Yorkshire Shield 2nd round: Yarnbury 5 v Leos 19

What a difference 72 hours can make!!!!

Leos travelled the short distance last night to Horsforth to play Yorkshire Division 1 outfit Yarnbury in the second round of the Yorkshire Shield

Leos arrived on the back of a defeat at the hands of an inspired Doncaster Phoenix team on Saturday whereas the hosts were on the role of good form having won their last 3 fixtures against Bradford Salem 38-19 on Saturday as well as previous victories over Scarborough 35-19 and Heath 43-21.

Yarnbury were therefore in confident mood that they would have sufficient power to progress to a quarter finals.

Leos were however also in confident mood and under the guidance of coaches Greenwood and Rock arrived with a near full strength lineup.Neil Liu was at full back Dave Barden was at centre for the injured Mark Winter James Lunn stared on the left wing and Tom Bindloss took the number 10 shirt for the unavailable Matt Freear.

In the pack Nick Freear returned to the second row to partner Fffordey and the back row was made up of the returning Lenny Lane James Haslam and Burdy.

A large and expectant crowd was assembled for the kick off made up of a large contingent of Leos supporters. There was a fair breeze blowing from left to right and Leos chose to play with the elements in the first half as Yarnbury kicked off.

With the big yarnbury pack looking to outmuscle Leos the home side were immediately rattled as a committed Leos side went on the offensive driving the home side back 30 metres with a number of pick and drives.

Good ball allowed Tom Bindloss to kick intelligently to the corner and deep inside the Yarnbury 22.Maacca threw good ball to Fffordey and the Leos pack drove forward. The ball went out via Chilly Wood and Bindloss who gave an inside pass to Dave Robinson and from 10 metres drove to the line and scored under the posts. Chilly Wood missed the simple conversion but after only 4 minutes Leos were ahead.Yarnbury 0 Leos 5

Yarnbury regrouped and tore back into the Leos but it was Leos who continued to dominate possession.

Yarnbury had a very slight nudge in the scrum but Lenny lane was back to his best picking up and driving forward needing a number of players to bring him down. On 9 minutes Leos increased their lead in majestic fashion.

From a scrum on the half way line the ball was won and fed through Knibbsy and Barden out to the waiting Stu Baker, he then slipped an inside ball into the supporting James Haslam who showed tremendous pace in scorching through the visitors defence out on the right wing and charged 35 metres up field and bulldozed through the despairing full back to score a great individual try in the right hand corner. Chilly Wood made up for his earlier miss with a fantastic conversion from the touchline and Leos were in command.Yarnbury 0 Leos 12.

The home side were rattled but could not respond to an inspired Leos outfit.

Bindloss was looking assured at 10 and the backs were enjoying good possession and forging holes in the home defence. On 25 minutes Leos won another line out ball on the 10 metres line Knibbsy and Barden made good yardage and the ball was then fed to winger James Lunn on the left who went outside his opponent and scored another great try this time managing to run right behind the sticks allowing Chilly Wood to add the 2 points Yarnbury 0 Leos 19.

The contrast between the 2 coached was self evident .Bob Hood was animated in his instructions to the home side to strike back whilst Greenwood and Rooke were demanding composure and more of the same!

Yarnbury in the final 5 minutes of the half got some ball and with Lister Moss Reynolds and Jordan driving into the Leos defence they were met with firm resitance with some robust tackles from Haslam, Lane Burdon and Knibbsy.Despite a spell of pressure Yarnbury could not break the Leos defence and the half time whistle went with Leos firmly in control.

Half Time Yarnbury 0 Leos 19

With the slight wind in their favour Leos knew what to expect in the second half.

Leos kicked off and spent the next 5 minutes camped in the Yarnbury half with some intelligent play by the Leos pack inspired by Robinson Macca and Warwick. Hood the Yarnbury coach yelled on instructions and when the ball came back on the home side their number 10 intelligently booted the ball down field to put Leos under pressure.

On 57 minutes Yarnbury got on the score sheet with a well worked try as there big forwards won good ball drove on to the Leos line allowing their second row to score out wide. The conversion was missed.Yarnbury 5 Leos 19.

On 60 minutes Nick Freear who had been immense following his bout of food poisoning over the weekend, was substituted by James Debenham and captain Burdy who had led by example was replaced by Will Levitt.

The expected Yarnbury rally never really materialised due to Leos being able to control possession and in fact Leos had two opportunities of further tries when Stuart Baker made a good break to be pulled down just short of the line and Neil Liu made another great run to be pulled up just short.

With 4 minutes remaining Martin McIntosh who had another immense game was substituted and replaced by Owen Bebb.

The ref allowed 3 minutes of injury time before blowing his final whistle for a fully deserved Leos victory.Final score Yarnbury 5 Leos 19

Leos supporters gave the team a rousing reception as they were applauded off the field.

Yarnbury were very gracious in defeat and full of praise to what was an inspired Leos performance.

The Leos man of the match award could be actually given to any of the 18 players who wore the Leos jersey last night and full recognition must be given to all players listed below. However there can only be on man of the match and the unanimous decision of the supporters club was that the winner was James Haslam for his sterling contribution in the back row. He scored a tremendous individual try was in the thick of all the forward action and put in some great defensive tackles.

Well this result will have raised a few eyebrows across Yorkshire rugby !!

Leos are now through to the quarter final of the Yorkshire shield and play Bridlington from Yorkshire Division 1 at home on this Tuesday 20th April kick off 6.30pm.

Leos are under no illusion about the task ahead as Brid beat Yorkshire 1 leaders Wheatley hills on saturday,but on this Leos performance anything yes anything is possible, as even with those sides left in the competition, coaches Greenwood and Rock have set the side the clear objective of winning the shield!!!

Well it promises to be another great night of cup rugby on Tuesday and a capacity crowd of Leos supporters will be making their way to crag lane to support the team.

Current Ladbrokes odds
Bridlington 4/5
Leos 2/1
Interestingly the result also caused surprise to Bridlington as they had already booked there coach to Yarnbury!! Well let's hope there are a few further surprises in store for them.

scorers:
Leos tries: Robinson,Lunn Haslam conversions: Wood x2
Yarnbury try:Butterefield
Teams:
Yarnbury:Smith,Flowers,Thompson,Dixon,Moore,Cashman,Fox,Daffern,Malthouse,Hunter,Moss,Lisret,Reynolds,Butterfield,Jordan,Daniels,Dodgson,Benton
Leos:Liu,Baker,Barden,Knibbs,Lunn,Bindloss,Wood,Robinson,McIntosh,Warwick,Freear,Fforde,Haslam,Lane,Burdon,Levitt,Bebb,Debenham