Pack power punishes Notts.
Happy 50th
By WW
December 29 2013
All talk recently has been about the Leeds Carnegie back line, including two recent exciting signings. We went to Headingley yesterday expecting to see that backline exacting revenge on The East Midlanders. Clearly our pack had not read the script and the forwards put in a big shift as they overpowered the visitors.....
I got a good feeling about the game when we caught the kick-off. This did not last very long as Jacob was cleaned out whilst stealing a lineout and could not continue. The perp escaped without a card but Jacob's replacement, Sean Jones soon made his mark on the game with some superb lineout work and a strong break which led to the first try. Doyle was in support and Hampo kept the ball alive - slick hands (including Phil Nilsens) got the ball out to the Doc who put his ears back aand seared in for the first try.
The lineout was imperious. As well as the regular jumpers, Green and Smith, Beck, Jones and Doyle were collecting the ball irrespective of who threw it in. Denied any possession the visitors defended well. The home pack were not to be denied. Attacking mauls brought them up to the Notts line and the ever-improving James Currie crashed over. At 17-0 to Leeds the prospects for the visitors looked bleak. Hughes managed a second penalty to make it 20-0 at the break. Game over? Well it should have been.
Nottingham must have gotten a severe earbashing from Martin Haag as they came out all guns blazing for the second half. This combined with the first mistakes of the game from Leeds made the second period a bit more edgy for the 3000 odd supporters ( plus the millions watching from the warmth of their living rooms)
The home pack were not finished however and Dicky Beck crowned his 50th appearance for Leeds with a try from a driven maul. Nottingham, by this time, had found our tryline and whilst the result was not in doubt the bonus point was drifting away. The forwards, much refreshed by the appearance of the subs, ( including the welcome return of Mike Myerscough) picked themselves up for yet another drive at the visitor's line. As the drive collapsed a green-sleeved arm snaked out, ball in hand to dab down in the corner. The TV replay showed it was clearly a try and the scorer? .....young Beck !
The game ended 30-19 to Leeds. Beck was clearly MoM but he was well supported. Currie and Harris put in the hard yards. Nilsen's throw was true and his support play was excellent. Green and Smith were imperious in the lineout and Doyle continues to impress with his energetic game. Jones made the most of his opportunity. We will see more of him next year.
And the backs? Hampo revelled in the pack's dominance. Hughes always looked to break the line. The centres and Holmes were relatively quiet as was the Doc after his try. McColl took on Green's "enforcer" role late on and was binned for his efforts.
So a revenge win forged in the pack sees us back in the top four where we need to be. Was it a great game? No! Those of us who were at Donny in September will take the win for what it is and, of course, the winning bonus point!
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:01:11:13:56:59 by Wildwillie .
Agree front row substitutions with only 10 mins left seemed a bit late.
Vicky made his debut but in a period where the backs did not have much possession, so not much to conclude - hope he has been practising tackling 20 stone forwards after all that time at sevens.
It will be interesting to see if they can keep up this momentum especially next week when they come up against one of the class teams in the Championship.
Some say that's why we avoid tackling, but not me.
Sounds like a good 5 points gained.
As always, the fixture secretary at Leeds seems to have it in for me and I wasn't able to go (last game attended London Welsh, next game likely to be Moseley
).Hope all is well. I can't make the game on Saturday but will be listening.
Hope to see you at Headingley again soon. Hope Rhys is doing well at Plymouth, but not too well on Sat!
Zandra YaPoI
YaPoI - Yorkshire and Proud of It
'proficiscor in una'
as a friend told a pro-rugby player with the usual flat nose and cauliflower ears:
he wasn't allowed to play rugby , his mom wouldn't let him on account of being too pretty.
the forward he was talking to didn't get it which made it even funnier!