Leeds Carnegie 24 Rotherham Titans 7: Leeds get hands on silverware amid hope for future

Diccon Edwards’s side claimed the first piece of silverware of the Welshman’s reign by amassing the most points from their quartet of games against county rivals Doncaster and Rotherham.

The bigger picture is that with victories in their three remaining regular-season fixtures, Leeds would climb above Bristol and into the top four and the end-of-season play-offs.

The Premiership may be a distant dream given the dominance of Newcastle this season, but with London Welsh poised to drop back down from the top flight, next season’s Championship will be much more wide open.

A first trophy, no matter how modest, and a finish in the top four this term would set them up handsomely for next season.

On top of that, nearly all of the matchday 22 that defeated a Rotherham side showing only flourishes of urgency have signed up for the 2013-14 campaign, meaning things are looking positive for Carnegie.

Two concerns remain; backsides on seats and the state of the Headingley pitch. Only 2,000 people saw the two highest-ranked Yorkshire teams do battle – a worryingly low number.

And on the club’s return to their traditional home soil after a three-month absence, the pitch’s reaction to the contesting of scrums was alarming.

Leeds’s January 6 game with Plymouth had to be replayed due to the problems with the pitch cutting up under the scrum.

The club had not completed a ratified 80 minutes at Headingley since October 5, when, coincidentally, they began their quest for the Yorkshire Regiment Trophy with a 42-7 victory over Doncaster. Since Leeds Rugby’s £1million relaying of the Headingley turf, Carnegie have played around the county.

Ominously, the pitch was cutting up from the first scrum, with huge chunks of turf being kicked away from the set-piece by bemused forwards.

However, the pitch appeared more resilient as the game wore on, and while Titans chief Alex Codling was understandably concerned for the welfare of his front eight with seemingly little support underfoot, Edwards thought the pitch was not a factor.

He said: “We trained here before the Moseley game (the previous week) and knew how it would handle the eight versus eight contest, and whilst we knew it would cut up to a certain extent, it wasn’t going to impact on the game and it wasn’t going to limit what either side could do.

“The groundstaff have done a fantastic job, and great credit to the board for the money put forward to get us back playing here.

“It’s going to be an amazing surface when it’s finally bedded in.”

While alarmed at the state of the pitch, Codling did not use it as an excuse. He knew his side were well beaten, and it could have been by more than two tries had Leeds been more clinical.

Man of the match Chris Walker got the first after Calum Green waltzed far too easily through a static defence.

Rory Clegg drilled over the touchline conversion and kicked four penalties as Leeds built a 19-0 lead after half-time, by which time they should have had far more reward for their territorial dominance and quick play through the backs.

Eamonn Sheridan and Rotherham’s player-coach and former Tykes player Lee Blackett got Rotherham going, and despite the lethargy, there were occasional flickers of life from the visitors.

Charlie Mulchrone’s 40-metre burst into the 22 resulted in Leeds centre Josh Griffin being sin-binned for kicking the ball away.

Mulchrone was adjudged not to have grounded the ball after darting over from the back of the scrum, but on the next set he inexplicably threw the ball straight to a Leeds shirt and the hosts survived.

Toby Freeman was sin-binned for Rotherham, but with 14 men it was the Titans who looked most dangerous, James McKinney and Sheridan combining to set Garry Law scampering over, the Scottish fly-half then converting his own score from the touchline.

After Ryan Burrows burst from his own half, Leeds contrived to mess up another chance, with four players failing to engineer a score against one Titans defender – McKinney. Stevie McColl scored an overdue second try at the end.

“It’s great to maintain that winning momentum, but it’s tinged with a fair amount of frustration,” concluded Edwards.

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Leeds Carnegie: McColl, Goss, Griffin, Lucock, Clark, Clegg, Hampson (J Doherty 71); Harris (Graham 65), Freer (Imiolek 65), Currie (Tussac 65), Green, Smith, Baldwin (Barrow 65), Walker, Rowan (Burrows 55). Unused replacement: Ford.

Rotherham Titans: Law (Williams 67), Doneghan, Gill, Blackett (Nonu 52), Sheridan, McKinney, Mulchrone; Gadd (Kilbane 66), Stagg (Thomson 69), Denman (Davies 59), Thomas, Sanderson (Rieder 43), Makaafi, Kirwan (Pearce 65), Freeman. Unused replacement: Davies.

Referee: D Gamage (RFU).