Curiously Unsatisfying 10 Try Romp

Curiously Unsatisfying 10 Try Romp.

Chaos was back to being pinched by the 2s leaving us short of front row. So this week we had to ask for unopposed scrums. Huddersfield YMCA turned up with 13 after their 2s had stolen 4 players so we did a bit of shuffling, Niall went over to play for them and we both started with 14. Before long Harry and Stuart arrived Harry for us and Stuart gamely played for them so at last 15 per team !

It was obvious quickly that Leos had by far the stronger back line with Young, Blakey, Lovers, Tweds J, Herring , Harry and Edgar the plan was quick ball whizzed out to set the fast men free. However unopposed scrums really does take the edge off any game. The forwards have glorified cuddles with no competition and they all have too much energy to help out in defence. The backs know this and often struggle to get up for the fray. Once again this slight lack of effort was palapable in the first 20 mins.

Despite this Jamie Young opened the scoring with a rapid break down the blindside outpacing the cover with ease. The rest of the tries will not be in the right order as keeping track of 10 different scores is well beyond your humble scribe !

That said Leos did start to dominate the game as the forwards, led by the marauding and cross Andy Hill who made huge yardage every time he got the ball, got firmly on the front foot in the loose. Cadgey as ever coordinated rolling mauls effectively. Nathan showed his paces and Dave belied his lack of stones by taking the ball up showing good feet to elude tacklers. Poll put in a couple of his trademark monster hits to stop Hudd in their tracks and Leos began to cut loose.

Blakey had a fine game showing all his speed of foot and thought to put his backs in space. He seemed to be everywhere and as usual wanted to run from his own posts ! A ever so slightly more pragmatic Lovers did look to probe the corners to play in their 22 with occasional kicks. This may have frustrated Jason and the Diddy Doc Herring but all his forwards were grateful !!

In fact even Jason chose to put boot to ball once or twice but usually when he had no other option, with once Pinder hanging around in the 10/12 channel !

Leos kept scoring at regular intervals, Harry got 2 showing good speed out wide. Young got another again breaking down the blindside and linking well with Dave. Pinder boshed over from close ish range in his nice new shiny Barbie Pink Boots, worryingly he even started to sing the words to “ In a Barbie World “ and he seemed to know all the words too, my how 2nd rows have changed. The Byron brothers of days gone by would have been appalled !

Andy Hill ran a great line and powered over for a storming try. James Poll did likewise and the stepping Tweds J showed up well in support to score a deserved try.

In amongst all of this there were a couple of cameos. Lovers had to tackle Niall several times and could not bring himself to really smash his usual centre partner mainly as we would need him in the 2nd half ! The rotund centre also was for once up against people nearly as slow as him ! and even made the odd break in the first half. He also threw the most outrageous of dummies complete with full pirouette and set off into the wide open spaces. 3 defenders bought his dummy back to Jason and there was a look of shock on the rotund ones face. He also realised that there was nobody between him and the try line which was half a pitch away ! Sensibly and he crossed into the 22 and waited for Blakey to easily catch him up. The pass was given and Blakey scored his 2nd try of the day.

The other memorable moments were at halftime we gave them Cadgey and Herring. So our largest strongest forward and probably our fastest back ! These two did improve the Hudd effort noticeably with Cadgey bringing his organisational skills to bear and the Diddy Doc his pace and confidence.

Despite this Hudd did not manage to score the try their efforts may have deserved. They never gave up despite being outmatched. There was one lovely moment when Cadgey very nearly got a paw on young Harry, and it was only by the skin of his teeth that the youngster got away. Canvassing opinion later the entire home side were willing Cadgey on to clobber Harry if only to shut him up for 5 mins. He is a gifted player both in attack and his defence is solid but the outspoken nature of youth is putting it politely !

The Diddy Doc caused his usual mayhem and Leos got a taste of what our oppo have to try and contain week after week. Lovers managed to tackle him once only cos he ran right at me from 2 yards ! and was delighted with himself for chasing and getting within 2 yards of Herring who was probably slowing down by then to look for support !

Another amusing and very out of character cameo was Jamie Young taking a quick tap just in his own half and kicking the ball straight to the oppo as the then Captain rotund centre was howling for him to wait so Jason could bang the ball up field. Mainly cos we were knackered in a fast paced game ! Jamie looked like a sulky schoolboy for about 5 mins and I was a bit harsh at the time.

Jason converted 5 out 10 kicks to give a final scoreline of 60 - 0. This should have been very satisfying but in truth felt a little hollow. Our recent 2 point win over West Park was much more rewarding.

We did not at first play all that well as a team. We got better and there were some individual moments of great skill but let us hope for a return to opposed scrums in the very near future.

Man of the match was Blakey who from 10 set up several tries scored 2 of his own and supported all over the pitch. His take on rugby can be summed up that in the last play of the game he ran the ball from his own line and took play deep into the Hudd half. He also kicked well for goal on a heavy surface.

Final score

Leos 60- Huddersfield YMCA 0

Tries

Harry 2, Blakey 2, Young 2, Pinder 1, Hill 1, Poll 1, Tweds 1

Con

Blakey 5.