Leos welcomed old friends and foes,Ripon RUFC to Crag Lane, for the first home game of 2010.

The pitch was very heavy after the New Year snow and the torrential rain of friday,but Ryan had again done a great job to produce a fine, but soft playing surface.

Ripon are arguably the form team of Yorkshire 2,winning their last five fixtures, moving them up to third in the league table. Leos themselves have recently found more consistency and improved form, winning three of the last four league fixtures, including their only game of 2010,a fine away success at Hessle. Both sides fielded near full strength teams, with Ripon included the experienced pairing of Bell and Brown.

Leos opened brightly, with Nick Freear wining the early kicking duel and putting a fine penalty to the 10m line, after an early Ripon infringement. Forde took the resultant lineout ball and the forwards led by Robinson and Connell, drove the Ripon pack backwards, for an early score, with scrum half Chilly Wood, emerging with the ball. Mark Winter added a terrific conversion, to give Leos a seven point lead after 5 mins.

Leos were quick to the break down and earned another penalty when Ripon failed to release, but the home side suffered their first setback on 10mins,when influential centre Tatts having a slight hamstring pull and, had to be replaced by Tom Bindloss.

Ripon came more into the game, with scrum half Brown giving quick ball to his threequarters,but with the referee ignoring the offside line, their was little scope for either side to make significant progress..
Importantly, on 20mins,with the Leos forwards slightly on top, Leos were forced into a second substitution, with Litherland replaces the experienced prop Dave Robinson who suffered a calf strain

On 24mins Ripon fly half Lyons put over the first of his penalties from 30m,and Ripon took the lead on 34mins,when full back Bell, won the race to the left corner, from a clever chip by Brown. - 7 - 8.

Leos should have retaken the lead on 38mins,when a relatively straight forward penalty was missed, but instead,Ripon went to the other end of the park and Lyons added his second penalty on half time to give a score of 7 - 11.Thje first 40 minutes produced a good tight half, with a very good standard of rugby played by both sides little between them, and few try scoring opportunities

The second half followed a similar pattern, whilst Lyons missed a difficult penalty attempt on 46mins.

On 55mins a Ripon forward initiated a mass 16 man brawl, with the referee struggling to maintain control and eventually binning the Ripon centre Denver who had little if any involvement in the altercation!.

On 63mins,Ripon won clean lineout ball on the left, which was swiftly transferred to the right hand side, with the referee adjudging the the player had squeezed in at the corner. Lyons added a terrific touch line conversion to give Ripon a little breathing space at 7 - 18.There immediately involved another short brawl resulting in Leos centre James knibbs being yellow carded for what the ref adjudged retaliation.

Leos spent the last 15mins of the game in the Ripon half but couldn't break down a well structured defence, in the heavy condtions.That is, until the final minutes, when a sweeping move covering fully 80m,led to Winter breaking the first line of defence, supported by the ever present Burdon,who,faced with the prospect of his first try in 2yrs,unselfishly fed on to Wood, for Knibbs to finally get over to score a majestical try to make a final score of 12 - 18.

A good,hard,competitive York's 2 game, with little between the sides, although Leos would argue that the key 50/50 decisions, went in favour of our visitors.

The Leos man of the match award went to second row Tim Fforde for his contribution in the loose, his dominance in the line out and his leadership skills in supporting skipper Burdy.

Leos scorers:
Tries Chilly Woods,James Knibbs Conv Mark Winter
Ripon scorers:
Tries Bell, Groundwater Conv Lyons,Penalties Lyons x 2

Teams:
Leos Matt Freear,Neil Lui,Will TattershalJames Knibbl,Stu Baker,Tom Bindloss,Mark Winter,Chilly Wood,Ed Connell,Martin McIntosh,Dave Robinson,Tim Fforde Nick Freear,Kris Stafford,Dave Burden,Nick Burdon,Lenny Lane Ross Litherland
Ripon:
Bell,Groundwater,Denver,Butterill,Drane,Lyons,Brown,Newcombe,Dodds,
Wolloms,Fotherby,Coyne,Box,Potter,Scott,Audsley.Beck,Nicholson,
Fletcher

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