Leos 15 v Bradford Salem 22

Report by Peter Cooke

After successive league victories over West Park Leeds and Castleford,Leos welcomed old foes Bradford Salem to Crag Lane.Although the alpine ski ing squad returned,other players were unavailable,but Tobi Oputa,another Leeds Medic,was able to make his home debut,after an impressive two try performance at Castleford.

After a full twenty four hours without rain,the game was played in near arctic conditions,which caused the Moortown/Hullensians game to be cancelled because of flooding and reports of trench foot eminating from Skipton.Frankly,playing conditions were nigh impossible,but the sides exchanged penalties around the 20 min mark,when Dave Barden equalised a similar effort from Salem fly half Andy Robinson.

An even first half turned when Leos were temporarily reduced to fourteen men shortly before half time and the visitors took the opportunity to squeeze over from a close range scrum,however Dave Barden was able to reduce the defeicit to 6 - 8,with his second well struck penalty into injury time.

Leos briefly held the lead at 9 - 8,through a third Dave Barden penalty on 52mins,but Salem regained the lead via an intelligent chip through,to take them six points clear.Yet again however,Leos fought back through their forwards,with apparently only the Leos back row of Nick Burdon, James Fayed and Richie Howells enjoying the conditions.

With the experienced Paul Martin screaming for the ball to be kicked to the corner, Dave Barden calmly landed an incredible 40m kick on 65mins and appeared to have secured a draw on 74mins,when he continued his impeccable kicking display.

However,approaching the final whistle,the dangerous Salem threequarters picked up a ball around half way and good handling in appauling conditions,meant Leos had to be satisfied with a losing bonus point,going down 15 - 22.Frankly,both sides and the visiting Welsh referee Mr.Keller,deserve great credit for producing any sort of entertaing,competitive rugby in the circumstances.

The Statistics page has been updated,for those wishing to view performances over the season,whilst in the probable promotion decider,Selby edged out Yarnbury 10 - 6,making them favourites for promotion,although they still have a couple of difficult games outstanding.Next week,the firsts have a rare free weekend,before the final run in of four games.