Source: Eurosport
Leeds claim draw as Gopperth flops
Jimmy Gopperth missed four penalty attempts on his Newcastle debut as Leeds Carnegie claimed a 9-9 draw on their return to the Guinness Premiership.
The highly-rated New Zealander, has been tasked with filling Jonny Wilkinson's kicking role following the England fly-half's move to Toulon. Yet Gopperth failed to match Wilkinson's accuracy with the boot as he converted only three of seven penalty kicks in a bitterly disappointing encounter which saw precious little freeflowing rugby.
All of Leeds' points came from the boot of fly-half Ceiron Thomas, who landed three penalties of his own but still managed to miss two, and despite a late rally the Yorkshire side could not conjure a precious victory.
Gopperth missed a penalty in the second minute but moments later then Falcons drove at the heart of the Leeds defence in a fine move which almost harvested a try.
The Kiwi did get the visitors off the mark with a routine penalty soon after and, with the Falcons superior up front, Leeds initially looked to be there for the taking.
After Gopperth missed another penalty from distance, Leeds began to enjoy a brief bout of sustained pressure and Thomas landed a long-range penalty in the 23rd minute having missed one three minutes earlier.
Gopperth failed with the boot again in the 33rd minute and Thomas then did likewise in first-half injury-time to cap a thoroughly underwhelming opening period.
The pattern continued four minutes after the restart when Gopperth missed his fourth penalty from five attempts, yet Newcastle began to build up a head of steam.
The 26-year-old claimed his second penalty on the hour mark and then Thomas did likewise four minutes later.
Gopperth struck again in the 69th minute to put Newcastle 9-6 ahead but Leeds drew level with six minutes remaining when Thomas landed his third penalty from five attempts.
