Cornish Pirates 52 Leeds Carnegie 10: Indiscipline and injuries rise as Leeds are routed

The Pirates had gone into the match under pressure to perform after some inconsistent early season displays had heaped pressure on the camp. But 80 minutes and seven tries later the smiles all belonged to the Cornish side as Leeds head coach Diccon Edwards was left reeling.

Edwards said: “That’s not a performance I will relish looking at again as we analyse where we need to go. But we have to stand up, be accountable and improve on that.

“The highs of the win over Bristol to the defeat here is a pretty painful contrast right now but we need to be honest about levels of performance and levels of attitude which I don’t think reflected here where we have been as a team. We can’t hide from the fact that there were levels of performance here that weren’t good enough.”

And on an afternoon when Leeds’s scrum in particular came a distinct second best to their opponents, Edwards added: “We are too accepting of weathering other people’s storms and need to create our own storms once in a while. We need to be a lot more physical and ruthless in the contact area and deal with other teams trying to disrupt us.”

Leeds fell behind straight from the kick-off as lock Dom Barrow struggled under the high ball and as the Pirates regained possession at the breakdown, referee Luke Pearce penalised the Yorkshire side.

Rob Cook’s penalty was quickly cancelled out by a Joe Ford effort as the Pirates infringed on their own 22 but two tries from the home side before the end of the first quarter set the tone for the contest.

Skipper Gavin Cattle twice profited from a well-drilled driving maul to go over from close range and Leeds were on the back foot.

But Edwards’s side responded positively and took the game back to the Pirates as quick ball from the breakdown allowed them to build pressure on the Pirates defence.

Barrow and Iain Thornley then missed gilt-edged chances to score as Ford’s grubber unlocked the home defence only for the bounce of the ball to defeat them both. Minutes later the Pirates regained their momentum with a Cook penalty to make it 18-3 as Leeds lost wing Curtis Wilson to injury.

Quick thinking from Pirates flanker Phil Burgess with a tap penalty caught Leeds cold two minutes before the break as he fed Drew Locke, and the Pirates centre raced clear from halfway for a third try again converted by Cook.

Barrow was the next casualty for Leeds as he departed with a leg injury and two minutes into the second half Pirates’s fly-half Ceiron Thomas danced through a static defence to touch down against his former club.

Cook added a third penalty for the Cornish club before Jacob Rowan’s strong midfield burst set up the perfect platform for a Leeds try. With a clear overlap on the left flank there was no reason for Joe Barker and Ollie Richards to hesitate but they did and a scrambling Pirates defence recovered to snuff out the threat.

Once again Leeds were punished for their mistake as they conceded a fifth try as Burgess grounded the ball after yet another punishing driving maul.

Thornley did finally cross the home line for a consolation score after 55 minutes with Tommy Bell converting after the Pirates had lost a lineout in their own half, but it was to be the last time Leeds threatened as an attacking force.

As the Pirates turned the screw again dominating territory and possession the penalty count grew against Leeds finally prompting the referee to dispatch Jonathan Pendlebury to the sin-bin.

In his absence Leeds conceded a further two tries as again they failed to counter the imposing threat of a rumbling Pirates pack and home No 8 punished them with a quick-fire brace of scores.

By the final whistle Leeds were a spent force and with a home Yorkshire derby against Doncaster Knights next Saturday Edwards knows that there have to be some major improvements especially to his side’s discipline this week.

“Up until today we have only conceded a maximum of 10 penalties in a match and I think we were up to 18 or 19 by the end of this one,” said Edwards.

“We have to look at that because if you are on the back foot then the team going forward is likely to get the advantage.”

Cornish Pirates: Cook, Davies, Pointer, Locke, D.Doherty, Thomas (Cooper 56), Cattle (capt) (Doherty 78), Rimmer (Brits 60), Ward (Elloway 56), Paver (Storer 72), Nimmo (Myerscough 63), McGlone, Morgan, Burgess (Walker-Blair 63), Cowan.

Leeds Carnegie: Blackett, Richards, Thornley, Barker (Nilsen 72), Wilson (Bell 35), Ford (S.Barrow 42), Hampson (Shaw 42), Denman (Swainston 57), Titterell (capt), Swainston (Young 42), Pendlebury, D.Barrow (Beck 40), Hemingway (Walker 53), Rowan, Burrows.

Referee: L Pearce (RFU).