Occasionals bested on the back pitch

With last week's scribe on equality and inclusion training, it's my play-by-play you'll have to endure; many facts will be ignored in the interest of a good story and the timeline will be patchy...

With the sun hammering down, the message from the off was clear; whoever is on the bench, make sure to keep the water topped up. This was echoed by the ref who ensured a two minute water break was taken every 15 minutes.

Typically, Leos received, and from the off, showed some sparks which despite all good intentions; struggled to ignite.

Roundhegians soon had possession and didn't seem to lose it for quite some time, flinging it from side to side, their backline crabbed this way and that on the back slope. Their wingers and full back showing plenty of fleet footedness yet couldn't quite get through the oncoming blue wall, led all day by Ben Pearce, ably assisted by Filip Nawrocki and 'Cider King' Robbie Scrambler.

Several poorly executed lineouts from both sides saw the game find a bit of stasis, Jamie Scott's arrows just couldn't be met by either Dr. Sam Pearson or Mark Kerruish and it took all of two lineouts for Dave Harrison to publicly declare that Leos should know what they're doing because we're both using the same calls.

By now, the penalties were starting to flood in for both sides and the captains held several conferences. Our ref on the day was clearly at a much higher standard than the merit league friendly he'd picked up and this was felt sorely at ruck time, Roundhegians eventually benefitted from this, catching Leos napping and unleashing their backline who spread it wide, recycled quickly and eventually dotted down.

Tactical use of the boot kept Leos pinned for most of the first half but Joe McCartney and Mweti Muriithi ably returned on several occasions. The experience of Tom Tweddle at pivot helped create a good attacking platform, only for this possession to be lost through turnover, knock on, or penalty a phase or two later. A false dawn in the bottom corner frustrated Leos further as a pass to Joe M was ruled to have gone forward, crushing Leos dreams of a quick response.

A midfield mix-up gifted roundhay a second try, from the base of a scrum, their 10 burst onto the ball and cantered in from the best part of 50m out, no doubt it'll be 70m by the time he's had a beer.

A flurry of penalties within 5m had Leos with their tails up, Mweti opted to tap several of these, a precursor of things to come. He fed Alex Passingham and Dave Harrison with short balls which got the men in blue tantalisingly close to the white wash but a lack of cool heads and a solid defensive effort from the visitors put paid to those ambitions.

Some new blood came on in the shape of old heads Carl Stephenson and Matt Dallingwater, and Leos managed to see the rest of the half out without conceding another so the game was still for the taking.

Simple rugby was the order at half time, plenty of players willing to chip in their thoughts, but it was clear what needed doing in the second half with the sun still ablaze and the benefit of the famous back pitch slope.

Phase play improved after the kick off, and with both sides tiring, more metres were starting to get made per carry, the evergreen Stu Norton attracted defenders, dropping short balls to Ben and the cider king, Filip was now also starting to show the benefits of his pre-game gym session as the pack huffed and puffed their way up the pitch with Dally and Dr. P getting good return on the pick and go.

Carl came closesest but was held up, and under the new laws, rather than earn the scrum the pack were eagerly anticipating, a goal line drop out was awarded. Much to the chagrin of the Statler and Waldorf tribute act of Si Haworth and Rich Edgar observing from the sidelines.

Shortly after, and in a prime spot, no more than 10m from the try line. Billy Marsh decided to focus on mentally celebrating the kind of try dreams are made of, rather than catch the ball, leading to an uphill hoof and chase which the visitors were able to ultimately score despite the best efforts of Joe McCartney and Joe Davidson's scrambling defence.

Rather than sap the momentum however, Leos persevered and continued their assault on the roundhay line. Eventually, after several more penalties they were back in a plum spot. Flanked by eager forwards, Mweti stepped up to take the tap, diving through a gap created by a fixation on Jordan Cummings to the left of him, Dave Harrison to the right; straight through the middle, thank you.

Injuries and a re-shuffle of the pack saw things get mixed up a little with Nick Burdon moving out to the centres, par for the course for an Ironman I suppose. Amongst all the mayhem however, one constant was the front row who anchored the scrum with aplomb all afternoon; bored of just scrummaging, Alex nabbed a crucial turnover to dampen the chances of a fourth for roundhay.

With the clock ticking and the heat fading, it did feel like Leos might nab a second, Joe D and M both got some rare ball out wide but roundhay held strong, knackered bodies from both sides started to shuffle from set piece to set piece and despite some desparate yet powerful carries from the Leos pack. The same errors crept in as the referee's iron law punished any misdemeanors... Two hegians players saw a yellow for high shots throughout the game and several Leos came close; Dave Harrison was explicitly asked to stop cheating at scrum time too!

Special shout-out to Filip, who when asked to collect the shirts post game took this to another level by taking the kit home, washing, drying and folding it. All nice and fresh for next week; I sincerely hope he used a good fabric softener.

Blame the heat, the long grass on the back pitch, the ref, the state of government's decision to raise NI contributions, blame what you like. Ultimately Leos lost to the better side on the day; roundhay took their chances, executed better and defended resolutely. This absolutely won't be the last time both sides meet this season and both will want to step up on the several return legs.