Leos 3s in a late change did not face Ilkley 3s who blobbed on Fri am, but stepped up to the mark to play Burley 1st team ! This seasons fixture lottery continues.

Before the game as your scribe was out on the pitch Burley were laughing and joking presumably expecting to have an easy win.
We welcomed back a new slimline Reedy to the 3s, his mate Gabes having declined to play with the oppo a little too tough for his palate.

Lovers commented on his centre partners trim appearance and was greeted with “ I wish I could say the same of you Lovers ! “ fair comment as the rotund one now weighs 3 pounds more than the Leeds Carnegie USA Prop Mike,at 19 stone 5 ! We also welcomed back Stevo after 18 months out with a serious injury, great to see him back on the field of play.
Slightly amazingly with Leos a man short Burley refused to lend us a player ! maybe we should take this as a compliment to our reputation as a good team, or maybe not ...

Leos kicked off and were up for the challenge from the start. The forwards led by Cadgey played pick and go effectively with Andy Hill, Pinder, Captain Cranners and Stevo all to the fore. Jason then turned quick ball into the hands of his outside backs with Lovers and Reedy boshing it up well, this gave the forwards a target and Leos were more than holding their own against the young well organised 1st team on the back pitch.

Unfortunately it was Burley who scored first when a ball flew out the back of a Leos scrum. Their very rapid 9 hacked it on to score, just outpacing Jamie Tweddle who was busting a gut to win the race.
Leos came back and from good lineout work set up a series of rolling mauls. These were well marshalled by Jamie Young and good ground was thus gained. From this front foot ball Jason fed Lovers who carried several oppo players with him staying on his feet as he drove towards the line. Held up a few yards short the forwards recycled the ball well and Reedy powered over touching down against the base of the post. Frankly your scribe thought he had dropped it but hey ho we probably deserved a bit of luck !

Burley were a good side, their lineout was imperious and their scrum solid. However Captain Cranners manned up again to play prop and more than held his own, Leos won their own ball fairly comfortably in the scrum. The lineout was a little scrappy as Burley disrupted at every turn but Leos by and large did ok with Barton, on no sleep, throwing accurately. Pinder soared well and Jamie Young got some good clean ball at 9.

Burley were being penalised for hands in the ruck regularly and from 2 of these penalties Lovers banged over 6 points to make a halftime score of 13 – 12 to Leos, this was a marvellous effort against superior oppo. Burley were clearly rattled and they received an almighty rollocking from their irate coach. They were certainly not laughing and joking now !!

The chat was that we could have a famous victory if we all worked our collective socks off.

Jason went off nursing his sore shoulder having made several vital 1 on 1 tackles and Binloss who was kindly lent to us by the 1s went to 10.
The second half was a battle royal with the organisation, youth and fitness of Burley finally starting to show. Leos tried hard but in truth we were slightly outplayed by a better team. Their 10 ran the show and their hard running backs tested the home defence.

One comedy moment was noted when Lovers was desperately chasing back to make a cover tackle on someone half his age, one wag said “go on lovers get him ! “ the big centre was heard to say “ I am going as fast as I can ! “ Amazingly he did actually get there to make a last ditch tackle, breathing was not possible for several mins after mind !
There were examples of Leos effort all over the pitch, Binloss got in the way of a pass that looked certain to lead to a score. All the forwards tried with might and mane to stem the onrushing tide and out wide Jamie Tweddle mopped up any loose ball. He ran it back beating countless defenders with at times breathtaking footwork. The rest of the backs also stopped the hard running Burley 8 as he broke off the back of rucks.

From several penalties Lovers made mostly good ground with the boot and from the lineout Leos aimed to maul their way deep into oppo country. One of these was for a late high tackle on captain Cranners from some tattooed Burley forward, totally un necessary. This led to cries of “ Go and get another tattoo you idiot “ from a very angry scribe. Unfortunately Burley had other plans. Leos began to miss the odd tackle and once they were behind the first line of defence the tries started to flow. It looked like Leos were to be swept away and we did not deserve a hammering for our first half performance alone.

The senior players rallied the troops, Cadgey and Captain Cranners spoke sense and a fired up Lovers spoke with passion. Leos bravely responded and stemmed the tide. Andy Hill was everywhere making hard yards and leading by example. Binloss showed his class except when he got told off by Cadgey for kicking the ball away ! Apart from that he had a fine game. Many thanks to both 1st team coaches messers Worrall and Greenwood for lending him to us. Jake Kapper bravely ran hard at bigger oppo refusing to be stopped easily and young Raj came on to make his tackles and also run with feeling with ball in hand.

Burley were denied a try out wide after 3 forward passes were missed, an apoplectic Lovers was exploding with frustration at our excellent ref, who ignored him saying I was up with play ! The Burley touch judge took pity on Leos and claimed a foot in touch so no try. A grumbling Lovers subsided, By the way your scribe did apologise to the ref after the game.

From yet more superbly organised rolling maul play Andy Hill muscled his way over the line to score Leos second try of the day. His watching fiancée Tracey looked proudly on. Sadly her attractive sisters were missing, much to everyones disappointment ! ( Especially the one with the short blond hair !! ) Andy Hills new regime of going to the gym to get in shape for his approaching nuptials is certainly paying off on the pitch as he is clearly fitter. He turned in a bravura Man of the Match performance. We have now renegotiated his break pre wedding from 8 to 6 weeks and all that remains is for us to kidnap him so he can play in the Barber Bowl !!

The game ended in handshakes as Burley ran out winners by 40-18.
This was a great effort by Leos and shows we can live with exalted oppo and not be embarrassed. Burley definitely knew they had been in a game and last year this lot beat our 2s, so no shame in the result.
We retired to the dressing room to enjoy cheese provided by Blakey and Red wine provided by water boy Gribbon.

Tries

Hill 1, Reed 1,

Con

Lovers 1

Penalties

Lovers 2.