Half Term Report - Must Do Better!

With another two week break away from the pressure that is the Aviva Premiership, it’s time to look back on the opening weeks of the season, and assess what has happened so far.Not much, I hear you say. With only one win from nine games, and that in the Amlin Cup against a team from Romania, it is an easy assumption to make, as so far as the Premiership goes, Leeds sit entrenched at the bottom of the pile, the only side without a win to their name.

The fixture list did Leeds no favours, the first 5 fixtures against teams who will sit near the top of the table, and 3 of those were away. However, we were targetting a top six finish, so the home games against Bath and Saracens were expected to yield some points. Unfortunately, in both games Leeds only turned up for 40 minutes, and consequently two defeats did nothing to raise our hopes. In between, Leeds had narrowly failed at Gloucester, as one of our favourite referees awarded the home team a penalty near the end of a game, to send Leeds home with just a losing bonus point, our first point of the season. Leicester, and London Irish, both away proved fruitless, so it was with some relief when the Amlin came round, and Leeds could hopefully regroup.

A win in Romania was followed by the visit of Stade Francais. In the first half you would have thought it was Carnegie, who had the outstanding European pedigree, but chances went begging, and Leeds got nowt.

The performance though, did raise supporters’ hopes that the next two league games, against Sale and London Wasps would provide Leeds with their first league wins of the season. Unfortunately, nobody told the players. Sale won a dour encounter by virtue of having a better kicker, and Wasps then won a fairly uninspiring encounter, out scoring the home team by two tries to one.

It is fair to say, that for whatever reason, Leeds have not looked like the team that finished last season so well. Why?

We have signed some good players, nobody can doubt that, but as a team they are not clicking as I am sure they are capable of doing. In an effort to achieve a victory, players have been picked to play out of position, and some of them have not played as well as we know they can.

Marco Wentzel has once again been outstanding, but I don’t think he has led from the front as he did last season. I just wonder if the signing of Steve Thompson has cast a shadow over how Marco leads the side.

We desperately lack a consistent kicker. Ceiron Thomas has struggled to hit the target, so much so that he is turning down the chance to kick for goal when we get a penalty in the opponents half. If we don’t take points when they are offered, we will be relegated.

Leeds’ handling, especially close to the line has been poor, often spilling the ball when in sight of the try line, and when spells of pressure have been repelled by the opponents, Leeds don’t even have the nous to attempt a drop goal.

The scrum and lineout have been good, although the scrum starts to creak when Gomez leaves the field. Burrell and Tincknell have given glimpses of what the future holds, as has Christian Lewis-Pratt, but the future will count for nothing if Leeds gets relegated.

Nobody doubts the effort that the players give, but they can do better. If Leeds is to avoid relegation, they must.