Leos 6 v West Park Leeds 19

Leos entertained local rivals West Park Leeds on Saturday looking to bounce back after battling gamely up at North Rib last week before subsiding to defeat.

Playing at home normally enabled Tim Fforde to play in the second row as it did not violate the terms of “her indoor orders” the conditions of which seems to preclude him from playing outside of the LS postcode which are now well documented in the clubhouse!!!!!However on Saturday Fforde was missing again as this time” her indoors” gave birth to Fforde junior which meant that Tim was relegated to nappy changing duties.

The back line remained the same line up as last week meaning that the powerful Stu Baker who has an excellent game at Ribb following his return from injury continued on the right wing. In the pack Pete Robbins returned at hooker Nick Freear and Rick Bell were in the engine room of the second row and Burdy, Haslam and Lenny lane made up the back row.

With the facilities the envy of most clubs West Park have made a strong return to Yorkshire 2 following their brief sojourn in division 3 last season and were looking to continue this run following a week off prompted by a swine flu outbreak in Hull resulting in their game against Hullensians being postponed.

There was a sizeable crowd at crag lane for this local derby including Jimmy Forton whose fan club includes club skipper Burdy who was heard to mutter in the clubhouse after the game that “Jimmy is the best hooker he has played with.” Jimmy is in a similar mould to Fforde where he is currently undertaking nappy changing duties on weekends at the moment but his adrenalin was pumping on the touchline where he was reminiscing down memory lane of the recent victories that Leos had inflicted on west park and may be it won't be long before he finds his hooking boots!!

West Park kicked off with the ground heavy but in surprisingly good condition considering the torrent of rain experienced sat the crag over the past 24 hours.

Whilst West Park were considered slight favourites before the game it was Leos who started the game on the front foot with them dominating the early exchanges. Early good ball won in the line by Nick Freear at 4 and Lenny Lane at the back enabled Matt Freear to launch the backs on three separate occasions where good yardage was made through centres Knibbsy and McDaid and particularly Stu Baker who came in from his wing and charged through the visitors defence.

Against the early run of play west park took the lead on 8 minutes when full back Jason Whitehead kicked a superb drop goal from full 35 metres out to give the visitors the lead Leos 0 West Park 3

Play was now being played in the middle of the pitch with both team fairly evenly matched. Both scrums were solid but Leos looked dangerous on the attack where James Haslam gained good yardage through two well taken drives but the visitors defence looked solid in defence.

On 25 minutes hooker Minns was penalised for an illegal challenge and fly half Matt Freear levelled the scores through a penalty on the 22 metres line Leos 3 West Park 3

Unfortunately James Haslam who had shown up really strongly had to leave the field on 30 minutes with a groin injury. There was a large vociferous round of applause from the home supporters with the emergence as replacement of the irresistible “big” Dave Robinson -Dave has had a long spell of injuries over the past two seasons but has now recovered and what’s more has shed a full 4 stone in weight down from his “fighting weight” of a mere 22 stone to a slim line 18 stone! The ground shudder as he trotted rather modestly onto the pitch. Leos rejigged the pack with Dave playing in a rather unaccustomed role in the second row and Rick bell reverting to the back row.

Leos were doing most of the pressing with Lane excelling in the back row and when it was spread wide, Winter looked dangerous with some neat touches and also from Knibbsy, Stu Norton and Stu Baker on the wings. Leos should have had a larger lead as the half time when the whistle blew Leos 6 West Park 3

Ross Litherland replaced John Warwick in the front row as Leos kicked off with coach si worrall emphasising that we need to keep the momentum up for the full 80 minutes, as over the past month we have not managed to do this.

It was the visitors who were now having more territorial advantage and winger booth made good yardage with ball in hand. On 54 minutes west park scored the only try of the game as following a scrum near the Leos line the ball came out awkwardly allowing scrum half Jack Bickerdike to fall on the ball. Connor Armstrong tagged the conversation Leos 6 West Park 10.

Both teams made substitutions at hooker as Leos Peter Robbins went off and the home side reshuffled the front row with Ed Connell moving to hooker with Warwick and Lither land propping, West Park substituted Minns with Storey.

The rain was playing a part in the game and the visitor’s pack whilst not the biggest in the league were starting to play as a unit allowing talented fly half Connor to secure good field position thus playing deep in Leo’s territory.

On 65 minutes Armstrong increased the visitors lead with a penalty form 30 metres following Leos holding on to the ball Leos 6 West Park 13

James Lund replaced Stu Baker on the wing for Leos and despite the efforts of Lane and Robinson could not break through the strong visitors defence

On 77 minutes the visitors effectively won the game as the ref judged Leos were crossing in the middle of the park giving Armstrong the chance to convert a simple penalty from 25 metres our Leos 6 West Park 16.

In the final play of the game with Leos trying to run from deep they were once more penalised for going over the top and Armstrong once more kicked the penalty from 30 metres to give a final core of Leos 6 West Park 19

Over the 80-minute West Park probably deserved the victory as they took their chances For Leos it was another disappointing afternoon, which had started so well in the first 40 half.

We should not be too despondent but we clearly need to get back to winning ways quickly. We have a talented first team squad and on our day are a match for any team.We just need to show it more often!

For Leos there was a clear man of the match –Lenny Lane.He showed great strength and commitment over the 80 minutes.

Next Saturday we take a rest from league fixtures with a home game in the first round of the Yorkshire shield against Keighley from Yorkshire Division 1 Kick off 2.15pm

Teams:
Leos
Winter, Norton, Knibbs, McDaid, Baker, Matt Freear, Wood, Connell, Robbins, Warwick, Nick Freear, Bell, Burdon, Haslam, Lane, Robinson, Litherland, Lund

West Park Leeds
Whitehead, A Booth, Stevens, Mc Clure, S Booth, Armstrong, Bickerdike, D Strevens, Minns, Storey, Howard, Thomson, Harrison, Kilvington, Fletcher, Warden, Towler