What's the Capital of Bolivia ?

What ‘s the Capital of Bolivia ? Confused ? All will be revealed.

Captain Chaos had put together a useful squad for our first hit out post winter hibernation. It was good to see plenty of familiar faces eager to play for the 3s after 6 weeks of getting fat and lazy !
We welcomed Ripon to the Crag and expected a close game as our encounters with them most often are.

Chaos was nicked by the 2s not for the first time this term, as the prop drought bit once more so we were ably led by Cranfield who attempted to fire us up with his rapid fire pre match chat. Cadgey sensing a slight lack of feeling waded in and had us doing contact drills to get muddy before the game. Good plan after so long with no rugby.

Today was a day for the larger heavier players to show their worth as the pitch was nearly as muddy as that famous battle of the Somme. Leos forwards started very well and won every contact going. They also won all our scrums and most of the visitors as Cadgey, Barton & Macklin had their opposite front row for breakfast lunch and dinner ! Put simply we went forwards all day and Ripon failed to stem the tide. This pattern was matched by Pinder in the lineout who was imperious, winning nearly all his own ball and stealing a good portion of Ripons. He also put in monster munch of the day timing a tackle on a stationary opposite forward to perfection. When he is in the mood Tim is a real handful, both with and without the ball.

The result of all this possession on a dry day would doubtless have been the Leos backs running in some good tries. However today was not a day for fancy sidesteps more honest toil, hard muddy yards and plenty of pick and go. Leos began a series of very well organised rolling mauls often from lineouts that went fully 30 yards on occasion. Once this ball was fired out to the backs Jason attempted to get us behind the defence. Now let’s get this out of the way Jason dropped 3 passes in the whole game, unfortunately these were all after very good rolling maul work by our forwards. As he is often one of our most effective players in both attack and defence most of us, apart from the merciless Cadgey !, forgave him and got on with game.

This must have been frustrating for the hard working Leos pack but they manfully took matters into their own muddy hands. Andy Hill marauded all day making very good ground showing a return to his old form. Rich Hemsley also did likewise ably helped by messrs Macklin, Cadge, Pinder as did both our 17 year olds Elliot and Jonny once they entered the fray. Nathan was also quietly effective as was Barton especially at set piece time.
All this pressure led to tries being scored by Andy Hill twice, and James Poll bagged one too.

Ripon tackled well and were clearly not going to be over run but were playing catch up after only half the game. There large 12 did make a couple of good breaks as Leos fell off the odd tackle, this was mainly when he had smaller people to run at than Lovers who was having a breather at the time ! Before this there had been a couple of mighty collisions between the two big lads.

They did muster 10 points through a well taken converted try and a penalty but were undone by a superb effort from the home team. Along with the forwards Ben Clements ran strongly in the 13 berth and Dean Chapman once again made good progress on the wing when we could get him the ball. The ever ageless Jon Eagle provided the guile both at centre and later at 15 and Lovers enjoyed some good boshing runs particularly on one occasion when a would be no 7 tackler was despatched onto his backside ! well I had reached full speed by then, admittedly not quick but certainly showing useful momentum. I don’t think he was too pleased !

There was one comedy moment in the second half when there was some dispute over who should put in to a scrum. Gabes, our ref, simply asked a question “ What’s the capital of Bolivia ? “ Quick as a flash a home forward answered correctly La Paz ? and Leos got the put in ! This sums up an approach to the game that I hope we never lose at Leos, ie make it Fun !! The fact that it was Gabes providing the humour was par for the course.

Late in the game the aforementioned Eagle danced his way through some tired tackling and set Jamie Tweddle free on the wing with 40 yards to the line. After a big night out Jamie managed to score a great try but immediately said “ Lovers you will have to come back on as I am going to be sick ! “ he duly was prompting much hilarity all round. At some point in this game before he was sick Jamie nailed a wonderful conversion from wide out which was not pretty but it got over the bar !
Harry also crossed the whitewash showing good speed and strength, as he continues to relish playing on the wing. Elliot and Jonny s rugby education gathered pace as they both had strong games, putting in good tackles and visibly growing in confidence as they learn to mix it with the big boys. Elliot was particularly delighted to get some time in the back row. Jonny I think probably impressed his watching Dad who was a very useful centre in his day, even if it was for local rivals Roundhesians !

The game ended with a score line of Leos 27 – Ripon 10.
It was by and large played in good spirits bar the odd bout of handbags, that was soon over.

We retired to de-cake ourselves of inch thick mud and listen to Cadgey remind Jason of how pants he had been for a good 20 mins !
This was the best effort by a Leos 3s pack this season in difficult conditions, they were quite superb and deserve all the plaudits for our win. Usually there is only one score in our battles with Ripon and today we had clear daylight of 17 points, so well done to all the boys who enjoyed our ongoing muddy adventures.

If we can maintain this kind of excellent attitude and good availability we should go on to have an enjoyable and rewarding remainder of the season. ( That is providing a certain fleet of foot no 10 returns to his normal high standards of ball handling which doubtless he will if only to shut Cadgey up ! )
Team Cadge, Barton, Macklin, Gopichadran, Pinder, Marshall, Hill, Cranfield, Flowers, King Davies, Poll, Griffin, Blakey, Lovers, Eagle, Clements, Chapman D, Walkden, Tweddle J

Tries

Hill 2, Poll 1, Walkden1, Tweddle J 1.

Con

Tweddle J 1

Report by Lovers.