No Cohesion, No Cry

Yarnbury were that annoying mix of experience and pacy youth which, while entertained in a battle royal up-front, had more than enough pace to expose the wingless wonders that JP had cobbled together after allowing Si W and Billy Adams to help the 2nds and 3rds respectively.
Leo’s took an early lead after Lord Newns of Harewood soared majestically like the Red Kites over his estate to snaffle a lineout and a Scotty controlled drive was completed with a flop over from the Portly Magician. Sadly, the Fozeree refused to call time immediately and the remainder of the game settled in to a familiar pattern this season as Leo’s continue to fail to line up with a cohesive and directed set of pacy backs. In spite of this there was some strong running from Gav, Dean and Tom, along with the darting crabbing of Grant but the lack of line-breaking speedsters meant that too often possession was wasted and the ball returned with interest.
The forwards battled hard all afternoon and were the better scrummagers with The Pensioner striking well in his Simon+Thommo armchair ride. The Steam Engine Room once again provided security whilst Big John is slowly converting himself from prop to eight! Big John drove in time and again, supported by Thommo and Simon, while the clearing out was maintained by Kinga, Scotty and Lord Newns. There was enough possession and territory, particularly in the second half to do some damage but the visitors defence was strong, and the counter attacks rapid. Yarnbury also had a fair share of luck as the Fozeree missed a blatant forward pass for their second try, claiming he was watching a small shemozzle instead, and in the second half a strike against the head flew out so fast the Yarnbury openside was able to fall on the ball over the try line. In between they did work some good fast moves which exploited Leo’s lack of covering pace. They were well organised and direct. Leo’s battled bravely in the vain attempt to recover some pride with Gav taking things a little far and thumping a Yarnbury back, who turned out to be only 16! His substituted Dad returned to the field to exact some paternal vengeance before the Fozeree requested a 10 minute rest for the two main protagonists.
Yarnbury exploited the tiring and jaded Leo’s to run in a couple of late tries which resulted in a score line that didn’t do much justice to the forward efforts and the general spirit of the team which succumbed to its 5th defeat on the bounce