiership.