Yorkshire Carnegie 13 Bristol 26: Carnegie cede early initiative to rivals Bristol

Despite Oli Goss’s early try, two scores from returning Bristol full-back Auguy Slowik proved decisive, leaving Carnegie without even a losing bonus point to show for their efforts.

Mercer, taking charge of his first home game, said: “The boys are pretty disappointed. It wasn’t a great game of rugby and we just couldn’t get any momentum.

“You get some ugly games of rugby, and that was one of the ugliest I’ve seen for a while. We’ve come second today, but we’ve got to come first on Friday against Moseley.

“We spoke as a group about energy levels in the first 10 minutes and they weren’t there and I thought to be fair Bristol weren’t at the races either and it was just a dogfight to the end.

“I don’t wish to dwell too much on the decisions made by the referee, it happens and the referee is only human.

“We lost today and that’s disappointing, the boys understand that and we’ve got work to do.

“We’ll have a look at our training in the week to make sure we come out firing against Moseley.”

The game could have taken on a different complexion had referee Greg MacDonald not judged former England international Chris Jones to have been held up over the line following smart work from Glyn Hughes.

A move that began inside the home side’s 22 with captain Ryan Burrows charging forward, ended with Carnegie having to settle for a scrum on five metres. From that position Bristol were penalised for pulling down and Hughes opened his account with the easiest of kicks from in front of the posts.

But the response from Andy Robinson’s side was almost immediate.

Carnegie were penalised at the breakdown for not releasing and after playing a long advantage, the referee pulled play back and former Ospreys fly-half Morgan kicked his first three points for the visitors.

Having spent much of last season opting not to kick penalties, Bristol took the lead through a second Morgan penalty on 30 metres after Yorkshire were pinged for not releasing.

Mercer’s men regained the lead when Goss stepped off his wing to collect a pass from Hughes and having bumped off a couple of Bristol tackles dived over and Hughes converted.

But the lead changed hands again moments later.

An incredible cross-field kick from Ben Mosses found full-back Slowik all on his own on the left wing, and after brilliantly plucking the ball out of the air he charged over and Morgan kicked the extras.

Both sides continued to show early-season rustiness around the fringes, and from a scrum on their own 22-metre line, Bristol were once again penalised for pulling down and Hughes landed his second three points.

Yorkshire’s early dominance up front appeared to have Bristol rattled and from the restart they were penalised for crossing, but this time former Moseley man Hughes could only pull his attempt wide from 35 metres.

The visitors ended the half when Morgan kicked his third penalty of the afternoon from 40 metres out after Yorkshire were pinged at the scrum.

Bristol came flying out of the traps early in the second half, and after numerous phases in Yorkshire territory, Jack Tovey broke through the defensive line and his offload allowed Slowik to cross for his second try.

Following Morgan’s conversion, there then followed a turgid period of play with scrums from both sides having to be continually reset and neither side able to build any momentum.

With each reset tempers continued to be fray, the visitors seemingly happy to let scuffles between the forwards continue as the clock ran down.

Former Leeds scrum-half Craig Hampson marked his return to Headingley with a two- minute cameo in which he received a mixed reaction from the crowd but in truth he had little opportunity to make any sort of impact.

From there, Yorkshire struggled to mount any serious attacking threat and a late Morgan penalty settled the affair in the final minute.

Yorkshire Carnegie: McIlwaine, Goss, Clarke, L. Jones (Leonard 40), Hughes, Pilgrim, Harris (Imiolek 60), Graham (Nilsen 47), Tideswell (Hooper 55), Ramshaw (Hannay 52), Edwards (Barnard 73), C. Jones, Walker, Burrows (c).

Bristol: Slowik, Short, Tovey (Maule 55), Mosses, Lemi, Morgan, Peel (c) (Hampson 78), O’Connell (Hall 62), Crumpton (Johnston 46), Perenise, Evans, Sorenson (Glynn 69), Mama, Lam, Eadie.

Referee: G MacDonald (RFU).