A ropey win fails to paper over some widening cracks

Leos 3s and 4s combined once again to take on Old Mods, this meant a squad of 25 and to start with the occasionals played some good direct rugby.

A large crowd on the side line cheered every impact with great enthusiasm, unfortunately what followed was very average in terms of entertainment.

The forwards led by Andy Hill took the ball up with gusto. Quick ball allowed a visibly angry lovejoy to make some good hard yards in midfield. With Barnett pulling the strings at 10 and Edgar and Haire Jnr providing the pace out wide Leos were well on top. Tom Stubbly was also dangerous in open play.

After some concerted pressure Barnett broke away and showed good gas to score a very well taken try. I think we scored another probably via the elusive Haire Jnr who ghosted through a slightly shell shocked Mods defence. Jim Gribben had a bullocking run and he bashed through several would be tacklers.

At this point the occasionals completely lost the plot. Leos relaxed thinking this was to be a stroll in the park. And frankly for the next 20 mins we were awful. The forwards stopped getting to the breakdown due to pure laziness. The backs were not much better with some aimless running. People constantly hung around in the 9/ 10 channel out of greediness and sucked all the momentum from the home sides play. To be honest this was some of the worst rugby the Leos 3s/4s have played in this debacle of a season.

This allowed Mods to score a few tries through good driving play from their 8 and good support play from the rest of their pack. The Mods 10 was a clever player and from constant infringements he made good ground with the boot.

This led to lots of bickering amongst the Leos side and your scribe was one of the worst culprits for chelping. Cadgey tried to get the forwards sorted but to be honest the visitors finished the first half much the stronger team. The Leos line out had worked fairly well with Pinder claiming lots of ball, he also carried well showing great leg drive.

A plethora of changes at halftime meant Blakey came on at 10 and Jamie Young, once he had stopped sulking for being on the bench, slotted in at 9. Bryan came on at 15 and had some strong runs with one memorable pick up at full tilt, unfortunately often he was isolated as the rest of the team failed to get to the breakdown.

This gave the team a little more direction as Jamie at least bossed his lazy forwards around. Dean Chapman arrived on the wing and he showed good speed to score a long range try.

Edgar got on the end of a move after more heavyweight smashage in the midfield notably on the aggressive bleached blond Mods 9 who def came off worst . In amongst this Lovers gave away an interception try when he heard a call but failed to look, he also butchered a 3 man overlap prompting Niall to call him a greedy *******. Jason also had a go at the same centre as tempers flared and frustration built. Jack Haire bagged a second try as he again shredded the Mods defence showing great balance. I think Andy Hill may have scored too.

In amongst this Mods scored a couple more tries one a bizarre richochet off a stray boot that bounced up into the grateful hands of the Mods 10. At times in this game Leos did play some good rugby but it was permeated by mistakes, wrong options and a can’t be bothered attitude that on a different day would have cost us the match.

One piece of inspiration was a chip and chase by Jamie Young which led to a great solo try and he was a constant threat with ball in hand.
Barnett kicked all of his conversions and the final score was Leos 45 Mods 22.

This scoreline papers over the cracks on an abject performance apart from the odd moment of quality. We very nearly threw this game away and the feeling at the end was massive frustration in what could have been a very good win, as it was it was a win and that is all really.