West Park Leeds 13 v Leos 6

This eagerly awaited local derby never quite lived up to the pre match hype as both defences were very solid and there were few try scoring opportunities over the 80 minutes.

In addition whilst both sides were eager and willing to play an expansive game where possible the game was never allowed to flow as the game revolved around the refereee4s whistle to the frustration of both sides and supporters.

Leos took the lead on 12 minutes when Matt Freear converted a simple penalty from under the posts when west park were penalised.

West Park came straight back and within 2 minutes were on equal terms as Leos were penalised for offside and Armstrong converted the penalty to make the score3-3.

On the rare occasion the ref allowed the game to flow Leos looked dangerous with ball in hand and Neil Liu and Stu Baker made good yardage and it was only a fine tackle by home scrum half that kept their try line intact.Stu Baker was given a yellow card with what the ref saw as retaliation.

On 37 minutes west park were given a penalty when Leos were caught offside at a ruck and Armstrong kicked the penalty to make the half time score West Park 6 Leos 3.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first with defences on top and this continued until the 60minute when Matt Freear levelled the scores with a well taken penalty when west park were penalised

The only score of the game was a well worked try by the home side on 70 minutes when from a line out on the 22 metres line the ball was whipped out to the backs where full back Whitehead wrong footed our defence to score a well taken try under the posts which Armstrong converted. West Park 13 Leos 6

Leos were enforced to make several changes Lenny Lane and James Haslam two forwards who had been in the heart of the action and Stu Baker who had made some telling runs were substituted and replaced by Simon Dowling, Will Levitt and James Lund.

Leos came straight back and west park needed all their defensive qualities to keep Leos out.

With the last throw of the dice Leos mounted an attack from their own line and the ball was sent through Freear,Barden Winter and to James Lund who scorched 55 metres down field and was somehow bundled into touch in the corner with the try line beckoning.

The whistle was blown for full time with West Park narrowly gaining the 2 league points
Final score West Park 13 Leos 6

Probably a fair result on the fact that west park scored the only try of the game, but the reality was that the game was played in good spirit by two well matched sides and the result could have gone either way

Lots of positives can be taken out of the game.

The man of the match award was between prop Dave Robinson, hooker Martin McIntosh, flanker James Haslam and fly half Matt Freear.The award went to Matt Freear for two well taken penalties, and his incisive overall play

scorers
Leos: Matt freear x 2 penalties
West Park: Try Whitehead, conversion Armstrong penalties x 2 Armstrong

Leos team
Bindloss,Liu,Winter,Barden,BakerMatt Freear,WoodsConnell,McIntosh, Robinson, Forde,Nick Freear,Haslam,Lane,Burdon,levitt,Lund Dowling