2nd XV
Matches
Sat 09 Nov 2019  ·  Northern & Western League
Leos RUFC
2nd XV
Tries: P Behan, T Tweddle (2), N Porter (2), F Faulkner-Porter, H Student, E AnsellConversions: T Tweddle (6), E AnsellPenalties: T Tweddle
57
21
Harrogate Pythons 2
Match report Leos II Vs Harrogate Pirates

Match report Leos II Vs Harrogate Pirates

Tom Tweddle12 Nov 2019 - 18:25
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Vintage Port(er) rounds off enjoyable meat pie feast...

Saturday saw Leos 2s welcome an unbeaten Harrogate Pirates to Crag Lane. Leos, by contrast, have struggled a bit for consistency this season so far and there were a raft of changes to team that narrowly lost to Roundhesians 3-weeks before. Most notable was the return of Nick-I’m-not-as-old-as-you-think-I-am-Porter, who the more sage players amongst the squad recognised as a good portent of what was to come.

The pre-match signs were, however, initially rather more ominous. As the retinue of Harrogate players, coaches and fans settled into a well-oiled warm-up, Leos lost first a starting front row (Jamie Scott) then the starting 8 (Alex Walker) to the first team, leaving no forwards on the bench. A rather lacklustre warm-up ensued until captain Twoddle (no doubt spurred on by not wanting to disappoint his familial fan club) spelt out the need for increased focus, energy and aggression from kickoff. The more naive students in the group were clearly new to this rousing dialogue and listened eagerly, whilst some off the older heads (having spent the best part of a decade ignoring this blather) instead used the minute’s silence pre kickoff for Remembrance to focus their minds for the impending contest.

Whatever the individual motivation, the collective fury of Leos opening five minutes knocked Harrogate repeatedly backwards into their own 22 with their only hope of positive yardage coming from the boot of their moustachioed (and strangely head-taped) number 9. Indeed, it was a strong kick-return from “New Boy” Edd at fullback that set up a 7-phase assault for Leos, ultimately creating the overlap for Paddy Behan to arc a strong line from the left wing, inside the fullback and to touch down to left of the posts for the first score of the match. In a near-immaculate display of goal kicking Captain Tweddle nudged over the first of his 6 conversions of the afternoon.

It turned out to be quite an afternoon for the Leos stand-off, as he crossed for the first of his two tries shortly after. The try came on the back of a excellent piece of injury advantage played by the ref (seeing that Leos were attacking and the injured Leos flanker was suffering with his lower back rather than a head or neck injury), he allowed the play to continue with a fantastic break from Rob Simpson eating up 50-yards of the park before phase play seeing Tweddle waddle in 30-seconds later. With no forwards left on the bench, the injury also saw journeyman, Tom Bindloss, switch from 12 to flanker and a reshuffling of the back line.

There was an air of disbelief at being 14 points down from the previously unbeaten Harrogate players, who were clearly unaccustomed to being challenged in this way. When the evergreen Nick Porter sliced through on the 30 -minute mark, the previously vociferous Harrogate bench/fans/coaches were (unfortunately only momentarily) silenced and no swearing was heard for nearly a whole minute.

The next expletive heard was actually from the Leos contingent following a slight misjudgment of a bouncing ball from the ensuing Harrogate kickoff. This saw the ball tumble through Tower’s flailing arms, nutmeg the hapless stand-in flanker (Bindloss... groans) and bobbling into touch perilously close to Leos’ 5-metre line. There followed innumerous line outs and three 5-metre scrummages, with Harrogate growing in confidence and energy. It was no surprise then when the much larger pack eventually forced a penalty try just before the break, with flanker Henry “Student” leaving the ref little choice but to flourish the yellow card after he had broken early and buried himself in the middle of the Harrogate back row as they marched Leos scrum backward over their own line.

The 10-minutes after 1/2 time with Henry in the bin proved the most decisive period of the game. Harrogate quickly exerted their numerical advantage with a push over try just a few minutes into the half and the game looked to be in the balance with only 7-points in the game. There was a definite nagging feeling of deja-vu as Leos again found themselves deep in their own 22 just seconds later and Harrogate clearly believed the game was turning in their favour, repeatedly electing for the scrummage option at every penalty call.

Against the grain, another fine turnover from “New Boy” Edd saw scrum half Fenton!!! whistle a 20 metre flat ball from the base of the ruck to a waiting Porter on the touch line. His initial half-break and soft pass saw a clean break from Rob Simpson streaking 50-metres clear up the park... until he hit a patch of treacle in the Harrogate 22 and both their fullback and winger combined to stop what looked a certain try. The ensuing phase saw Harrogate offside 10-metres in front of their own sticks and captain Tweddle was left with a tricky decision. With Leos clearly under the cosh and only a converted try in it, the shot at goal was the sensible option, but kicking penalties in a 2s game is the most heinous of crimes - usually reserved for only the most annoying of opposition. Tweddle stepped up, shook of the shackles of expectation and calmly slotted it, whilst the ghosts of thousands of Leos Past collectively booed (obviously not so Mrs Tweddle).

From 10-points clear Leos really never looked back as their scrum found it’s feet. Special mention here to debutant prop, Ben, who wiped a torrid 20-minutes of Harrogate scrummaging dominance from his mind to dictate the scrum for the remainder of the match (despite the feeble efforts of pseudo-flanker Bindloss hanging off his shorts). From the now stabilised pack-down Leos were able to clear effectively and use their dominant defence to frustrate Harrogate into mistakes.

Time and again Harrogate found themselves meeting a strong wall of defence and either forced the pass or found themselves isolated for a jackal turnover. Strong mentions here from workhorses Joe Bender and Tower who both ploughed through a full 80 minutes of dog. On 55 minutes, a Bindloss jackal (they really do exist) and an ensuing quick-tap penalty caught Harrogate napping up the left flank and 2 phases later Tweddle crossed for his second from his more natural 1 metre range! However he lost his perfect kicking stats for the afternoon with a missed conversion from the right touch line.

The man with the most Leos of names, Flynn Faulkner-Porter, moved up to 9 from the wing with 15-minutes to go and wasted no time sniping through mid field to score a cracking solo effort under the posts. With Nick Porter scorching through on a miss pass and rounding the fullback only 2-minutes later, Harrogate were finally broken and, barring a relatively soft score towards the end, failed to trouble either the scoreboard or Leos defence from that point.

Another Bindloss turnover (in your face, Gabs!) saw the referee’s man of the match, Sam-myopia-Garner, carry strongly twice in three phases and Henry “Student” (clearly still fresh after his 10 minutes in the sin bin earlier in the half) showed good leg drive to score next. The final score came as Harrogate pushed everything into the last play of the game, but a fine defensive shot from Sam and a lightning quick turnover from “New Boy” Edd saw the full-back through the back of Harrogate’s ruck. With “no one at home” he was left with a simple jaunt the 40-metres to the line unhindered. He converted his own score to wrap up a pretty impressive debut Leos performance.

Harrogate were surely left wondering where it all went wrong, but Leos left the field runaway victors with 57 points to their 21. Meanwhile, Tweddle left the field wondering if he could convince the family to watch every week, if it guaranteed 25-point haul (whatever the underwear laundry bill at Tweddle Towers). Leos mission next week is to not leave this excellent form back at the Crag as they board the “fun bus” to Selby. Surely, the Chequers fine ales will be all the sweeter with another fine win like this under the belt...

Match details

Match date

Sat 09 Nov 2019

Kickoff

14:15

Location

Competition

Northern & Western League

League position

4
Harrogate Pythons 2
5
Leodiensian 2
Team overview
Further reading

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Club Sponsor - Onebright
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