Leeds Carnegie 50 Bristol 31: Thrilling display by Leeds has Edwards purring

DICCON Edwards finally got the sort performance he was looking for as a fluent Leeds Carnegie took plenty of the right options to destroy Bristol.

The head coach had bemoaned his side’s decision-making after they somehow scored five tries, but still lost at 32-31 Plymouth last week.

There was little of that hesitancy yesterday, however, when the West Yorkshire club picked up their second win of the Championship season courtesy of some, at times, thrilling free-flowing rugby.

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The final scoreline flattered Bristol given Leeds’s dominance, loosehead Sam Lockwood ruling up front, openside Jacob Rowan giving another towering display and scoring his fifth try in only four games, while scrum-half James Doherty was also at his effervescent best.

Winger David Doherty was a constant threat too in a first half which had Edwards purring.

“It was the best 40 minutes of rugby since I’ve been in charge,” he said, his side having built up a 27-0 advantage.

“From one to 15 they were absolutely outstanding.

“Everything we’d been working on came to fruition and it shows what a good side we can be.

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“Bristol are a top four team and the best in the competition last year.

“They had a few players missing so it was maybe a good time to play them

“But we shouldn’t underestimate how good a performance that was.

“We can’t get too excited, though, and the challenge now is to back that up at Newcastle on Friday night.”

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Joe Ford put Leeds ahead with a third-minute penalty and they quickly showed their intention to stretch Bristol as much as possible with David Doherty twice making incisive breaks from deep.

After the second, Bristol full-back Jon Goodridge was sin-binned for a high tackle on Leeds’s other winger Curtis Wilson as he tried to scramble over in the corner, but the home forwards applied the pressure and some swift hands from Ford and Josh Griffin put full-back Stevie McColl in from close range.

Even when the rain came down, Leeds did not shed any of that early ambition.

After their voracious pack won yet another turnover just 25 metres from their own line, Ford found the impressive McColl with a long raking pass which the full-back strode onto once more.

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He, in turn, found a lovely pass out of the tackle to put David Doherty into space again and he kicked on down the touchline and then showed enough pace to beat former Leeds player Goodridge to the ball and toe-poke over the line where he finished.

McColl’s timely injections into the line caused Bristol no end of problems and, subsequently gave Doherty similar amounts of quality running opportunities.

The next one saw James Doherty cross but he was pulled back for a forward pass.

However, Leeds bullied their bemused opponents in the resulting scrum to earn themselves another penalty. Ford missed but was on target when Wilson added their third try in the 34th minute.

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A deft pass from No 8 Ryan Burrows saw the unsuspecting loosehead Lockwood rumbling into space but the prop showed equal poise to find Wilson who – unsurprisingly given his opponent’s inept display so far – easily evaded Goodridge to run in from 30 metres.

Bristol started the second period in better fashion when winger Mike Tagicakibau worked his way over from a 10-metre scrum and a flurry of penalties saw them exert more pressure which eventually resulted in Leeds captain Rowan being sin-binned for persistent offences at the breakdown.

The visitors immediately capitalised on their numerical advantage when hooker Rhys Lawrence emerged as the try-scorer at the bottom of a rolling maul but Tristan Roberts – who had missed a simple first half penalty – could not improve either score.

Ford’s third penalty did not settle nerves but their fourth try – with Rowan still off the field – certainly did.

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Wilson dived on a loose ball, after good work from the Leeds defence as Bristol tried to get close, before James Doherty brilliantly dummied his way down the shortside for centre Fred Burdon to race in from halfway.

Bristol lock Glen Townson scrambled over from close range in the 63rd minute after referee Matt Carley awarded a series of baffling penalties, Matthew Jones successfully took over kicking duties from Roberts.

But Ford added another two penalties with Bristol replacement Ben Moses yellow-carded and then improved a sensational solo try from captain Rowan.

Their opponents took some of the gloss off with late scores from Jack Gadd and Matt Williams but, undoubtedly, this was a performance of some merit from Leeds.

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Leeds Carnegie: McColl; Wilson, Griffin (Chisholm 74), Burdon, D Doherty; Ford, D Doherty (Hampson 57); Lockwood (Harris 59), Graham, Tussac (Hooper 70), Green (Smith 70), Myerscough (Hemingway 70), Beck, Rowan, Burrows. Unused replacements: Nilsen.Bristol: Goodridge (Moses 49); Tagicakibau, Eves, Gadd, Williams; Roberts (Jones 57), Grindal (Tipuna 49); Traynor, Lawrence, Douglas (Thompson 58), Glynn (Sambucetti 58), Townson, Grieve, Merriman (Mama 57 Channon 73).

Referee: M Carley.

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