A Rare win at Roundhesians for the Leos 3s/4s

Leos combined 3s/4s team record rare win at Roundhesians.

With new Captain Cranfield away for the first week of the season having assembled a good mix of 3s and 4s players he handed over match day duties to Lovers and Cadgey.

Playing at Hesians is never easy and today proved no different. Despite great efforts in the set piece, both scrum and lineout Leos could not break through in the early stages as hesians defended well and then went on the front foot. Leos had to absorb some determined home pressure and did so well with good tackling across the pitch.

Some concerted driving play from the forwards right into the heart of the home defence led to the talented James Martin being put in space on the left wing and his dancing feet allowed him to evade a few would be tacklers to score Leos first try.

Leos used rolling subs to good effect and after 20 mins on rolled Lovers ! Slightly surprisingly his first efforts were not to bosh it up but to throw a misspass into the grateful hands of the Diddy Doc Herring who used his pace and elusiveness to ghost round the cover defence and score a wonderful try.

By now the forwards were on top and Leos started to play with some elan. The 50 year old Eagle at 10 was pulling the strings and annoying the opposition as per usual. The odd late hit went in on him but he just bounced back up and smiling got on with the game. Ben Horner ran strongly at 13 and tackled with gusto as did Andrew Bruce in his first game for some years.

Up front Cadgey Macklin, Josh, Goff, Winterburn, CJ, Newsh and Hill all worked hard in the heat to cope with the home side who refused to give up. Further Leos pressure led to Eagle stealing a cheeky interception on halfway and despite a half century on the planet he still had the pace to score under the posts. Amazing really as some of us much younger than Eags are still slower than he is !

Hesians were clearly stung by being several tries down at home and came back in their traditional style. They created an overlap for their giant winger to stroll in from 10 yards and the game as a contest was very much alive.

The second half got underway with Cadgeys words of “ do not relax and I want 3 tries in 10 mins “ ringing in our ears. Jake was by now paying well at 9 showing a good pass but the home pack started to gain some ball through sheer effort. As we tend to do when a few tries up Leos relaxed and suddenly Hesians scored several tries in quick succession through good hands and rugby nous. Only a dropped ball when almost over the line prevented another home score.

Leos responded with further tries from Herring who showed great strength to score, Bruce scored showing up well in support. Horner also got a deserved try.

At this point Eagle was dumped on his head and he went for a deserved rest. Jewy went to 10 and partly due to tiredness started to take a few wrong options noticeably kicking it to the giant home winger. The Leos discipline disappeared and far too much chelping led to penalties being conceded. The game was right in the balance and Hesians showing great spirit tried very hard to steal a win.

Due to pressure tempers started to flare somewhat and Newsh who had been superb in his all round efforts shoulder barged someone when he had done really well to get across to make a tackle in the first place, well he is Newsh after all ! The young prop Josh also lost his rag swearing at the wily Hesians 10 he was given an early rest and maybe learnt a lesson. No matter how good a player you are you can’t help from the sideline.

With only a couple of scores between the teams the Leos defence was stretched with only last ditch cover tackles stopping the giant winger from scoring out wide. Herring, Martin and even Lovers worked hard to hold onto a precious lead. Finally with the diddy doc about to blow a gasket Lovers went to 10 and a reluctant Jewy moved to 12. In the last play of the game the rotund centre come 10 boshed it up, good support from the forwards recycled the ball and Andy Hill crashed over to seal a rare win away at Hesians.

During the game James Martin kicked 4 conversians leaving a final score of 43 – 26 to Leos. He would doubtless have kicked more if he had not tried to drop kick a couple of them ! ah the impetuosity of youth !
Man of the match was a tough call. Ben Horner played well as did all the forwards but in truth the player who made the most difference was the Diddy Doc Pete Herring, not only for scoring 2 well taken tries but also setting up Andrew Bruce for his try. Whenever he got the ball he scared the pants out of the opposition and still put in a few crunching last ditch tackles.

This was a good win at Hesians and deserved as all the players worked hard at times in the heat. That said we very nearly contrived to lose from a position of strength and as Cadgey said afterwards great teams don’t relax they put people to the sword. Still with throwing people who have never played together before into a tough first game of the season all in all a good result with plenty of fun in the sun.
Next week we hope to field a both a 3s and 4s team if numbers allow and we look forward to Captain Cranfield taking the reigns as his season as 3s Captain properly begins.

Tries

Martin 1, Eagle 1,Hill 1, Herring 2, Horner 1, Bruce 1
Con

Martin 4.

Report by Lovejoy.