Scrumfest on the big pitch

An inauspicious start to the day saw Leos pull together a side of 13. Late appearances from Neil Shaw and Stu Costello bolstered the ranks to give a full compliment.

Following a Friday call off by original opponents York, Pontefract filled the rugby shaped hole in our Saturday afternoon and as ever proved to be quite the handful.

Leos struck first with Cossie making hard yards and bouncing a few defenders along the way, creating an overlap that the hungry students lapped up, Luke Brown the benefactor and an early lead. Charles' conversion looked to have done the job but reports suggest otherwise!

Ponte struck back following some erratic phase play, their noticeably bigger backline punched holes in the blue defence. A questionable call on the touchline saw Leos look to the ref rather than the ball and the visitors drew level.

A bit of frustration building, the home side started to gain a degree of ascendency, Killian Lines proving a good challenger in the air prevented much momentum from the opposing lineout and the scrums became a bit more competitive. Leos probed through spreading it wide, Charles Bach and Edd Austin both had their chances with the edge to edge play, controlled by the evergreen Rich Edgar at pivot.

Before long Leos took the lead again with Rich finding his way past (and through) the centres and fullback to dive over.

Ponte continued to fight back and despite all efforts managed to find their own try from out wide as the first half whistle went. A slender 2 point lead for the visitors summarised a toughly contested 40 minutes on the heat.

With Cossie's Cinderella clause expiring Leos were back down to 14 men. To level things up he put a jarring hit in on one of the ponte centres, sidelining the lad for the rest of the game with a nasty looking ankle injury. We wish him all the best in recovery.

The half time oranges must have rejuvinated the ponte lads as they came out with two quick fire tries and a great deal more gusto. A fine show and go from their hooker broke the field and gave them the edge out wide for the second.

The rest of the half then descended into bit of a dog fight. Neither side could finish their chances with most balls hitting the floor or bouncing off an outstretched hand. Scrum after scrum after scrum was the outcome with the two sides swapping ascendency.

Leos had a few glimmers of hope with Charles Bach breaking free and popping a delicate kick over the top which just bounced the wrong way, Tom Gedye managed to break down the middle but a miscommunication in the forwards slowed down the pace, Matt Dallingwater came within a straight 10m line of catching a kick off but the moves never quite came off.

When the ponte 9 was sent to the naughty step for some misdirected bad language, it looked as though Leos might have got the rub of the green but the aforementioned handling issues and drift defence saw the one man advantage offer little to the home side.

Ponte added a third with just minutes to go. The talk between the sticks was a simple one. We get back down field and we finish the game with a score.

A bit of heart and pride saw that come true as Leos managed to string some phases together and secure valuable lineout ball. Sensing a gap, Tom Gedye shrugged off the ruck guards and made a beeline for the whitewash. Crushed by a few tacklers on the way, the young lad bagged a cofidence boosting try for the team who travel to Selby next week for a first away game of the season.

For an afternoon that started with 3 flat balls and no pump the two sides played a decent game and in a very good spirit, particularly around scrum and injury time.Both sides kept it clean and it could have gone either way. Much more learning from the young 3s side who are starting to show some teeth, the wins will come soon enough.

Man of the match goes to Killian Lines for his work around the park and in the lineout. Another very good game for Sam Watkiss and a handy debut for Robbie Scrambler.