Lions give a good account of themselves in defeat

Although the Lions were defeated at the weekend in their friendly against Yorkshire Carnegie 55-0, the team will take away a number of positives in a physical encounter.

Carnegie showed very early on, scoring 2 tries in 9 mins, the pace they expect to bring to their campaign in the Championship.
However, the Lions showed great resolve as they settled into their game plan creating an excellent chance when Matt Tuckey was put through a hole on the short side only to find Jack Gibbons being brought down just 5 meters from the line. Lions had a good share of the ball for the next 20 mins as they battled hard against a very solid defence. Carnegie went in at half-time 21-0 having scored with a lineout drive just before the break.

Lions came out in the second half determined to make their mark but a resilient defence stopped them on a number of occasions. Unfortunately in the second half the Lions found themselves defending for there majority of the time, although the Lions defence was equal to the task. Some heroic tackles and a discipline to keep their shape prevented Carnegie from adding to their score.

Unfortunately as time went on Carnegie¹s superior fitness and power had its toll and Carnegie went on to score a further 5 tries, 3 of these coming in the last 8 mins.

"I was extremely pleased in how we took the game to Carnegie and stuck to our plan and we were unlucky not to score on a couple of chances that we created. For our first outing and against such opposition, I thought our set piece functioned well, but the areas most satisfying was our attack and especially our defence. We have a bit more work to do in the breakdown but to see our lads compete for 65-70 mins at this level was fantastic," said Andy Key, Head Coach.