Burley Away Match Report - II

Braces from Tom Bindloss and Will Cullimore rounded off a perfect October for the 3s, as Billy Marsh’s fliers recorded 4 wins from 4 with 141 points scored and, incredibly, ZERO conceded across the whole month.

Two of those victories have come against Burley 2nd XV in the shadow of Kirkstall Abbey. Before commencing this report, on behalf of the club I’d like to extend our thanks to Burley RFC for offering to host the match at their place after Crag Lane fell victim to the monsoon-esque weather which had battered Leeds all week.

Before kick off the game had a thoroughly traditional 3rd XV feel; that is to say the team was scraped together from all possible comers, it was bitterly cold and the pitch, although playable, was heavily sodden in parts, which would go on to play a major role in the game. Eventually Leos were able to put together 16 with the arrival of young hooker Ali Macklin, along with Bindloss and Joe Bender from the 2nd XV (whose game had been cancelled due to the flooding at Leos). The match finally kicked off slightly late with the one mercy being that it had at last stopped raining.

The previous encounter between these two sides had seen Leos overcome a tenacious, physical Burley side 12-0 and the opening exchanges suggested that more of the same was in store. With Leos playing up the hill, Burley opened with their forwards and a big unit of a centre making strong carries, aided by a powerful scrum which Leos struggled to gain any traction against, especially with the conditions treacherous underfoot. Leodiensian tackling was up to the task however, led by the fearless Macklin and Tom Bainbridge-Glover at 6. Around 15mins in and having resisted the initial Burley salvos, Leos began to force their way into the ascendancy. Will Cullimore was key, the fly half again posing a dual threat with his strong running and thoughtful tactics, whilst scrum half Sam Watkiss kept the Leos pack moving around nicely and grinding out the yards. It was Leos who had the first clear chance when flanker Matt Dalingwater half-pushed through a Burley tackle five metres out and popped a pass one-handed to the onrushing Kenny Parsons, who would have been under the posts had the muddy, slippery ball not slid agonisingly from his grasp in the act of grounding. Leos had shown a statement of intent however and when a loose Burley pass went to ground on halfway, Cullimore hacked it downfield whilst being pursued by a host of team mates and opponents. During this chase the Leos fly half was somewhat dubiously pushed over and an angry flare up ensued, with Cullimore claiming to have been obstructed. The referee thought otherwise however and the score remained 0-0….

….For the next few minutes at least. Leos won a scrum in the Burley 22, which went into retreat but not enough to stop Watkiss expertly fishing the ball out and passing to Cullimore, who simply ran over the Burley backline and scored near the sticks for a 5-0 lead.

The score bouyed Leos somewhat and the Blue and Gold forwards began to assert themselves on the Burley pack, despite the slope and weight disadvantage. The wet conditions and slippery ball made flamboyant handling difficult and the match descended into a slugfest up front, with Leos’ greater mobility steadily prevailing over Burley’s size and physicality. With Bainbridge-Glover, Ali Macklin and skipper Billy Marsh leading the tackling, older heads such as Kenny Parsons and Matt Dalingwater had plenty of freedom to spoil, hold up and generally interfere with Burley’s play and win repeated turnovers at the breakdown and the maul.

The second try came from such an event, although rather than Parsons or Dalingwater it was stringy second row Gregor Belfield’s sterling work over the ball which won Leos a penalty. The kick was punched deep into Burley’s 22 and from the resulting lineout Sam Watkiss slipped free and charged towards the corner, only to be brought down by a flying tackle from Burley’s blind side flanker. The momentum was unstoppable however and winger Tom Bindloss simply picked up the recycled ball and dived over near the flag. The score was unfortunately not converted.

Half time now loomed large for the tired and muddy warriors on both sides, but not before Leos hit Burley with a real sucker punch. Again finding themselves in the Burley 22, a rare instance of the ball going all the way down the line to makeshift winger (read: somewhat ill so put out on the wing) Steve Lloyd resulted in Will “Willy-O” Ofosuhene being in the unusual position of crashing it up at first receiver. Big Willy-O surprised everyone however (perhaps including himself) by crashing through some pretty soft tackling and scoring right on the stroke of half time. The teams went into the metaphorical sheds with Leos 15-0 to the good.

With the lead in hand and the slope now in their favour, Leos had every reason to feel confident. That confidence was well placed as Leos owned the second half. Much can be said for Burley’s unceasing effort and tenacity, but heavy ground puts miles into tired legs and the home side were unable to reproduce the tigerish defence of three weeks past as Leos added several scores in a one-sided second period.

I shall recount those scores in no particular order (it’s now Monday and I can’t quite remember the order!) but by far the most memorable came when a long kick from Cullimore landed in a puddle and stopped dead, with players from both sides being beaten by the (lack of) bounce and also falling into said puddle with tremendously splashy results. (What’s that you say? Of course the pitch was perfectly playable!) Leos full back Nick Harris swooped, scooping up the loose and thoroughly sodden ball before offloading to Bindloss, who scored his second in the corner. Not to be outdone, Cullimore’s strong running brought him a second try of his own before he turned provider, flashing a gloriously flat pass across several Burley defenders to Fenton Davies, who picked a sweet line and crossed under the sticks without a hand being lain on him.

Despite the game being pretty much gone from their perspective Burley continued to battle on, making life difficult for Leos around the ruck and running hard. However their tackling let them down a few times, most notably when they allowed Sam Watkiss to simply stroll through from around 30 metres out and touch down. There was also time for a final flourish from the pack as the forwards, led by substitute Joe Bender’s battling drive, created space near the posts for Jim Cappell to plunge over for a score. The final outcome was 46-0 to Leos, which it could be argued flattered them somewhat, but still it must be said that Leos were the stronger team and fully deserved the win.

Really strong performances across the field again, with halfbacks Will Cullimore and Sam Watkiss standing out for their direction and attacking threat. Other big contributions came from Ali Macklin who was an absolute dog in the scrappy phases of the game, Matt Dalingwater who constantly got over the gainline and Tom Bainbridge-Glover, who along with Dally added some real physicality to Leos’ forward effort.

Thus draws to an end a superb month for the 3s. Next week (2nd November) there will be no game due to the World Cup Final with almost all amateur rugby being off in order to allow everyone to watch England hopefully smash the Springboks and bring the William Webb Ellis trophy home. The next match report will, fingers crossed, be written with England as world champions. See you on the other side!