Leeds Carnegie 24 London Welsh 31: Learning Leeds fall short as Welsh expose frailties

In 10 minutes either side of half-time Carnegie scored three tries to turn a nine-point deficit into a 12-point lead before a second Nick Scott try and four Alex Davies penalties secured the win for the visitors.

Lowes said: “We are disappointed. I thought it was a good game between two good sides.

“It was always going to be a challenge today but in the first half we didn’t give ourselves a chance with the ball.

“There were a couple of silly errors, the lineout wasn’t the best we’ve had, but I thought we defended well right up until they scored their two tries.

“The last couple of minutes of the first half were nice and lively, and I want the boys to express themselves and I thought they did that. At the start of the second half we just grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and took control.

“We then lost our way a little bit and we made some errors in crucial areas of the field.

“For the last 15 minutes London Welsh just controlled the pace and tempo of the game and put themselves in a position to take the points from the penalties.

“There’s a lot for us to learn and we’ve got to learn these lessons very quickly.”

The hosts, who had brought Oli Goss and Alex Lozowski into the side that had beaten Moseley 27-18 at Billesley Common last Saturday, were ahead inside two minutes.

London Welsh were penalised at the breakdown and Lozowski’s effort from 40 metres out on the near touchline sailed through the uprights.

Carnegie then had the wayward boot of former Tyke Gordon Ross to thank for preserving their slender lead, having been pinged at the scrum, the veteran fly-half skewed his effort wide.

The former Scotland international’s afternoon did not get any better with his second effort, with Leeds penalised for not staying on their feet, the resulting 35-metre penalty again sailing wide.

After a period of sustained pressure in the home side’s 22, Welsh worked the ball out wide for prop Nathan Trevett to crash over in the corner and Davies, who had taken over the kicking duties from Ross, missed the conversion.

Justin Burnell’s men continued to dominate territory and possession and they were rewarded with their second try with Scott crossing over after a good offload from Daniel Browne and Davies added the two points.

But Leeds reduced the arrears on the stroke of half-time, following a 50-metre break by Ryan Burrows, the No 8 was held up inches from the line before Fred Burdon dived over and Lozowski converted.

Clearly buoyed by their late score on the verge of half-time, Lowes’s side began the second period in the same attacking vein.

A slaloming run from scrum-half Craig Hampson saw Calum Green rumble over for the second try and former Chelsea Football Club academy graduate Lozowski kicked the two points.

With the visitors on the back foot, a grubber kick from Hampson almost brought about the second try in as many minutes but the ball rolled into touch before Oli Goss could bring it under control. But the hosts did not have to wait much longer to extend their lead further.

From a five-metre scrum, Welsh were pushed backwards and deliberately came up and referee Lee awarded a penalty try.

Having managed to regroup after an exhilarating start to the second half for Carnegie, Davies scored Welsh’s first penalty of the afternoon to cut the lead to just nine points.

That deficit then became just two when a Ross pass found Scott out wide and he burst through a gap in the Leeds defence to score his second try of the afternoon.

The momentum now was firmly with Welsh and Leeds gave away a needless penalty for pulling down at the lineout, Davies coolly converting the penalty to hand his side the lead.

With the clock ticking down and scoring opportunities few and far between, Lowes’s side were penalised at the scrum which Davies kicked from 25 metres out to give Tom May’s men some breathing space.

The 27-year-old then landed another penalty from 48 metres out to complete the win, meaning Leeds had to settle for a losing bonus point.

Leeds Carnegie: McColl, Goss (Griffin 71), Lucock, Burdon, Doherty, Lozowski, Hampson, Harris (Imiolek 75), Nilsen (Graham 67), Tussac (Beech 75), Smith (Hannay 78), Green, Rowan, Walker (Doyle 78), Rowan.

London Welsh: Jewell, Stegmann (Awcock 71), May , Parker (Lewis 59), Scott, Ross, Davies, Trevett (Hepburn 52), Titterrell (Morris 77), Edwards (Tideswell 52), Lees, Corker (West 46), Browne, Kirwan, Pienaar (Stedman 56).

Referee: S Lee (RFU).