Leos 18 v Moortown 15

Report by Peter Cooke

After a two week break because of the adverse weather, Leos returned to league action with the visit of local rivals Moortown,who had been beaten 29 - 7 earlier in the season. After the recent torrential storms, the bright, still conditions were a pleasant change and had allowed the pitch to dry out a little.

After lengthy absences for various reasons, Leos were pleased to welcome back Gareth Chesters, Tim Fforde and Will Levitt into the starting fifteen, whilst a large crowd gathered at Crag Lane, bolstered by a Moortown ex players reunion.

There was a fast, confident opening to the game, with both sides clearly willing to move the ball,yet,as was to be the case for the majority of the game, defences were generally on top. Danny Thompson was an early threat for Leos, running off the accurate distribution of Richard Bean and Ed Farmer, but it was the visitors who scored the first points, when they converted a penalty for off side on 12mins.Indeed,Moorown enjoyed the majority of possession in the first fifteen minutes.

Leos gradually worked their way into the game, building phrases, through the powerful front row of Ed Connell, James Farad and Chris Lewis and eventually won an attacking lineout in the corner, from which it appeared Leos crossed the line but the referee by Glen Cockcroft was unsighted and ruled the ball had been held up.

Leos now had the majority of the field position, but Moortown were resolute in defence and Ed Farmer was wide with his first penalty attempt on 27mins,whilst in a rare try scoring oppourtunity,Vinnie O'Brien was well tackled into touch in the right hand corner.

The pressure had to eventually tell and from a solid attacking scrum, Danny Thompson cut back inside and did well to turn in the tackle and force himself over for the first try of the game. The Ed Farmer conversion, put Leos ahead at 7 - 3 on 34 mins.

A somewhat strange first half, in that although both sides were prepared to move the ball, there were very few scoring chances, as defences were on top, each side was solid on their own set piece, whilst a constant flow of penalties, evenly distributed, didn't help either side build momentum. At half time James Knibbs replaced Mark McDaid.

The game opened up in the first minute of the second half, when Leos ran the ball from their own 22,through numerous hands, the ball made its way to Tim Sleight on the left, he showed good speed to go round his man and accelerate away, somehow Vinnie O'Brien, who was enjoying one of his best games for Leos, was on his inside, even more staggeringly, Will Levitt was up with play to delicately chip (hack) on, for Tim Sleight to finish the 80m move in the left corner.

Leos now played with more fluancy,James Debenham won good ball, Tim Fforde was rampant in attack, whilst Gareth Chesters seemed to be taking great pleasure from running at his former team mates. Three quick phases were won in front of the visitors posts, a three man over lap and Moortown killed the ball. The sin bin was inevitable, as was the three points added by Farmer - 15 - 3 on 45mins.

Leos were now on top, James Knibbs and Danny Thompson were combining, James Henry was running from full back and Tim Sleight looked dangerous each time he touched the ball. The back row got on top, winning the break down ball, until another infringement allowed Ed Farmer to increase the lead to 18 - 3 on 60mins.

Leos made changes, Mark McDaid returned, Nick Burdon replaced Will Levitt and Dave Robinson warmed up.However,it is always dangerous to under estimate Moortown and it required a last ditch Danny Thompson tackle to prevent a try, followed by another long clearance from Vinnie O'Brien.

Sure enough, on 73mins,the visitors moved the ball to the right, where the winger made a clean break. Although he was well tackled just short, a supporting player got over the line and a good conversion made it 18 - 10.

Moortown sensed more and a charged down clearance bounced favourable for a second try on 77mins but the touch line conversion was missed. A final run of the ball by the visitors but a trademark, crunching tackle from James Knibbs ended both the attack and the game, as the final whistle was blown.

An enjoyable, good spirited, competitive game, from which Moortown deservedly took a losing bonus point, well controlled, if slightly conservatively so, by the referee. Leaders Sheffield Medics were edged out at Bradford Salem, so now, only nine points cover the top seven sides.

Next week, Leos take their unbeaten 2014 record to Halifax, where they face Rishworthians,who themselves beat Knottingley by a point at the weekend. The seconds were very unlucky to go down 17 - 12 at West Park, in a very competitive and high quality game, whilst the thirds also lost narrowly 19 - 17 at York. Sounds like three good games.

Jordache Myerscough took some photos of the game which can be viewed by copying and pasting the below:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0t4whogcjwykv8g/Dpc5bptcG_

Leos:Henry,Sleight,Thompson,McDaid,O'Brien,Falmer,Bean,Connell,
Farad,Lewis,Fforde,Debenham,Chesters,Levitt,Hyde,Burdon

Moortown:Halkier,Thompson,Fieldmore,Shires,Docking,Oakes,
Williams,Shine,O'Leary,Child,Lewis,Wilcox,Myers,Sterenborg
,Smith,Maycock,Buckle,Young