London Welsh 19 Leeds Carnegie 10: Winning run ends leaving Lowes counting cost of Leeds’s errors

Despite leading at one stage through a James Doherty try, four penalties from former Headingley favourite Gordon Ross and a try from winger Seb Stegmann proved decisive.

Having seen his side lose their first game since November, Carnegie boss James Lowes said: “The effort is second to none and they work really hard for each other.”

“They never looked like they were going to break our defensive line, so I’m pleased with that aspect, but I would like us to have been a little bit more ruthless with the ball. We made some big errors at crucial times in that game, especially when we were ahead.

“We let them into the game with our mistakes and apart from the try, we gifted them their points.”

“It was the same at Headingley where we had a high penalty count against them and we’ve worked hard to adjust that, but there were also some very harsh calls as well.”

With the heavy rain having relented minutes before kick-off, the home side made the better start and having won a penalty at the breakdown, former Leeds fly-half Ross kicked the three points on 30 metres.

Minutes later, Carnegie were penalised at the breakdown for coming in from the side, but Ross’s 45-metre effort from the touchline dropped short.

Excellent work at the scrum from the Leeds forwards earned them their first penalty of the match when London Welsh were penalised for coming up, but Hughes pulled his kick wide.

From there, the visitors began to dominate possession and having worked the ball into a good position from a penalty for not rolling away, Carnegie knocked on five metres from the line.

Lowes’s men continued to put pressure on the Welsh try line, and after Ollie Stedman had come in from the side, Leeds once again found good field position but the Welsh defence held firm.

During the same passage of play, Leeds ensured they would end the first-half with 14 men after Doherty was sent to the sin-bin for a punch after being held down as he tried to get to a ruck with his team-mates metres from the line.

With a man in the sin-bin, the visitors invited pressure onto themselves and they were lucky not to fall further behind when first, a Hughes penalty failed to find touch and then Josh Griffin’s clearance handed the ball straight back to London Welsh.

The home side doubled their lead from a Leeds scrum after they were penalised for standing up and former Scotland international Ross slotted over.

But the Leeds scrum continued to hold up well and having won a penalty on five metres, smart thinking from Doherty to take a quick penalty tap saw him slalom his way over for the first try with the Welsh defence caught napping and Hughes converting.

Having worked hard to gain the lead, Carnegie threw it away minutes later when they were penalised for offside in their own 22 and Ross kicked the three points.

There was then a momentary stoppage when referee Martin Fox was replaced by his assistant Phil Walters because of injury, but despite the change of official, the penalty count against Leeds at the scrum increased and the monster boot of Ross scored his fourth penalty of the afternoon from halfway.

Despite their five-point advantage, Welsh let Leeds back into the game with a kickable penalty on 20 metres and Hughes kicked his first of the afternoon after captain Jacob Rowan had pointed to the posts.

A moment of good fortune then allowed Welsh to extend their lead. A Ross kick towards the Leeds line bounced kindly back into play and Seb Stegmann was quickest to react, holding off a couple of defenders to crash over.

With Leeds desperately going in search of a final score to earn themselves a losing bonus point, Rob Vickerman knocked on and Carnegie left Oxford with nothing.

London Welsh: Awcock, Stegmann, May (Robinson 78), Parker, Scott, Ross, Cook (Frost 72), Hepburn (Vella 56), Morris (Trevett 56), Edwards (Tideswell 56), Lees, Browne, Thorpe (Denbee 69), Kirwan, Stedman (Nimmo 63).

Leeds Carnegie: Holmes, Griffin (D.Doherty 72), Burdon, Clarke, Vickerman, Hughes, J. Doherty (Hampson 51), Harris (Imiolek 63), Nilsen (Graham 68), Hooper (Currie 63), Hannay (C. Walker 56), Myerscough (Casson 48), Beck, Rowan, Burrows.

Referee: M Fox (RFU).