Jonny Bentley on board to steer Leeds through playoffs

As the sixth former Pirate to jump on board the good ship Leeds Carnegie, loan signing Jonny Bentley is already feeling the wind in his sails at Headingley.
A try on debut – an 11-minute cameo off the bench against London Scottish last Sunday, certainly helped settle any nerves about his move north from Gloucester.
“It was nice to get over the whitewash, that hasn’t happened too often for me lately,” Bentley told The Rugby Paper.
After being a virtual ever-present in his first two seasons at Pirates, a torn Achilles/heel problem saw the 26-year-old make just four appearances in his last two.
And after another injury-hit campaign at Gloucester this term the Kiwi playmaker is looking to rediscover the sort of form that helped steer the Pirates to the 2011 Championship final.
“Everything fell into place at the right time in Cornwall, we had a good bunch of boys, we were successful, and that made things kind of easy as a fly-half,” he said.
“The two legs of the final at the Mennaye and the sell-out at Sixways were pretty special experiences.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played rugby to that standard and I would love to get back to where I was a few years ago.
“I’m back fit and hopefully I’ll be able to get some games under my belt at Leeds.
“I know some of the boys from my Pirates days: I played with the two Dohertys, James and Dave, as well as Mike Myerscough, Matt Smith and James Currie.”
As a Rugby League lover, a number of faces are familiar to Bentley in the 13-man side of the Leeds operation too.
Gray adds: “The first people I saw when I arrived were Rhinos legends Kevin Sinfield, Rob Burrow and Ryan Hall, so that was a bit of an eye-opener.”
Carnegie head coach and former Rugby League Man of Steel, James Lowes, was a bit of an unknown quantity though.
“A few of the boys told me he was a Rugby League hero so I looked him up on YouTube,” Bentley said.
“The first thing I saw was a fight between him and Andy Farrell, who has a reputation for being a bit of a hard man.
“They had a pretty good crack at each other, so straight away I knew that he wasn’t someone to be messed with! He’s a straight shooter and you know where you stand.”
JON NEWCOMBE