Leos combination team comprehensively stuffed in sunny Otley.

Leos combination team stuffed in Otley.
Captain Chaos assembled a team with three 2nd teamers and the rest from the 3s and 4s.
Unfortunately for Leos Old Otliensians put out a very strong team particularly their pair of 1st team centres who were simply too good to be playing in this game.
From the first whistle Leos were on the back foot. At scrum time we were going back all day.
We did compete well in the lineout but the home side tackled well and we spent the first half missing tackles and conceding tries. There were moments of bright play with Jamie Young at nine doing very well behind a retreating pack.
Tom at 15 also ran well with ball in hand, Dean at 13 cut some good lines when he could get the ball but we did not really look like scoring.
By contrast every time either Otley centre got the ball they coasted through some poor tackling. They were clearly a cut above and would have graced any 1st team in Yorkshire 2 so playing against 3s combination team fielding a 57 year old player was all too easy ! The home 10 also had a very good boot and any pressure we exerted was nullified as he cleared his lines making good yards in the process.
Tom Tweddle at 10 had one of those days when his normally safe hands deserted him, but he was one of many Leos players who suffered from post Christmas blues. Before we knew it we had let in several tries and were looking like a team who knew they were outmatched.
Any ball we won was scrappy and in the centre Lovers was hampered by good players closing down any space he tried to find. He did make one half break and offloaded well in the tackle to Dean. Mostly when he got the ball he had few options but to kick for position and try and play in the oppo half. He also struggled to catch the younger much quicker lads he was up against and missed several tackles.
We did not help ourselves with poor decision making. A penalty in front of the posts should have been kicked for the corner as from the lineout we were making some good yards via well organised driving mauls. These were led by Pinder and Lofty who tried very hard all day. We kicked for goal and promptly missed !
The 2nd half was a better effort from Leos as we played pick and go and tried to shut down the classy oppo backs. However they kept scoring tries and kicking conversions although we all got bored waiting for their kicker to get on with it !
Despite mighty efforts from several Leos players with Cranfield, Lofty, Pinder, John and Jamie all making hard yards we could not score the try our efforts probably deserved. The closest we got was when Jo Derry put a delightful chip kick in for our fast young lads to chase , Tom , Joel and Paul Malone all closed in on the ball close to the try line, but no one called for the ball and it was unfortunately knocked on. This summed our day up really. The ref was kind to Leos as we got the benefit on the majority of close calls but in truth the home team were too good by some distance.
The game was played in very good spirits as the home team were a friendly bunch as they usually are.
The final score was 48 – 0 to Otliensians and some of us were amazed it was not 60 odd points as the tries kept coming all game.
We were fairly sure that our regular 2nd team would have struggled to live with these boys but at least we ran off some of our Christmas calories.
We retired to enjoy a hot bath and cup of tea followed by a wonderful tea of Yorkshire Pudding and stew. Top notch hospitality from a very friendly club.
Next week, snow permitting, the 3s return to the crag to play Harrogate who are always difficult to beat, let’s hope a few more regular players return to action as we attempt to put 2010 back on the right track.
Many congratulations to the 1s who recorded a creditable away win at Hessle.
With luck that maybe a sign of things to come for them in their very tough league 2 campaign.
Lovejoy.