Third time’s a charm

With two strong wins in the back pocket, Leos 3s left their usual comfort zone, hit the road and travelled to York.

York kicked off and set the tone early, incredibly physical in the ruck and giving Leos carriers very little chance to present, it felt like one of those days where the lads were on a road to a hiding.

Unable to string phases together, Leos were pinned back and in need of something special. Jake McKinley was the man to deliver, weaving through the York defenders, he cantered to an early score.

Uncontested scrums with 8 picks made proceedings a bit tastier as the York 8 made hard yards, their flankers clearly had a few games under the belt and blocked perfectly. Leos scrambling defence was too much however and unforced errors saw Sam Watkiss pounce and distribute to Big Willy O who crossed from distance.

As the old saying goes, the Leos tries came like buses with Jake crossing again, Jack Newton bagging a brace and Josh Leaps eventually adding his name to the scoresheet... His earlier knock on at the whitewash was superbly Dominici-esque.

Jake, feeling charitable, offloaded to Matt Dalingwater who huffed and puffed his way to the line, forgoing his usual pick and go route to the line.

With the score line firmly in the visitors favour, Leos held their structure well in the first half. Taking chances as they came and playing some decent phases. The forwards set a decent platform and the backs worked some magic, the firm ground clearly favoured the boys in blue as they rained down 6 tries before the whistle.

The second half saw York fired up once more, a couple of new faces added to the fray gave a touch more bulk out wide and again York hit hard. Leos were kept out for some time as the game started to lose its structure, with the referee towing a hard line on advantages the game ended up bordering on brinkmanship as both sides conceded repeat scrums.

Despite the game being played in Leos 22, York were unable to find a way through. They came very close with a clever lineout move and a chip through but Jack Newton, playing in his 3rd position of the day, was too good with his cover.

Sam cleared his lines and Leos took back territory, never looking back, they added a few more tries.

Sam picked at the base of the ruck with a gravity defying sidestep to waltz over and newcomer Barney Seamer bagged a debut try following some forward play.

The last play saw a kick off go out on a bounce and Leos had delivered the goods with a 64-0 win.

As ever in a strong win, there are plenty of hands raised for man of the match. Jack Newton had a fine game, scoring two tries and keeping the opposition out on a number of occasions. Jack Walsh bossed the 12 channel and despite not getting his name on the scoresheet, he had a hand in a number of Leos tries but Sam Watkiss has to take the honours for his control of the game, with Leos being both outfoxed and outmuscled at the ruck, his service allowed the backs to exploit open field and kept the tempo high.

Next up are Pontefract away in what will certainly be a tasty encounter.