Carnegie keep focused for a final push for Brush
CARNEGIE coach Bryan Redpath was happy to be able to focus on the rugby again after his side kept their quarter final hopes alive with a comfortable victory at Bedford.
This was Yorkshire’s first match since it was announced that Redpath would be stepping away from the sport at the end of the season to take up a job in the financial sector.
Their performance at Goldington Road eased any thoughts of their players perhaps losing focus in the remainder of the season, as they continue to fight on two fronts, but any faint hopes Bedford had of progressing were finally extinguished.
Redpath, below, said: “There’s always that little bit lingering in the back where somebody might have said it’s been a big week for me, big week for the players if we hadn’t performed.
“The boys put that to bed – it was put to bed by me on Tuesday to the lads. I’ve made a decision to do something different and we’ve got a hell of a lot left this season to go for.” Redpath, or ‘Brush’ as he’s been known on the field, added: “For me it’s a big four months because it’s my last time in rugby and for these lads it’s about their own futures, not about doing anything for me.” The first 20 minutes were a bit of an arm wrestle with neither defence budging, but Yorkshire broke through when prop Charlie Beech plunged over after a driving maul had been stopped short.
Warren Seals added the conversion before Bedford missed a good chance to hit back as Piers O’Conor got too close in receiving a pass from Tom Griffiths after the centre had burst through the middle.
The Blues then had hooker Dan George sinbinned for foul play and straight away Carnegie scored their second thanks to a pushover try for top scorer Rob O’Donnell.
Yorkshire effectively finished the contest five minutes into the second half, when Ollie Stedman was driven over after yet another driving maul, such
a potent weapon for them all season.
The bonus point was in the bag after 51 minutes, as Seals rounded off a fine move down the left involving Tom Casson and Steve McColl.
Bedford finally managed to strike a blow of their own soon after when Ollie Dodge went through a couple of tackles to score down the left, with Jake Sharp adding the extras.
Tom Whiteley then pulled back another score for the Blues, going over off the back of a quickly-taken penalty before the visitors’ Richard Mayhew was shown a yellow card for tripping Jack Culverhouse.
But the hosts couldn’t make any further inroads and it was Seals who rounded off the scoring with a penalty off the final kick.
Bedford prop Camilo Parilli-Ocampo said: “We knew the driving maul is something they are very strong at and they were just trying to get penalties from the scrums, kick to the corner and put pressure there.
“But there were some good building blocks there obviously we’re trying to build momentum and the last few games have been getting better.”