Leo's 3's Enjoy Sunshine at Ripon

Leos 3 lined up in the warmth and sunshine on Saturday afternoon at Ripon to face an experienced Ripon 3s on a very heavy pitch. Neil had managed to bring together a strong squad including the majority of a back-line for the first time in a number of weeks and 3 subs. Chris Bamber was volunteered to fill the hole out on the wing after missing a number of weeks recently with very poor excuses. This turned into an inspired selection decision.

Leos started the game well and took the game to the Ripon team with the vast majority of the first half played well inside the Ripon half. The Leos game plan of keeping things simple worked well but it took a good 10 minutes to breakdown the Ripon defence.

A wayward 5-man Ripon line out was collected at the tail by Captain Neil and with Bindloss screaming for the ball at nine he opted to kick the ball into the space behind the Ripon defensive line. The ball was collected by the Ripon full-back who was instantly wrapped up and stripped of the

ball by a combination of Neil (making up for his moment of madness) and Tom Murphy. The ball was spun wide and a slick backs move saw Will crash over for the first score.

Leos managed to control both territory and position for the remainder of the half. When the ball was turned over Leos scrambled well in defence and efficiently won the ball back on a number of occasions. The heavy conditions led to a number of knock-ons and Leos fronted up well in the set pieces with the returning ‘Soft’ Dave Harrison back into the front row alongside Jamie Scott and Tom Clapham. The scrums were a source of good quality ball all day for Leos with JD and Captain Neil putting in a shift in the engine room with a strong back line of Carl, Ben and Tom working hard around the pitch.

Leos second score came from a deep Ripon clearance which was collected and returned with interest by Steve Plumber filling in at fullback. After stepping round a number of Ripon defenders the ball was fed to the supporting Bamber who opted to kick and chase. Normally deploying his skills at hooker this was as much a shock as the captain’s earlier punt. Despite this the ball was collected and crashed over in the corner for a score.

Leos created a number of opportunities in the half but no further scores were forthcoming despite the strong running from Nick Porter at 10, continuing on from his excellent performance on the artificial surface at West Park Leeds a week ago.

Leos brought on a number of reinforcements at half-time as the thick mud wore down the less fit members of the squad. Including a change in the 2nd row with Nigel and JP Murphy coming in to join the battle.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Leos controlling the game within the Ripon half. Strong running from Jake and Will in the centres resulted in significant gains up the pitch while the returning Will Brown put in a shift out wide. Having lost both Will and James Shepherd to collar bone breaks at the end of last season it was great to see Will lining back up for Leos but it remains a shame that Shepherd continues to make piss poor excuses about not playing and is much preferring his weekly shopping trips.

The 2nd half saw Leos run in 4 more tries the highlight being the slowest 30 yard sprint ever seen by Si Haworth out on the left wing. After replacing ‘Soft Dave’ at the break Si found himself out of position and in acres of space as the ball was spun wide well by Leos. In what seemed like slow motion Si lumbered in a huge arc to drop over the try line in the far corner for a well-deserved score.

Leos also scored through make-shift scrum half Tom Bindloss (despite complaining about getting finger in the eye during the first half), full back Plumber and Tom Murphy who excelled all day in attack and defence from the back of the scrum. Porter stepped up to knock over 3 out of the 6 conversion attempts.

A great team performance in attack and defence resulted in a merited win for Leos.

After putting in a shift and running some great supporting lines all day while significantly out of position it seemed only fair that the fat Chris Ashton take home the much coveted man of the match award. This despite butchering two second half tries by knocking the ball on over the try line.