Match Report: Leeds Tykes 39 Leicester Tigers 18
By Loosehead
October 24 2003
With 2 wins from 2 and 10 points out of 10 the tykes are now on a mini revival. On Sunday the Tykes made it 3 from 3 with a third consecutive victory over the Tigers at Headingley
The Tigers were first out of the blocks on Sunday and early pressure saw them race into a 3-0 lead from the boot of myring but Leeds were bought back into the game in the 10th minute from a penalty by Hodge.
The game was to change on the 15th minute when Tigers Lock James Hamilton saw Red after some vigarious on the head of Flanker James Ponton, with Leicester down to 14 men they sudnley seemed spurnded on by the loss of the extra man with 2 trys from Vesty and Skinner in the space of 3 minutes Leicester moved into a 15-6 lead but on the stroke of half time Hodge kicked a nother penalty to bring the score back to 15-9.
However the start of the 2nd half saw Leeds finaly hit 5th gear (Leeds Talismanic prop Mike Shelley returned to the field after being out for the last 5 weeks) with some good rugby, Christophers made a good break but was hauled down just yards from the line from the Leeds Scrum the pack drobe their opposistion back and Hyde scored his 2nd try in succesive weeks.
Worse was to follow for the Tigers, after the Tykes kicked long into their Tigers half from the Tigers lineout hooker Chuter over threw his jumpers to the tail of the lineout and into the hands of Jimmy Ponton who dived over for the Tykes 2nd try of the game, moving the Tykes into a comfortable 24-18 lead the the Tykes extra man was knowing paying dividends.
Hodge added a further 3 points from the boot with a 5th penalty and the game was taken further away from the Tigers grasp ( a repeat of the Saracens game was not on the card)
Some Strong running by Walsh and Rees set up replacement Matt Cardey for the Tykes 3rd try, with Hodge scoring the 4th and BP from a beautiful dummy in midfield saw him cut through the Tigers midfield and score under the posts.
Final score Leeds 39 Leicester 18.