Four more for prop Rob, the Carnegie try master
Y Carnegie .............. 52pts Bedford ................ 28pts
CARNEGIE prop Rob O’Donnell, the top try scorer in the Championship with six, delivered another match winning performance with a remarkable four tries as his side won comfortably at Sandhill Lane, home of Selby RUFC.
O’Donnell capitalised on a powerful display by the Carnegie pack which set up tries for him on 22, 32, 40 and 48 minutes.
Bedford, beaten by eight tries to three, strug- gled to compete for possession against opponents who recovered strongly from their defeat by Ealing Trailfinders a week ago.
While promotion from the Championship is the priority of Yorkshire Carnegie, they enjoy the B& I Cup and are keen to reach the final again, like last season, and with their decent pack that is an attainable ambition.
While O’Donnell’s contribution was eyecatching, he was by no means alone in causing Bedford problems. Winger Taylor Prell took his opportunity sharply early in the second half and then shot through for a second try on 66 minutes.
The other Carnegie tries, by replacement centre Max Wright and outside centre Andy Forsyth, were also well constructed and with flyhalf Warren Seals striking six accurate conversions, the Headingley club were able to play with authority and conviction after the interval.
“I’ve never scored four tries before. I’ve scored a few this season and to be fair eight of my ten tries have come from rolling mauls,” said O’Donnell.
“I’m in the right place at the right time, so I benefit from the efforts of others.
“I thought this was a good team performance against Bedford. We were a bit ring rusty last week, but the boys played well here and we looked sharp.
“The Ealing result showed we had things to work on and we’ve done that and now we can approach the big Championship games against Jersey and London Irish confidently.”
Bedford, who arrived late because their coach broke down on the A1, didn’t let that delay upset their approach and to begin with they were the more effective team and
led 16-12 after 35 minutes.
A try by replacement hooker George Edgson showed the capability of their forwards and with fly half Myles Dorrian putting over a conversion and three penalties, the Blues were highly competitive.
However, while they scored two more tries in the second half through replacement scrum-half Tom James and No.8 Jason Hill as Carnegie’s pack briefly lost control, Bedford were frequently forced to concentrate on defence and were unable to break the Yorkshire side’s grip.
After an uncertain
TEAMS
CARNEGIE: McColl 8, Goss 7, Forsyth 7, Casson 6 (Wright 28, 6), Prell 8, Seals 8 (Allan 71, 6), Green 8,Imiolek 7 (Beech 54, 7), M Mayhew 7 (Graham 65, 7), O’Donnell 9 (Parker 54, 7), Whetton 7 (Smith 67, 7), Sanderson 7, Burrows 7, R Mayhew 7 (Beck 67, 7)
BEDFORD: Gallagher 6, Tapley 7, Farrell 6, Griffiths 6, Perkins 7, Dorrian 7 (Sharp 57, 6), Whiteley 6 (T James 57, 7), Parilli-Ocampo 6 (Culverhouse 48, 6), S.James 5 (Edgson 14, 7), Judge 6 (Spelman 48, 6), Howard 7 (Hodge 54, 6), Carrick-Smith 6, Taylor 6, Blanchett 6 (Thompson Stringer 40, 6), Hill 6 REFEREE: Fergus Kirby ATTENDANCE: 632 Star man Rob O’ Donnell-Carnegie start, Carnegie gradually showed why they are unbeaten in the league and by scoring five tries in the second half indicated their all-round strength at this level.
“To be fair, Carnegie deserved to win, but funnily enough we are not too disappointed because there was a lot of endeavour,” said Bedford’s forwards coach Martin Hines.
“We worked hard but we were inaccurate at times.
“We lost line outs in good positions but when we got our line out drive going we scored a couple of tries.”