Plymouth 17 Yorkshire Carnegie 28: Redpath delighted to get off to a winning start

Dominating for long periods, Carnegie forced Plymouth to play the game on the back foot and the only disappointment was that they allowed their hosts back into the game late on.

Deep in stoppage-time, Plymouth got back within six points but Carnegie turned the home side over inside their 22 and put Jon Clarke over.

Carnegie’s victory was built around an excellent performance from the pack and fly-half Harry Leonard scoring 13 points.

New head coach Bryan Redpath said: “I was delighted with the win and the manner in which the boys stuck at it. I was delighted with the spirit and I thought the forwards were outstanding. Our scrum and our drive was exceptional.

“There are a lot of things to work on but to get back-to-back wins and five points away from home is excellent.

“A lot of the failings in the game were our own actions but, for my first weekend, I’m chuffed to bits.”

Despite playing into a strong breeze, Carnegie came out of the blocks flying and Leonard punished the home side with two kicks from the 22.

Plymouth captain Declan Cusack slotted a penalty but he missed a long-range kick and Carnegie struck with two tries in two minutes.

Flanker Chris Walker finished off two catch-and-drive moves, the second coming after Carnegie old boy Rhys Oakley was binned. Leonard converted the first Walker try for an 18-3 interval lead.

Leonard scored a fine individual try before Plymouth came back with two tries of their own.

Referee Gamage awarded Plymouth a penalty try before replacement winger Mark Kohler went over in the corner for a score that Cusack converted.

Carnegie completed a fine afternoon’s work when Clarke was able to stroll over in the corner for the bonus-point try.

Plymouth Albion: L Rayner (M Kohler 68), J Arnott, B Woods, T Howley-Berridge (M Koteczky 40), J Henry, D Cusack, J Davies (C Setter 64), T Fidler (L Chapman 64), T Stagg (T Cowan-Dickie 52), A Tiedemann (D Pullinger 64), B Beukeboom, N Patrick (A Bone 80), T Jubb, E Grace, R Oakley.

Yorkshire Carnegie: C Georgiou, O Goss, P Lucock (J Clarke 65), J Fitzpatrick, D Doherty (J Graham 69), H Leonard, C Pilgrim (S Egerton 65), C Beech (L Imiolek 64), P Nilsen, J Tideswell (B Hooper 75), M Smith, C Jones (B Harris 39), J Williams, C Walker (J Bainbridge 80), R Burrows.

Referee: D Gamage (RFU).