Leeds Carnegie 3 - 38 Harlequins
Leeds Carnegie's hopes of premiership survival took another huge blow today, after they suffered a crushing home defeat to top 6 contenders Harlequins. With a surprise last minute addition of captain Marco Wentzl, Leeds hoped to at least secure the losing bonus point that would put them above relegation rivals Newcastle Falcons. A poor performance from the home side meant that releagation seems an even more likely event for the Yorkshire squad.
Leeds got off to a shaky start, obviously nervous when kicking the ball from hand to turn over possession at almost every attacking opportunity. However, the defence held unbelievably strong when Quins were camped on the Leeds line for well over ten minutes before a fantastic tackle from Scott Mathie forced a knock on from former Leeds man Danny Care.
The England scrum-half soon rectified his mistake and crossed the line after 18 minutes with a fantastic chip-kick to beat Leeds centre Lachlan MacKay. Nick Evans added the conversion to pt Harlequins 7 points into the lead.
Harlequins doubled their advantage in the form of Hooker Joe Gray, after some excellent handling skills from the entire pack who seemed sure to crush the Leeds defence. Some very strong attacking opportunities were created by Leeds, only to be knocked on at the last minute or winning penalties close to the Quins line. Adrian Jarvis missed two attempts at goal before the stroke of half time, with the score Leeds 0 “ 14 Harlequins when the whistle blew.
The second half started exactly as Quins would have wanted, with a well worked try from centre Jordan Turner-Hall just three minutes in. Evans added the two points to put the visitors 21 points ahead.
Leeds showed real attacking potential as the second half wore on, and some fantastic breaks from American international prop Mike Macdonald and Michael Stephenson, but Leeds could just not find the form to capitalise on the opportunities they were creating. Eventually though they were rewarded with a Christian Lewis-Pratt penalty which gave the home side their first points on the board. However, the curse of the Leeds penalties struck again as Lewis-Pratt hit the post on his second attempt at goal.
Danny Care sought to rub Leeds' noses in it even more by scoring a drop goal against his former club on 58 minutes, followed swiftly by a try from England Number 8 Nick Easter.
A last gasp attempt on the Quins try line was lost when Leeds full-back Christian Lewis-Pratt knocked the ball on as the gap to the line opened up for him. Following the scrum, an interception from his opposite number Mike Brown resulted in yet another try for the Harlequins. Replacement Rory Clegg added the touchline conversion, bringing the final score to Leeds Carnegie 3 “ 38 Harlequins.
For the first time this season, Leeds Carnegie are relying on the results from other teams to make Premiership survival possible. If Newcastle beat Bath next weekend, or even secure a losing bonus point, Leeds are as good as condemned to the championship. It's all or nothing now for Leeds Carnegie when they play Northampton in two weeks time.
