Honour in Spirited Defeat

Honour in spirited defeat.

Captain Chaos lived up to his moniker this week by forgetting to put on the text whether we were home or away. This and a meet time of 1 45 which means 2 15 ! in the 3s meant that we only just made it on time to play Aireborough 2s away. We still had time to witness Harry have a pre match shower to try and shake off a heavy night ! However with no warm up at all we went into a very tough game a little under cooked.

We were also a little short on backs and had 2 very game forwards playing on both wings. Aireborough clearly train regularly, were well organised and looked useful in the backs. Responding to the urging of Cadgey Leos fronted up extremely well and quickly got in to the heat of a very tight battle.

The home side made a couple of breaks and only 2 wonderful last ditch tackles saved certain tries. One from Harry where he made huge yardage and some held up one of the AB centres when he looked nailed on to score. The other was from Jamies Tweds who with a desperate lunge managed to sneak his mans foot into touch. The touch judge was dreaming and it was only when an animated Jamie pointed out the mark on the touchline that the try was disallowed by our excellent Ref.

Leos were strong in the lineout and scrum winning plenty of ball. The problem for the backs was once it got past Lovers and Niall completely forgiveable inexperience of back play led to us being turned over. So Jamie and his senior backs elected to take the only option available to them, we ran it back to the forwards at every opportunity. Despite an early crack on the head Lovers attempted to bosh it over the gainline occasionally finding gaps on the narrow side, and Niall also took the ball up strongly.

Leos could not break through the solid home defence but were competing well particularly in the loose where the forwards were superb. Nathan, Ben, Cadgey, Poll and Macklin all used pick and go well making the hard muddy yards. We also won a number of the home sides scrums against the head.

The home side kept coming through their faster men and eventually Leos simply ran out of numbers out wide and AB scored a converted try.
Halftime arrived with Leos very much still in the contest at 7 – 0 down. The words were for more hard work and to keep playing a tight game as we did not want to take them on out wide.

The 2nd half was just as competitive but in the best way. Big tackles were made on both sides but there was a good spirit between the teams. AB started to get a little frustrated and gave away numerous penalties which a rusty Lovers kicked for touch. He missed touch a few times but the full back obligingly booted it straight out so we got the lineout anyway ! Despite some good forward pressure from Leos it was AB who scored again. Their very fast no 2 kicked long down field and then outpaced all chasers to touch down. He then converted the try leading your scribe to suspect he may once have been a 10 at a higher level ! A well taken try slightly against the run of play.

Leos came back hard with the forwards again leading the way. After several drives and a break by Nathan we all got in behind the ball and sucked in the AB defence. Very well organised recycling and several drives later Nathan was bundled over the line by half the Leos team. Lovers converted from in front ish and it was anyones game at 14 -7. More frustration by AB led to a 10 min rest for one of their forwards for repeatedly killing the ball.

Despite the 1 man advantage and mighty efforts Leos could not break through some solid AB tackling. AB always looked dangerous in the backs when they won quick ball and from 1st phase off a lineout deep in our half they scored a simple but well taken try. One of their strong running centres came back on the angle and boshed a couple of would be tacklers to score. Try converted.

Leos did not give up and tried hard to close the gap but could not really make many more inroads. This was not down to lack of effort and credit should go to AB s defence which was very hard to break down.
There was one comedy moment when on our own line Lovers urged Jamie T to invoke the spirit of the absent Blakey and to run it anyway ! The home team were good naturedly having a bit if banter saying “ watch it lads they are going to run it ! “ the sardonic reply from your scribe that was “ well we might walk it ! “ mainly due to being shattered at the end of a very hard game.

The game ended in friendly handshakes and we were, despite losing, all fairly cheerful. After all AB are a 2nd team, well drilled and a good side. If we had not had the right attitude today we could have easily shipped 50 points. That we did not and were in the game all the way through is a credit to the whole side. Special mention and thanks to Elliot and Dave who played out of position on the wings all day without any complaints.

We retired to the bar for a well earned beer and chatted to the home side over tea. In one such conversation your scribe discovered an interesting nugget of info. These boys have won 10 out of 11 games. So there was no disgrace in losing today. In fact Leos played well showing admirable spirit under the on field Captain Cranfield.
Man of the Match was Cadgey for not only his natural leadership, but all round workrate in the loose.

Score 21- 7

Leos scorers

Try Gopichandran

Con Lovers.

Team Cadge, Barton, Macklin, Marshall, Gopichandran, Cranfield, Clements, Poll, Kapper, Tweddle J, Lovers, Monk, King Davies, Dave, Harry, Capell.