Leos Barbarians yield to Mods

Picture the scene, half the world has forgotten how to deal with a Saturday afternoon and by sheer grit and determination, the men from alwoodley are able to field a menagerie of nearly 50 blokes to play some rugby. Beautiful.

Bolstered by 7 Leeds Hunters players, the Lunters made a perilous voyage across to Cookridge to play Old Mods. This would never be your standard Saturday fayre but it turned out to be quite the game.

Lunters opted to stay out in the rain and get to know eachother whilst mods sought shelter, bit of touch and a few handling drills later, they were ready for war.

Veteran Rich Edgar found himself playing in the pack due to a shortage of fat lads and gleefully took the opening kick off, running onto the ball with a scream, he even managed to roll through a few tackles thanks to the added ballast of Ross Barr and George Zemlik latching on. The two Hunters props soon followed up with carries of their own and often provided good support.

The opening exchanges were a skirmish, both sides sending big runners in with zero change, on paper Leos probably had it, chopping down the mods danger men and forcing knock ons or penalties. Truth be told, neither side really managed more than a few metres other than by by kicking from hand; Joe McCartney (the bearded one) ensured that territory was paramount with the boot.

Joe Davidson making his debut at 9 showed some signs of real class, feeding ex Mod Joe for plenty of deep bombs, whilst uni mates Paddy and Alex chased hard. Neither side advanced beyond 2 phases so the uncontested scrums became a very frequent occurrence... If it was contested, half the pack would still be walking in!

A lineout deep in enemy territory saw a fumble and plenty of slapping, the ensuing fury led to Billy Marsh getting with a metre before Carl Stephenson did a classic barrell over supported by Matt Dallingwater and Ross, leaving the opposition flattened and the referee with an unequivocal decision. The wind didn't stop beardy Joe from notching some extras.

Lunters continued to show some promise shortly after the score, a sublime break down the middle from Michael Clark had the pack gasping for air as he slid through several defenders only to be held up and pinned down just shy of the 10 by the impressive Mods 6. The largely Hunters backline put on a fine show all afternoon, led by Ali Clipston out in the centres.

Mods came agonisingly close to a try just before half time only for a knock on in the build up to pull them back and return possession to Leos.

With Carl's glass back making an appearance, the Leos lineout started to crumble despite the best efforts of Jon Fox to steady the ship; the wetherby/hunters lad managed a handful of steals around the park and even put a chip and chase in.

Half time came round, a handful of subs were made and that was as good as it got for Leos.

Mods took far more advantage of the slope, boxing Leos into a corner for the majority of the second half, clearly a bit revitalised after their half-time oranges (Alexa, add oranges to shopping list), the home side started to string together phase after phase. Despite the best efforts of man of the match and former Robot Wars champion Alex Brown, Mods finally broke through. Unable to find a tee and subject to some bang average chat from an unnamed Leo, the Mods kicker non-chalantly took a drop kick to add the extras!

Kick returns became the name of the game and despite Leos being able to make more yards with ball in hand, mods were far smarter with their time and made the visitors pay with two tries in quick succession. Their full 15 seemingly getting a touch on some expansive side to side play.

The grit of the first half returned, neither side willing to concede further saw Lunters repeatedly challenge the mods line, only to cough up when it mattered. Hunters Joe Hall chased after a speculative grubber and came within millimetres of scoring only to be denied by the scramble defence. Even an uncontested 5m scrum couldn't bear fruit.

Time now clearly on Mods side, Leos were camped on their own 22, hoping for a full length score to restore some pride, dominance in the uncontested scrum saw the ball fizzed to Joe M who in a rare brainfart clapped his hands and kicked the ball into the arms on an onrushing mod who duly touched down.

The final whistle was met with a sigh of relief as both sides sought the warm embrace of the changing rooms.

Certainly no classic, but an absolute pleasure of a game that really showed off some of rugby's finer values, Leos could only muster 10 of their own men so the Hunters saved the day by loaning 7 of their players, they even helped keep Mods afloat who only had 14.

The players who joined forces with us would not look out of step in any merit league side and given the current climate in amateur rugby, I'd like to think that this won't be the last Lunters rodeo this year.

Man of the match went to young Alex Brown who tackled himself to a standstill and also managed to get a bottle of port at very short notice to compliment the post game cheeseboard; he will go far at this club. Notable mentions to Carl, Jon and Ali for their endeavours.

Whilst not a typical 3s fixture, the home side insisted on a dick of the day, and after much deliberation, independent adjudicator Steve Lloyd ruled that Ali's hospital pass in the latter stages of the second half stood out as a punishable moment despite the Scotsman's protests.