Leeds' Zurich Premiership survival hopes suffered a heavy blow as they
surrendered an 11-point lead to Heineken Cup hopefuls London Irish.
The plucky Tykes had given themselves a real chance of claiming a crucial
victory in their intriguing battle to avoid the drop with Scott Benton and Dan
Scarbrough tries in the first half.
But the visitors struck back in an entertaining encounter at Headingley with
pacy winger Paul Sackey reducing the arrears before Barry Everitt and Joe
Worsley also crossed for decisive tries.
Both sides exchanged penalties in a tame opening spell.
Braam Van Straaten kicked the Tykes into the lead in the third minute before
Everitt restored parity two minutes later.
Irish soon broke into their stride and almost had the game's opening try on
nine minutes when a short break by Justin Bishop put Geoff Appleford clear but
the Tykes managed to force him into touch.
Leeds managed to push the Exiles back after losing the resulting lineout but
Everitt was still in range and landed a drop goal from 40 metres.
Leeds however proved they had plenty to offer in attack themselves and took
control of the game with two tries in the space of as many minutes midway
through the half.
Scrum-half Scott Benton broke a tackle to run into the first after a burst by
Mike Shelley put Leeds in scoring territory.
Their second came out of nothing as Irish looked to launch an attack from the
halfway line.
Cameron Mather put paid to their hopes as he flew in with a strong tackle and
left Scarbrough to do the rest with a 50-metre dash down the touchline for his
ninth try of the season.
Van Straaten converted both but that proved his last positive involvement for
a while as he was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Hong Kong Seven
winner Appleford.
Everitt kicked the resulting penalty but Leeds looked set to hold off further
damage until a moment of madness by Japi Mulder.
The Springbok carelessly tossed the ball away as he tried to offload in centre
field, handing a needless interception try to Sackey.
Everitt converted to cut the half-time deficit to 17-16. Everitt, who also
missed a drop goal in the last minute of the first half, spurned another
opportunity to put the Exiles back ahead with a poor penalty attempt four
minutes after the restart.
But the relief was only temporary for Leeds as Irish kept their foot on the
pedal and went ahead when Everitt forced his way over three minutes later.
Everitt was again wayward with a conversion attempt but nailed a penalty from
a similar position soon after to put the visitors firmly in control.
The tide now seemed to have turned and it came as no surprise when prop
Worsley barged over for another five points.
But Leeds were far from done and got themselves back into the game when
Scarbrough rounded off a fine move to cross and Van Straaten made no mistake in
front of goal.
Leeds finished strongly but despite a late rally in which Irish's Eddie Halvey
was sin-binned the Tykes could not improve on what could prove an important
bonus point.
Teams:
Leeds: Benson, Scarborough, Mulder, van Straaten, Woof, Bachop,
Benton, Shelley, Rawlinson, Fullman, C. Murphy, P. Murphy,
Mather, Hyde, Hogg.
Replacements: Hall for Bachop (78), Fea'unati for Fullman (66),
Jones for C. Murphy (73), Kerr for Hogg (56).
Not Used: Holt, O'Reilly, Davies.
Tries: Benton, Scarborough 2.
Cons: van Straaten 3.
Pens: van Straaten.
Sin Bin: van Straaten (25), Fullman (54).
London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Appleford, Venter, Bishop,
Everitt, Martens, Worsley, Worsley, Kirke, Hardwick, Strudwick,
Williams, Gustard, Danaher, Sheasby, Edwards, Wheatley.
Replacements: Edwards for Martens (54),
Wheatley for Worsley (10), Wheatley for Worsley (73),
Drotske for Kirke (20), Halvey for Gustard (53),
Martens for Edwards (77), Worsley for Wheatley (12).
Not Used: Brown, Hoadley, Delaney.
Tries: Sackey, Everitt, Worsley.
Cons: Everitt.
Pens: Everitt 3.
Drop Goals: Everitt.
Sin Bin: Halvey (80).
Att: 3,392
Ref: Ashley Rowden (RFU).
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