Plymouth Albion 25 Leeds Carnegie 20: Last-gasp Ford rescues bonus

The visitors were their own worst enemy as they blew two clear-cut chances to go into a 21-0 lead inside the first 15 minutes and then self-destructed as Plymouth, who are in dire financial straits and on the brink of going into administration, produced a fine fightback to seal the points.

Leeds had two players sent to the sin-bin during the game with Ryan Burrows paying the price for a series of indiscretions by his team-mates in the first half and scrum-half Craig Hampson needlessly taking the law into his own hands after his side had been awarded a penalty after the break.

Edwards’s side made a bright start through Scott Freer’s try after three minutes but wasted two more chances before the hosts drew level.

Thornley scored a try in each half for Leeds but they were unable to wrestle the initiative from Albion, who scored four tries, and the visitors were left grateful to a last-second long-range penalty from Joe Ford to rescue a losing bonus point.

Plymouth Albion: Love; Bailey, Armitage, Fisilau, T Lewis (Tu’apulotu, 56); Roberts, Rowley (Cushion, 65); Andrew, Evans, Hopkins, Hotson, Lockley (Carpenter, 52), Stephen, Sprangle (Hocking, 75), Stupple. Unused: Morton, Dugard, Freestone.

Leeds Carnegie: Bell; Stephenson (O Denton, 50), Thornley, S Barrow, Lucock; J Ford, Shaw (Hampson, 50); Denman (Lockwood, 67), Freer (Nilsen, 67), Palma-Newport (Mustafa, 60), T Denton (Hemingway, 73), Hohneck, Burrows, Walker (Beck, 50), Rowan.

Referee: P Knowles (RFU).

Knights victim of the weather

DONCASTER Knights came within 15 minutes of playing their game against rivals Nottingham yesterday before it fell victim to the freezing weather.

While it may have been an inconvenience to all concerned to take the final decision at 2.45pm, it seems all involved agreed it was the right choice, with a new date for the fixture at Meadow Lane to be determined.

A statement on the Nottingham website revealed that everything possible had been done to give the fixture the green light but, in the end, they were beaten by the icy conditions.

“A pitch inspection took place between 11am and 12pm with an RFU qualified referee,” read the statement. “The rate of improvement in the pitch over this period was sufficient to suggest that the pitch could be playable come 3pm. This was communicated to Doncaster and agreement reached that we should try and play the game.

“At 2.15pm the pitch was deemed unplayable. Based on the positive temperature within the stadium and the forecast showing that temperatures would remain positive ... a further pitch inspection was arranged for 2.45pm.

“Following this inspection and meeting with the referee and captains the game was postponed.”

Elsewhere in the Championship, leaders Bristol suffered a rare setback when they went down 23-17 at third-placed London Welsh.

A 43-10 win for second-placed Bedford Blues saw them close the gap at the top to seven points, with Welsh one point behind alongside Cornish Pirates, who won 36-30 at bottom club Esher.