Leeds Carnegie 16 Nottingham 24: Lethargic Carnegie get early wake-up warning

In the last four seasons, Leeds have won only three matches out of 16 in the first full calendar month of the season.

You have to go back to 2008 and the start of the Andy Key-Neil Back era for the last time the Headingley men actually opened a season with a victory – and that was on August 31.

Not even the pristine surface of Doncaster’s Castle Park – venue for this Greene King IPA Championship double-header – could alter their fortunes, with Leeds succumbing for the second straight season-opener to Nottingham.

To be fair, Leeds more often than not rouse themselves from their September slumber and grow as a unit through the season.

They showed occasional flashes here of offensive ingenuity and the usual defensive resoluteness to suggest improvement will come.

But the lack of discipline and a cutting edge cost them against a side they hope over the long haul to be battling with for a place in the Premiership.

“We wanted to hit the ground running, we did in patches today but it wasn’t enough,” said winger Oli Goss, one of the large percentage of the squad retained from last season’s late dash into the play-offs.

“But we’re a young side and it’s a long season. Our confidence will grow and we’ll build into the season.”

As rookie head coach James Lowes pointed out, a team’s fate is not decided in the opening game.

But he will hope they learn the lessons quickly from what, a late flurry apart, was a relatively abject attacking display.

Goss added: “It’s frustrating because we didn’t execute as well as we have been doing in training.

“Nottingham took their chances and kicked their goals and we gave them too many of them. We want to pride ourselves on discipline and defence and we didn’t do that today.

“Jimmy has come in and we’ve worked on getting our heads up and playing what’s in front of us.

“You cannot fault the effort, we worked really well up front, and we showed what we can do at the end when we got a bit of go-forward.

“At times we looked good, but you cannot keep giving teams field position and points.”

The portents were not good as they fell behind after five minutes when Nottingham lock Dan Montagu barrelled over from inside the 22 after sustained phases.

Leeds enjoyed the better of the possession and they provided three scoring opportunities for summer recruit Glyn Hughes, who scored from the two more difficult penalties, only to miss with the easier attempt.

That briefly gave Leeds the advantage but as Nottingham began to grow into the game, Rory Lynn matched Hughes’s strike rate of two penalties from three as the Greens re-established their superiority on the scoreboard.

Nottingham scored a fine try as half-time approached; switching play smartly from right to left to create a three-on-two opportunity in the corner which Ryan Hough finished after passes from George Catchpole and Andrew Savage.

Another penalty from Hughes, after his burst through the middle and offload to debutant Jonah Holmes had been halted, kept Leeds in touch at the interval.

Leeds’ repeated indiscipline was a source of consternation and their naivete was never more obvious than when Sam Lockwood was sent on after an hour to reinforce the front-row and then sin-binned within 30 seconds for a breakdown offence, the latest in a long line of infringements which incensed referee Greg Macdonald.

Lynn kicked the penalty, adding to one at the start of the second half as Nottingham stretched their advantage.

Then came one of those rare flashes of how deadly Leeds can be when attacking from deep.

After scampering free from the posts, Goss released David Doherty, who tore down the left wing and unselfishly passed back inside for replacement fly-half Alex Lozowski to take the credit.

Lozowski, a full-back by trade, spent six years from age of 10 dreaming of being a professional footballer with Chelsea before the Stamford Bridge club released him.

Lozowksi, son of former England union international Rob, rebuilt his future at Wasps and is studying economics at Leeds University. He showed he is a stock worth keeping an eye on when he converted from the touchline.

Leeds had burst into life and they had a try harshly ruled out when Doherty was penalised for a forward pass. That decision angered Lowes, but the former rugby league player and coach knew his side were second best.

“I expected a tough game and that was what it was,” said Lowes.

“We gave Nottingham one or two chances and they took them. We got ourselves in some good positions but we weren’t clinical enough and executed poorly.”

Leeds Carnegie: Doherty, Holmes, Lucock, Burdon, Goss, Hughes (Lozowski 65), Hampson; Imiolek (Lockwood 60), Graham (Nilsen 60) Tussac, Hannay, Greene, Myerscough, Rowan, Burrows. Unused replacements: Armstrong, Jones, Doyle, Griffin.

Nottingham: Savage, Styles, Catchpole, Munro, Hough, Lynn, Romans (Lee-Everton 76); Ma’afu (Bower 76), Vickers, Holford (Williams 59), Keogh (Wells 76), Montagu, Cooper (Burton 66), Wilson, Shaw. Unused replacements: Taylor, Jarvis.

Referee: G Macdonald (RFU).