Yorkshire Carnegie
It's Grim in Grimsville!
Best of a bad bunch
By Hack Toff
November 29 2010
When the Chief Executive of a rugby club goes to its supporters at the end of a game to apologise for the teams display, then you can begin to appreciate exactly how bad Carnegie played at The Stoop yesterday. More on that later.Leeds fans had swarmed into the Cabbage Patch on arrival at Twickenham to such an extent that we took over two tables in the back room. The numbers swelled even more on arrival at the ground, and by the time Marco led his troops out, there must have been nearly as many Leeds fans as players.
The visitors started brightly. Quins attempted a short kick off, but Fa’afili and Blackett collected the ball and took play into the 22. leading to an early regulation penalty which CT slotted between the uprights. Leeds collected the restart and moved forward, and Oakley threw out a marvellous pass on the halfway line only to see it snapped up by a Quins forward who romped 50 yards, untouched, to cross by the posts. Evans converted, and the hosts tasted blood.
However Leeds defended and eventually broke clear to win a line out near halfway, and from this Mathie sent a high kick into the opposing 22.
Whether it was a good kick or not is irrelevant, because nobody gave chase, and from 80 yards the ball went through 4 pairs of hands, through some woeful tackling and ended up behind the Leeds posts. Evans again added the extras, and then converted a penalty, and with only 20 minutes on the clock, heads were dropping.
CT slotted over another penalty on 28 minutes, but before the break, another Evans penalty was followed by another converted try, and Leeds went into the break trailing by 27 points to 6.
Leeds began the second half on the attack, but inevitably dropped the ball, and 6 minutes in, Leeds again spilled the ball 30 yards from their line, Quins whipped it across the line, and Tom Guest was in for the bonus point try.
4 minutes later, Leeds troubled the scorers when Fa’afili and Stephenson linked down the right flank before drawing the last defender and giving Lee Blackett an easy run to the line. 34 – 11 it was, was this the start of the fightback?
Denton had a terrific run down the middle brushing defenders aside, but he lacked support, and Leeds actually enjoyed a spell on the attack. However 8 minutes from time, another woeful clearance kick ended up in the arms of a Quin on the halfway line, and he waltzed through the non existent defence before passing to a supporting player who scored at the side of the posts. Evans duly added the extras, and the score was becoming embarrassing.
Leeds did respond, Myall made a thundering run down the wing, drew the last defender and once again Lee Blackett touched down by the corner flag. CT added the extras, but it was too little too late.
Alex Black came on to replace Marco and from the kick off, 5 players watched the ball bounce about long enough for the hosts to regain possession. Leeds then hit further trouble when Myall had to go off injured, leaving Leeds with 14 men, and the hosts took full advantage to score two further tries to complete the scoring.
In fairness the score was not a true reflection of the game, for if the hosts had taken even half of the many chances they created, the final score could have exceeded 70 points. What made things worse, from a Leeds viewpoint, was that Quins were not exceptional, just quicker to react to everything that happened, and their two half backs played with an authority that Leeds, sadly, lack. 5 of the 7 tries came directly from Leeds giving the ball away; the other two were down to atrocious defending.
Man of the Match. As far as I’m concerned this was a one horse race. Lee Blackett was again outstanding. His two tries were every wingers dream, a clear run to the line, but he was the one player who never flinched a tackle, chased kicks, supported his forwards when others were missing, and who even played the last few minutes at blind side flanker when Leeds were down to 14 men. Lee has a lot of critics, but if everybody who pulled on a Leeds shirt gave what he does, we would not be bottom of the league. Well played Lee.
And, so to Mr Hetherington. As the players left the field, GH came round to us behind the posts, and apologised for us having to put up with ‘that’, as he put it, having travelled so far. He was quite honest; admitting this kind of performance is not acceptable. Unfortunately he also told us there will be no more signings; we have spent all we have already. He also confirmed there was no substance in the paper talk regarding Neil Back. I know GH is not everybody’s cup of tea, but credit where it is due. He did not have to come across to us, but he did, and to me anyway, it showed he does appreciate the effort the supporters make, not only yesterday, but week in, week out.
In the players lounge after the match, most of the players also came across to us and apologised for the display. I think it would be a nice gesture from the club, if they were to refund our admission price, after all it wouldn’t cost them much. In fairness a couple of the team yesterday should have paid to get in, they spent most of the afternoon watching what was going on and doing very little. A sad indictment indeed for a Premiership rugby club.
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29/11/2010 18:09
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Dressing room splits and poor team spirit anyone?
We are genrally all real rugby fans at Quins, and much as we relish the win and the points, don't like to see any team under the cosh, it isn't so long ago we were relegated. But on yesterday's form I would not be feeling confident as a Leeds fan. Certainly Newcastle's players seemed far more up for it.
Nunquam Dormio
Hax - strange you didn't mention that emerging new kicking talent we saw limbering (or lumbering
) up after the game...I believe there is photographic evidence.......!!Miserati - and Proud to be!
It needs a certain amount of humour to watch Leeds at the moment, illustrated by the chorous of "easy, easy, easy!" after Lee Blackett's second try. Much to the amusement of the locals, I hasten to add.
Zandra YaPoI
YaPoI - Yorkshire and Proud of It
'proficiscor in una'
Quote:Zandra LaPoI
Nice one! I want that new kicker to start on sun, if his groin has recovered! Miserable day all round on sun, train chaos was the cherry on the cake! However I touched Shrek so that was me happy! See you all on Sunday, we must all be idiots! :-)
More to the point, will Shrek's groin have recovered Zan??
Quote:haxbytykeQuote:Zandra LaPoI
Nice one! I want that new kicker to start on sun, if his groin has recovered! Miserable day all round on sun, train chaos was the cherry on the cake! However I touched Shrek so that was me happy! See you all on Sunday, we must all be idiots! :-)
More to the point, will Shrek's groin have recovered Zan??
Zandra YaPoI
YaPoI - Yorkshire and Proud of It
'proficiscor in una'
