All the right ingredients ...... but Leos end up with a bad taste in their mouths

Maybe some of us looked around the dressing room and thought oh well today should be fairly easy, we will be fine. However, Hegians are never ever easy to beat at home and today was no exception. From the off Hegians were 1st to every breakdown, winning any 50/50 ball through superior fitness and desire. Leos backs did look fluent whenever quick ball was won. Eddie pulled the strings from 12 and then 10 and a lovely pass saw Eagle sail through a gap.

However it was Hegians who deservedly scored 1st, their forwards pick and drove through some weak tackling. From quick ball near our line the rapid 9 nipped round lovers, pace will always tell, and scored. This was a seesaw of a match and Leos hit back with a sweeping backs move as again good hands from the ageless Eddie/ Eagle axis put Jamie Young in for his 1st try. Leos scored further tries with Eagle getting 2 Young a 2nd and the free running Hobman 1. Dan kicked 3 cons to give us 31 points.

On most days that will win you a game of rugby. Today was not a normal day and in truth we got exactly what we deserved. Hegians were always one step ahead as their 9 and 10 bossed large periods of the game. Their strong forwards carried well. Their centres ran straight and hard as did their ridiculously large winger! He did not run fast but boy did he take some stopping , eh Boyish! At one point Cadgey was heard to say slightly unbelievably “ Forwards we are really letting the backs down“ I thought I was hearing things as he usually just calls us ******. Make of that what you will.

An increasingly frustrated Lovers attempted to make hard yards up the middle occasionally doing so. It was from 2nd phase that we struggled as the hot weather & unfit bodies could not quite ever get control of a very quick game. There were moments of quality from Leos in defence - what looked like a certain try was narrowly avoided as 3 Leos boys held a home forward up over the line. Big hits did go in but eventually we simply ran out of energy and people to make those hits, and try after try was conceded.

The lineout was good with Macklins old school 1 handed throwing a joy to watch as Crompton and Marshall soared well. The scrum was fairly even, debutant Jim looked solid and the back row of Hill, Cranfield and Poll worked as hard as they were able to in tough conditions. Every marginal decision seemed to favour the home team as you would expect. The game ended with Leos on the front foot scoring to make a final score of 38-31 in favour of the home side. They deserved to win. They were fitter and wanted it more. The game was played in good spirits apart from 1 Cadgey spongebob grumpy pants moment that was soon over.

Honesty time boys and I make no apology. An opportunity to beat a very useful outfit went begging here. We need to be fitter if we want to take on sides of this quality and win. We clearly have all the ability we need. So it is up to you. Nobody expects everyone to train at this level. But if you don’t have other responsibilities on a Tues night get your backsides down to Leos and have some fun. There are 30 lads there all learning to be the best players they can possibly be under the professional guidance of a Rhinos 1st team player. And yes we do work hard. But it is good fun these days. Even your old, fat scribe currently 38 years daft runs about!

Next week sees the return of regular Captain Jim Capel, let us hope his stories of exotic places entertain us as we look to get the 3rd team show firmly back on the right track.

Team Cadge, Macklin, McKendry, Gribbon, Marshall, Crompton, Goff, Hill, Cranfield, Poll, Kapper, Eddie, Lovers, Eagle, Young, Hobman, Boyish Bob Smith, Blakey

Scorers
Tries: Eagle 2, Young 2, Hobman 1,
Cons: Eddie 3.

Lovejoy.