Leeds Carnegie 27 Jersey 33: Erratic Leeds fail to make new friends ‘on the road’

Yet yesterday’s dismal performance in their first stop at York RUFC was more akin to some of the characters from Jack Kerouac’s famous beat-generation novel by the same title.

Wild, erratic and showing little discipline, frustrating Leeds were perfectly cast as the wayward, carefree Dean Moriarty character.

The result was a hugely disappointing loss against a Jersey side that had not won beforehand all season.

Admittedly, the British & Irish Cup is not Leeds’s priority this season – that is obviously the Championship – but this was a game which should have acted as a springboard for them to return to league action at Cornish Pirates on Sunday with gusto and momentum.

Instead, they departed the pleasant Yorkshire One club with more questions than answers.

“We were making errors that if you were playing for York wouldn’t be acceptable and we’re supposed to be a Championship club,” said dismayed coach Diccon Edwards.

“When we’re good, we’re very good but when we’re bad we’re awful.

“The players were desperate to put in a good performance as they realised the importance of this game for the club and themselves in regards moving forward for Pirates.

“But at this stage, we’re too inconsistent and that’s within games, not game to game.

“Unfortunately, for some players, the selection decisions we have to make tomorrow aren’t going to be that difficult.”

Leeds had been 10-3 ahead after dominating the first quarter, on-loan Leeds Rhinos’ winger Jamal Chisholm scampering over for his third try of the season after Jersey full-back Glen Bryce made a hash of Fred Burdon’s slide-rule kick and Matt Smith picked up the pieces.

David Doherty converted and slotted a penalty as Leeds’s aggressive forwards ruled up front.

But then a couple of soft mistakes saw Jersey – who had drawn their opening B&I Cup game against Pontypridd – receive some decent ball and grow in confidence especially in the scrum where their new-found dominance saw them win a series of penalties.

Mike Le Bourgeois successfully kicked twice to peg Leeds back and then added another couple following more infringements to turn his side around 15-10 ahead at the break.

Leeds fly-half Joe Barker was a late call-up after Joe Ford had suffered a hamstring injury in training on Friday but he went on to have one of those torrid games all No 10s dread.

Wild passes into touch, others sailing behind their intended targets and then a knock-on at first receiver with no one near him, summed up an awful afternoon.

The latter had resulted in Le Bourgeois’s fifth penalty success and when another mis-directed pass resulted in more possession conceded at the start of the second half it saw the Jersey fly-half nudge his side further ahead. It also saw Barker hauled off and, admittedly, Leeds did look slightly better when Burdon switched to start pulling the strings.

But they were never able to fully re-establish themselves, going further behind when, after hooker Phil Nilsen was sin-binned, they switched off down the blindside to allow impressive No 8 Guy Thompson a soft try.

They responded when Joe Graham rumbled over after good play from prop Ben Harris at a line-out, Doherty converting, but then replacement back-row Rob Baldwin – just three minutes after coming on – became the second Leeds player sin-binned, Le Bourgeois firing over another kick.

Jersey replacement Nathan Hannay suffered the same fate after he produced a professional foul, Doherty tagging on another three points, but centre Donovan Sanders scored a bonus-point try for the visitors in the 71st minute, Le Bourgeois’s kick putting them out of reach.

Leeds winger Curtis Wilson twisted over at the finish after Jersey had Brendan O’Brien binned, Doherty’s conversion prompting a dramatic finish. But, befitting of what had gone before, more mistakes meant Leeds – who had defeated Jersey 32-19 in a Championship game at Headingley – could not find the finish.

Edwards admitted: “We lost our set-piece platform. We were under the pump in the scrum while our composure and execution from the 25th minute to the 60th just completely went.”

The Leeds coach is optimistic that the influential Ford will be available for next weekend’s return to Championship. And Leeds must hope those newcomers among the 840 crowd yesterday will give them a second chance, because on this showing not many will be making their way to Headingley.

Leeds: Georgiou; Chisholm (Graham 47), Goss, Burdon, Doherty; Barker (Wilson 47), Hampson (Doherty 63); Harris (Lockwood 63), Nilsen (Chisholm 57), Hooper (Tampin 49), Smith, Hemingway (Myerscough 49), Beck, Walker (Baldwin 57), Rowan.

Jersey: Bryce; Copsey, Sanders, Maggs (Levesley 60), Dawson; Le Bourgeois, McCormack (O’Brien 24); McCarthy, Boden, Gethings (Brennan 56), Anderson, Markham, Voss (Hannay 59), Lang (Rodgers 49), Thompson. Unused replacements: Evans, Tellwright.

Referee: C Sampson (SRU).