Carnegie pack turn tables on their White Rose rivals

A DOMINANT lineout and a good old-fashioned driving maul underpinned a hard-earned victory for Yorkshire Carnegie.

Tries either side of halftime from textbook set-pieces did for Doncaster and allowed Bryan Redpath’s men to bounce back from their recent loss at London Irish.

Shortly before the end of a tightly-contested first half, Mike Mayhew’s lineout throw found its way to flanker Andy Saull, who emerged from a thicket of players to ground the ball.

With 17 minutes remaining, Mayhew collected possession from his own line-out throw to similarly be driven over the line by his team-mates.

On a night when genuine try-scoring opportunities were scarce, those two moments of prodigious forward play were enough to secure the spoils for the hosts.

Redpath said: "I am delighted with the win. We knew the conditions weren't great and I think we needed to stay in the arm wrestle as long as we could and take every opportunity.

“We took the opportunities and we didn't try force a game that wan't there with the conditions and at the end delighted to get the win.”

An evenly-contested opening period saw both teams fashion some promising handling sequences without seriously penetrating each other’s defensive line.

Dec Cusack and Joe Ford swapped penalties before the latter added his second to put Carnegie 6-3 up as the half hour mark approached.

Cusack then booted an equalising penalty moments later only for Ford to strike again with a third goal shortly before the interval.

Yet there remained the nagging suspicion that if Carnegie backed themselves, then tries would follow.

Sure enough, they struck in the 39th minute when Ford kicked a penalty to the right corner and, from Hayhew’s line-out thrown, Saull was driven over the line in style.

Doncaster lacked nothing in spirit and looked dangerous when their backs found some space, but in truth Clive Griffiths’ men struggled to create any meaningful opportunities.

The hosts struck again to effectively seal the win through Mayhew in the 63rd minute.

As the clock ticked down, Ford then booted another penalty to add further gloss to a pleasing night’s work for Redpath and his players.