Championship: Leeds pull away for win over Jersey

Leeds Carnegie battled to a 29-13 win over Jersey but had to wait until the closing minutes to be sure of victory.

Ex-Jersey winger David Doherty put Leeds ahead with an early try out wide.

Jacob Rowan went over to extend his side's advantage but the islanders narrowed the gap to two points at half-time thanks to Drew Locke's touchdown.

Second-half penalties from the boots of Glyn Hughes and Alex Lozowski saw the hosts pull away before Josh Griffin's late try sealed the win.

Leeds were certainly made to work for the victory but looked the livelier of the two teams from the start.

Doherty's try on the break after six minutes was the highlight of a high-tempo start to the game.

Niall O'Connor's penalty for Jersey reduced the deficit but the Yorkshire outfit grabbed their second try when skipper Rowan broke through a disintegrating scrum to power over.

The Channel Islanders showed they were not about to lie down though when on the stroke of half-time good work from centre Mark McCrea saw the ball reach full-back Locke out wide on the left to cross the line.

O'Connor's conversion made it 12-10 and despite having little of the ball Jersey were still very much in touch.

Three penalties from Hughes and one from Lozowski though took the game away from the visitors after the break and any hopes of a losing bonus-point were dashed when Griffin dived onto a superb cross-field kick from Lozowski to add a final five points to the tally.

The result keeps Leeds in the hunt for a play-off spot and leaves Jersey in 11th place ahead of the visit of the Championship's bottom club Ealing Trailfinders next weekend.

SUNDAY'S LINE-UPS

Leeds Carnegie: Stevie McColl, Josh Griffin, Pete Lucock, Fred Burdon, David Doherty, Glyn Hughes, Craig Hampson, Sam Lockwood, Phil Nilsen, James Currie, Nathan Hannay, Calum Green, Richard Beck, James Doyle, Jacob Rowan (capt).

Replacements: Joe Graham, Ben Harris, Lee Imiolek, Matt Smith, Chris Walker, Alex Lozowski, Oli Goss.

Jersey: Drew Locke, Mark Foster, Mark McCrea, David Bishop, Ed Dawson, Niall O'Cnnor, Jimmy Williams, Sean McCarthy, David Felton, David Young, Nick Campbell, Alex Rae (capt), Latu Makaai, Joe Buckle, Ben Maidment.

Replacements: Elvis Taoine, Nick Selway, Tom Fidler, Dave Markham, Tom Brown, Joel Dudley, Aaron Penberthy.

Attendance: 2,120