Lies, damned lies, and fixtures secretaries!

Though The Dark Lord may promise a “re-stitching” against a stronger Leo’s side the development and encouragement of the younger players will not be enhanced by afternoons such as this.
As injuries, Internationals and winter sports take their toll Leo’s still managed to turn out three sides with the lesser collective heading to Roundhay for a game against their 4ths, who had been beaten earlier in the season. Unfortunately their gnarly vets appeared and the wiser Leo’s feared the worst, recalling pitched battles and heavy defeats of previous seasons. Valiantly the visitors set about their unequal task with vigour and application as they received the expected shot selection (late, high and cheap) from the vigorous home team and their supportive Jim-eree.. Defensive duties were the order of the first 25 minutes which were spent almost entirely in the Leo’s 22. Bravery above and beyond the call of duty was on display from everyone, particularly young Johnny and Jack in the midfield as the home side were kept at bay. On rare counter attacks Carl ran in hard but was met with strong turnover defence whilst Toby the Grocer returned for a guest appearance featuring his 3 for 1 offer: Pass him the ball three times and he’ll catch one! Eventually Hegians broke through but undaunted Leo’s kept battling away. From a well worked catch and drive the home side were caught off side and Carl made a quick break, feeding the young speedsters outside. Raj scampered up the line past the first line of defence before passing inside for Jack to score under the posts. With the scores level the Jim-eree kindly donated Hegians a score before the earned themselves a good try with a slick backs move.
At the break Leo’s licked their wounds as injuries began to take their toll. Thommo had received eye damage from a facial, Fedex’s knee had gone, and CJ was limping on the wing. The second half degenerated into a shambolic display of scrambling defence, niggly breakdowns and too much general milling for any decent rugby to break out. The lineouts worked well with Scotty finding his man and the driving mauls made good yards when controlled properly. The energetic backs ran fast and bravely at the sturdy defensive line which responded with altitudinal tackles to slow the youths down. Exhaustion and disorganisation resulted in the inevitable leaking of tries as the home side pushed home their advantage with the Leo’s side now featuring too many spectating passengers for the final quarter.
In previous years Leo’s have shipped 40 points or more in this fixture so there is something to take away from the performance from a patched up side but really it was a match that should never have been made.