Jersey battled gamely and harboured hopes of something to show
from their match against play-off hopefuls Leeds until the hosts
added two late scores in added time.
The Islanders went behind early in the game when former player
David Doherty added to the two tries he scored against his ex-club
at St Peter last December. But the score by 'Doc' (pictured below)
was answered by 'NOC' as Jersey's fly-half stroked over a penalty
(5-3).
Leeds' skipper Jacob Rowan was fastest to react when the ball
popped out of a ruck, and he was able to force his way over for his
team's second try.
Jersey had just two backs on the bench and both were in action
early on - Aaron Penberthy replaced Ed Dawson, and was then forced
from the field himself with Joel Dudley coming on to play
out-of-position at wing.
The visitors went into half-time with morale lifted by a late
try by Drew Locke after fine approach work by Mark McCrea,
O'Connor's conversion making it 12-10.
Glyn Hughes of Leeds and O'Connor traded early penalties on the
resumption and then Leeds thought they'd scored from a lineout, but
were called back for a knock-on.
Jersey cleared their lines but penalty offences gave Hughes two
more shots at goal and he slotted both to move his team 8 points
clear (21-13). McCrea had come closest to adding a second try for
Jersey but was hauled down just short, and a barging run by
replacement Nick Selway was also halted.
In added time replacement Alex Lozowski made an impact for
Leeds, slotting a penalty and then launching a cross-kick from
which Josh Griffin scored.
Leeds gained 4 points but actually slipped to 5th in the Greene
King IPA Championship table as London Scottish took maximum points
from their trip to Ealing, scoring five tries and winning
10-36.
Cornish Pirates ensured the table becomes very congested from
2nd to 5th place, bouncing back from defeat in Jersey to beat
Bristol 21-15, scoring 3 tries to 2.
11th-placed Jersey host bottom club Ealing next Saturday at St
Peter, k-o 2.30pm.
Jersey squad v Leeds (A) - November 24th 2013, k-o
3pm
Backs (15-9)
Drew Locke
Mark Foster
Mark McCrea
David Bishop
Ed Dawson
Niall O'Connor
Jimmy Williams
Forwards (1-8)
Sean McCarthy
Dave Felton
Dave Young
Nick Campbell
Alex Rae (capt)
Latu Makaafi
Joe Buckle
Ben Maidment
Replacements (16-22)
Elvis Taione, Nick Selway, Tom Fidler, Dave Markham, James Voss,
Joel Dudley, Aaron Penberthy.
Pictures courtesy Leeds Rugby/ Varley Picture Agency
