Muddy Mayhem Ensues in Bramley

The home side were well drilled and ferociously committed both in attack and defence. The scrums were fairly even but Leos could not break through from 1st phase. Bramley adapted much the better to the amiable refs interpretation of the breakdown and slowly got on the front foot as a result.

Leos lacked composure and were often beaten to the breakdown by the admirable efforts of the home team forwards. Despite huge pressure in the oppo 22 Leos somehow either knocked on, or lost the ball in the ruck so handing the initiative to our hosts.

Finally Bramley broke free and through quick hands and youthful pace they score the opening try of the game. This was well converted and Leos sought to regroup.

Strong carries through the mud from Thommo, Poll, CJ and Carl finally allowed the visitors some territory. However the canny home team backs cleverly were offside all day and remained undetected by the friendly ref. This meant the Leos backs had no time or space to create try scoring chances. Tim had few opportunities to use his quick feet at 10, Lovers tidied up lots of poor slow ball, sometimes boshing, often kicking when he had no other choice. On the rare occasions when Niall the nail got the pill he made good ground but in truth these glimpses of his talents in the open spaces were fleeting. Gareth also ran hard when he got the ball making healthy yardage.

Halftime arrived and Niall hit the nail on the head when he bluntly said that the home team simply wanted it more and if Leos did not respond we would surely lose.

Another mammoth effort of rucking and mauling in the Bramley 22 looked certain to result in a try for Leos. However in a moment that summed up the game, Bramley's mud covered winger somehow brazenly walked around the Leos maul, took the ball from the man at the backs hands and then kick chased the entire length of the field to score despite sterling efforts from Tim Leslie and Brian to save the day. Bramley converted for a 14 to 0 lead somewhat fortuitously.

At this point Leos were staring defeat square in the face. They were bolstered by the returning slimline Macklin and some desperate forward efforts to get the visitors back into the game. Thommo bulldozed, Poll battered away, CJ cleaned up the scraps but to be fair Bramley scrambled very well in defence. Carl made hard yards up front and Brian and Mike on the wings also made good ground but Leos failed to register a score until after a massive team effort of forwards and backs, Niall pounced from close range to get Leos on the board. The conversion was missed.

At this point the scrums went unopposed, the home team kicked way all possession and Leos tried mightily to conjure up a try to get close on the scoreboard. Despite plenty of really hard dog like work in the mud from both forwards and backs Bramley bravely repelled each attack through top class defence.

The game ended with Bramley deservedly winning 14 to 5. As Tim Leslie was so clean at 15 he was gleefully dragged through the mud by several of his team mates until he was as caked in mud as the rest of us. A thoroughly enjoyable game played in the best of spirits ended as we defrosted, de caked and generally regained feeling in the showers.

Next week we hope for a win for the Leos 3s and the chance to watch Eng complete a possible grand slam down in deepest darkest Wales.

As told to CJ by RefJoy.