Speed, Youth and Cohesion win the day in a furiously contested local derby on a cracking spring day at Leos.

Leos 19 Moortown 39

Captain Tom Tweddle had gathered a useful 21 ish man squad to welcome our near neighbours Moortown to the big pitch at The Crag.

Leos were the usual mixture of coltish youth and wisened experience. Moortown were younger, fitter, faster, gobbier and a very useful outfit to boot, roared on by Nick Oates , their “entertaining “ Manager/ Coach and about 20 very vocal travelling supporters.

The game began at a good lick with Moortown scoring through their nimble backs, the 12 danced his way over the line, and in an effort to make the conversion easier ,perhaps slightly arrogantly, but expertly nonetheless stepped 2 Leos defenders once over the line. Moortown were quicker to the breakdown, and rucked over well creating crucial quick ball for their 9 to release their young slick backs.

Leos finally woke up after about 15 mins thankfully, with Cadgey, James Walton, Rob Byrom, Tom, Dan the Mann, our resident New Yorker, Billy Marsh and the evergreen Burdy upping their effort levels in the forwards. This shift in momentum saw some ball at last for Skipper Tweds at 9 to use. He fed Jason at 10 who tried to get Chris and Jake in the Leos centres into the game. Blakey put in a huge hit on a fast travelling Town player to the roaring appreciation of the Leos faithful. He also dinked a delightful grubber kick behind the Town defence, re-gathering the ball and Leos surged forward as a result. But in truth Moortown were up very fast and such opportunities for Leos were initially rare.

However the elusive and classy Nick Porter was making heavy inroads from 15 for Leos every time he got his hands on the ball. After some cohesive pick and go driving work from the home forwards Leos got back in the game with a fine try. Tom in the back row made break after break and showed again what a find he is. My apologies but your humble scribe was filling the water bottles at the time so no idea who scored !

The game was a contrast in styles, when Moortown got their fast and elusive backs involved, particularly their young winger, they were nigh on impossible to halt. Leos did well via the hard working big lumps up front with Rob Byrom cantering free as he put his 19 odd stone to good use. Cadgey also made the tough yards as ever. Town scored several very impressive breakaway tries despite desperate and committed defence from Leos. Notably from Chris at 12 who smashed anything remotely near him. He also chased the stupidly fast Town winger down refusing to allow him an easy run in. Highly commendable. Jake at 13 made effortless ground through pace, and power repeatedly crunching and stepping the visiting defenders at will. He continues to demonstrate ability in spades and a modesty that belies his potential as a future Leos 1st team 13. After 20 mins Jason had a rest and Nick Porter went to 10. Tweds at nine bravely sniped, whipped the ball out to Nick and kicked well for the corners from the penalties that ensued as Town chelped, and started to realise Leos were as up for the game as they were.

The half ended with honours even and a cracking game of rugby was being enjoyed by both teams. The halftime team talk from Cadgey was to play our game of 3 drives from the big boys up front and only then once defenders were committed to release the ball to the Leos backs. Oh and to stop kicking away possession which had hurt us too. Captain Tweds spoke with passion about the need to up the ante, particularly in defence as Leos were missing tackles as fitness told.

Changes were constantly made to the Leos team with rolling subs. Chris had a rest at 12 to be replaced by a somewhat larger older centre, Kenroy arrived on the wing and immediately began to smash Town players out of his way powerfully getting over the gainline time and again. He is a right old beast when he catches the ball ! The second stanza saw Leos play better and although Town never lost their lead the home side scored 2 more tries. Jason got one of them and Tom in the backrow finished off one of his impressive breaks with a try too. Suddenly the arrogant comments from Town were less frequent. Despite this your humble scribe was accurately labelled “ a pudding “ by his opposite 12 who invited the Leo to try and keep up with the younger faster man. To be fair when the portly Leos chap somehow did so the Town player congratulated him in a surprised tone “ Well done Grandad you kept up well there ! “ there was plenty of banter as you would expect in a fierce local derby and a couple of borderline hits which made it “ a bit tasty “ at times. At one point Leos were thought to have 16 on the pitch, but bless their cotton socks Town never really were able to count all that well ! unless it is a new set of shiny tatoos that is ! This was gleefully pointed out by a few giggling Leos.

Captain Tweds took a blatant high tackle that was not penalised, he got up and got on with it making very good ground from his runs at 9. Nick Porter continually carried the fight to the visitors ghosting through the line. He is a Rolls Royce of a player and a very effective communicator from 15, his efforts helped the younger Leos backs be in the right place at the right time. Jake hit hard in attack and defence at 13, and Kenroy blew a chance when he eliminated about 5 Town defenders only to have the ball stripped from him/ drop it when over the line. His partner in crime Kinger also made the hard yards when he arrived to add his muscle to the home effort. Ant on the wing was vocally encouraged by Cadgey “ to back himself , we believe in you Ant ! “

Billy Marsh brought his friend Kenny ? ( apologies if I got your name wrong, I am very old ) Kenny got stuck in despite never playing anything other than touch rugby before. He has pace and whether he brings his pink boots or not next time he visits Billy he will be roped in to play.

Boots , not pink, will be provided if required.

Billy Adam woke up from a little snooze on the sidelines and came on at 15, as ever clearing up other people mistakes. As the pressure told a few Hail Mary passes were thrown quite rightly in a gamble to get back on terms. All that was really missing was a little composure, and perhaps a slice or two of lady luck. Leos had a try correctly disallowed for a forward pass.

As the game entered the final 10 mins it became clear that Town were going to win. They kept on scoring breakaway tries but Leos never faltered in the efforts to stem the tide. At this point your scribe took a huge no arm hit from the Town 13 that he never saw coming, it was a fantastic smash which left both players on the ground, to huge cheers from the visiting fans and the Town players, the fact that no arms were used was ignored by the ref. The indignant Leos 12 did not lose the ball and sought out the Town player to both “ politely suggest “ that arms were used next time, and to shake hands to defuse the tension that was always bubbling just beneath the surface of the game.

The fact that Leos continued to take the fight to the oppo was noted, despite being outgunned pace wise by the very effective Town team Leos fought for possession a territory til the final whistle blew. This was highlighted by both Captain Tweds and Cadgey in the post match huddle. Moortown thoroughly deserved to win as they were clearly the better team on the day.

Man of the Match was Tom in the backrow for his countless breaks and a well taken try.

We retired to enjoy cheese and biscuits provided by Jason and ice box cooled beer. The following may well be an urban legend but even if not true it is a good yarn so here goes ! Dave Barden is the source so your guess is as good as mine.

We then heard tell of the 1s who had won a hard fought game away at Roundhesians 22/ 18 from being down 8/18 at half time. Apparently FFFordy was unaware he was meant to be playing so Gabes set sail on his pushbike to find Tim at home in front of the 6 N with a cup of tea.

“ Come on you big lummox we need you at Hesians ! “ was the cry ! Ffffordy due took off like a startled elephant and played a major role in helping Leos record a notable victory, as did Big Dave by all accounts .

Both Leos teams, their families, comprising of an ever expanding crèche ! , enjoyed a marvellous Eng/ France game as the crackers French finally turned up and along with those pesky Irish broke English hearts once again.

So the day ended in smiles and laughter in the bar. With only a handful of games left we look forward to a few more sunshine fuelled outings before we take our leave for the summer. Some to either play cricket / golf and others to have no excuse to avoid the dreaded Ikea trips on a Sat !