After two months of hard pre season training under the direction of Coaches Greenwood,Rock and Worrall,Leos were pleased to get their competitive season underway,with a preseason friendly at local rivals West Leeds,thinly disguised as a Yorkshire Shield 1st round game.

As usual,there have been changes over the close season,most notably including the retirement from first team rugby of Matt Freear and Nick Burdon stepping down as captain,after three successful years,to be replaced by the newly wed Dave Robinson.

After brief sabbaticals,Forton and Tattersall have returned,whilst a number of new players have been attracted,including Wainwright and Henry,who made their debuts on saturday.

Both sides were missing numerous players,with Leos particularly hard hit in the front five where Litherland,Connell,McIntosh,Bebb,Fforde and Junior Freear were all missing.Uncertainty over the availability of Winter and Tattersall,meant Greenwood went with Knibbs and McDaid in the centres,whilst Wainwright and Henry started at fly half and full back respectively,but nevertheless a strong bench featured Scott,Bindloss,Levitt and Dowling.

The game opened in entertaining fashion,with both sides throwing the ball about.the young West leeds backs countered at every oppourtunity,whilst the Leos forward gained early dominance.The first score came on 10mins,when Henry joined the line,gave a lovely soft ball to Lund,who beat two men to score the perfect wingers try in the left corner.

On his return to first team rugby,Forton lasted 18mins,before a conversation with the referee,lead to a sin binning..Scott replaced him at hooker and he had a blistering 2mins and 47secs,before he too was binned.In their absence,West Leeds worked a clever move from the scrum,resulting in the centre going over unopposed to give them a 7 - 5 lead after 20mins,which they increased with a penalty on 30mins.

Playing against the breeze,Leos came back via their forwards,until a break from the impressive Haslam,saw Loughenbury charge onto the ball,taking three W.L. defenders over the line with him,to level scores at 10 - 10 after 35mins.A generally equal first half,ended with strong runs from Baker and Knibbs,somehow ended with the ball in the hands of veteran Debenham,who cleverly released Forton for a fine try,converted by Wainwright.

The pace slowed in the second half,with the sides exchanging penalties to produce a 16 - 23 scoreline,with the game constantly interrupted by mysterious referring decisions,to the amusement of both sets of supporters.The game was still evenly balanced going into the last 15mins,but Leos had had the better of territory,but Wests were always dangerous from broken play.

The game was probably decided on 72mins,when Levitt made a half break,setting up quick ball from the ruck,allowing Wood to give a wonderful inside ball to the flying Baker,who went 50m,rounding the full back,to score a well worked 'training ground' try.From the restart,Levitt repeated his break,before quick hands from Wainwright,McDaid and Barden,resulted in Henry linking from the back to score the final try and give a scoreline of 16 - 35 and importantly, four tries to one.

An enjoyable start to the season,at the friendly West Leeds Club,earning Leos a second round tie at the winners of the Castleford/Knottingley clash.

A number of strong performances,with Lane dominate at both line out and the base of the scrum,Chesters dynamic around the park,Wainwright controlling the game and mixing his options from 10 and Henry taking the safe and sensible decisions at the back.However,after much debate,Coach Greenwood,gave the man of the match award to James Knibbs for his all round play and strong running off Wainwright.Clearly knibbsy is intent on retaining his crown from last season!

On thurs(6.30ko),Leos entertain York in training game over four 20mins sessions,where everyone will be given a game,before the League season opens on Sept 4,with a home game against newly promoted Roundhegians.

Finally,thanks to Ian Kirke for again attending and we wish him well for next weeks Challenge Cup Final against Warringtonwhere he will no doubt be cheered on by members of Tony's Tours.

Report by Peter Cooke

Leos RUFC

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