EXCLUSIVE: Yorkshire Carnegie sack head coach Gary Mercer

Exclusive by JON NEWCOMBE
Yorkshire Carnegie have sacked Gary Mercer as head coach after just three months in charge.
Friday night’s dispiriting 19-19 draw against bottom club Plymouth made it six Championship games without a win for last season’s semi-finalists, and proved to be the final straw for the Carnegie board.
The writing appears to have been on the wall for Mercer for some time, with players openly questioning the style of play introduced by the Kiwi since his arrival at Headingley.
Carnegie have been a shadow of the team that finished third under Jimmy Lowes in 2013/14 and currently find themselves languishing in 10^th in the table.
Forwards coach Tommy McGee has been appointed as Carnegie’s fourth head coach in less than three years.
The former Leeds prop will oversee a new coaching team that includes current centre Rob Vickerman as backs coach, with Leeds Rhinos boss Brian McDermott, a regular at Carnegie games, also providing some input.