On a delightful crisp,autumnal day,Leos welcomed the undefeated,league leaders Huddersfield YMCA to Crag Lane,together with their sizeable travelling support.

A number of tough,physical encounters are beginning to take there toll as regards injuries,with Leos only able to field three first choice forwards,whilst in the backs,there were debuts for Leeds University graduate Sleight and former Ilkeston player Newton,on the wing and at scrum half respectively.By contrast,YM were virtually at full strength,being able to welcome back threequarters Beever,Morton and Wilson.

Leos conceded an early penalty for hands in the ruck,but the relatively easy chance went wide,whilst at the other end,Leos also missed a shot at goal,after an off side decision.Two of the Leagues better back lines were on show,with both sides handling the ball confidantly,whilst Sleight made an early uncomprimising tackle on his opposite number.

Pressure from the visitors told in the 11min,when former Chief Scout Debenham,was forced to handle on the try line,leading to his first ever sin binning.Huddersfield,who already had the early nudge at the scrums,elected to scrum and relatively easilly pushed the seven man home pack backwards,for the Number 8 to touch dowm,with Smith adding the conversion.

Leos responded in style,with the forwards recycling possession,before Levitt bravely secured retreating scrum ball,to set up drives from Loughbury and Dowling,to tie in the visitors defence.Newton spotted a gap on the blind side to squeeze over for the equalising try,with Henry adding the conversion on 17mins.

As usual,centres Knibbs and Winter were looking dangerous,but YM were enjoying the better field position.Unluckilly,on 22mins,a speculative kick ahead from YM,was confidently touched down on the goal line by full back Henry.When the unsighted referee finally caught up with play,he determined that the ball had been carried over and awarded a 5m scrum to YM.They were again able to push over the home sides seven man pack,to take a lead of 7 - 14

The signs were ominous at this stage,but Leos dug deep,with the impressive Fforde dominating the line outs,helped by accurate throwing from Forton,whilst Wainwright intelligently mixed his options,from the limited ball he was receiving.Both Henry and Baker were rock solid under high balls,whilst Howells and Bardon were spoiling at every oppourtunity.The Leos scrum improved as the half wore on and it took a nasty high tackle on Winter,to prevent the centre from equalising shortly before half time.

Leos made a very bright opening to the second half,with Knibbs making a couple of half breaks in midfield and Debenham and Levitt leading forward drives.The visitors had a well organised defence,but the continuous pressure told on 48mins,when one of their forwards was sin binned for a dangerous stamping offence.

Leos took advantage,when Fforde won more line out ball,the forwards drove in field,before a delightfully weighted pass from Wainwright,allowed Henry to burst two tackles and score beside the posts.Adding the conversion himself,the scores were level after 50mins.

Huddersfield were stunned into action and enjoyed five minutes of goal line pressure,requiring last ditch tackles from Newton,Forton and Bardon to keep them out.Finally,they swiftly handled from right to left,enabling the strong running Ryder,shortly to move to rugby league with Swinton,to cross in the corner,but the final pass drifted a yard forward.

They were not to be denied and retook a seven point lead on 58mins.Crucially,they backed this up a few minutes later,when the only soft defence of the game,allowed a YM forward to break free from a ruck and storm 40m unchallenged to the line,Smith adding a fine conversion to give a score of 14 - 28.

Ferguson and Scott came on as replacements and Ferguson immediately made an impression,intercepting and going 30m,before being held on the line.A YM prop 'killed' the ball,resulting in a sin binning but preventing a Leos try under the posts.

Leos continued to search for a bonus point,with Knibbs,Winter and Sleight dangerous down the left,but a good tackle put the winger into touch.

The best was saved for last,when the Leos forwards effectively counter rucked in their own half,allowing Newton and Wainwright to release quick ball,Henry joined the line to feed Sleight,who used impressive foot work to beat his man,before slipping the ball inside to Winter to score the best try of the match.Unfortunately,the difficult conversion was missed,so giving a final score of 19 - 28.

YM fully deserved their win,but much credit must go to the vastly under strength home side who put up a tremendously spirited and competitive performance,whilst it was particularly pleasing to see many of the injured Leos players on the touch line.

Leos drop to sixth in the table and next week travel to Hullensians,who lie one place above in fifth.All four senior sides have got off to an encouraging start,but none are as successful as the Ladies first XV,who are unbeaten in RFUW Championship North 1.Next sunday(24th) they have a home,top of the table clash with their nemesis Waterloo Ladies and a good turn out is expected for the 2.30pm ko.
Leos Tries:Newton,Henry,Winter. Conversions:Henry x2
Leos:Henry,Baker,Winter,Knibbs,Newton,Wainwright,Sleight,Dowling,Forton,loughenbury,Fforde,Debenham,Levitt,Barden,Howells,Ferguson,Scott
Report by Peter Cooke

Leos RUFC

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