Frustrated Blues left to rue dubious no-try ruling

YORKSHIRE Carnegie made heavy weather of beating struggling Bedford on another frustrating night for the Headingley faithful.

Carnegie, who were without 12 players through injury and illness, scored two tries in each half to bag the bonus point win but, as has often been the case, the performance was way off Premiership standard.

Carnegie boss Bryan Redpath said: “At 21-8, we had an opportunity to take control of the game and we didn’t. We have to manage the game and the conditions better.”

Bizarrely for the second time against Carnegie this campaign, Blues’ transport problems caused a 15minute delay to kick-off. A mechanical fault with their team coach meant the visiting players had to arrive at the ground by taxi.

Parking the bus was never going to be an issue on the pitch, as the Blues are renowned for their attack-minded approach.

However, it wasn’t until the half-hour mark that they got to reveal that side of their game. By that stage, they trailed 14-3 after Carnegie skipper Alex Davies finished off a scything run from Andy Forsyth and Michael Cusack dotted down at the back of a powerful rolling maul.

Jake Sharp, who’d taken one of his two penalty chances, got Blues back in the game on 33 minutes when his neat grubber kick behind the defence was touched down in the corner in spectacular fashion by winger Dean Adamson.

Rather than press home their advantage, after No.8 Ollie Stedman’s try extended their lead to 21-8, Carnegie lost the plot, and almost the game.

A stolen lineout, after they declined to take a straightforward kick at goal, triggered a hapless 20minute spell for the home side as the Blues pressed and pressed and crossed the try-line three times.

Twice referee Andrew Jackson ruled that the ball had been held up, decisions that left Blues boss Mike Rayer seething at the final whistle. The only reward for their efforts came when Adamson scored his second from first-phase ball off the back of a shored-up scrum.

“We deserved to get something out of that game. Both our nine and seven scored. What can you do?” lamented Rayer.

Pressurised into making unforced errors by the Blues, for whom Sharp pulled the strings magnificently, Carnegie finally managed to break free from their shackles in the closing stages following another break upfield by Forsyth.

And on the stroke of fulltime they denied the Blues a bonus point, and gained one themselves, when replacement hooker Mike Mayhew burrowed over.