Gloucester slightly less bad than Tykes in Opener.
By Loosehead
September 7 2004
When coming to write the review of the game on Sunday I was just going to go with the score line as there was not else much to really say about the game, but APB & Timofe (The Ed's) politely declined my request and asked for a little bit more.
The game was a scrappy affair for both sides and not a great advert for the game, dispite good conditions for running Rugby; warm weather, firm pitch and some exciting backs on display. McRae, Paul, Garvey and Simpson-Daniel for Glaws and for Leeds Rees, Biggs, Bell & Snyman. You'd have thought a perfect set-up for a high scoring, fast tempo game. But unfortunately, both sides didn't appear to have read the script. Leeds started the game well and after a couple of penalties from both sides Leeds went into a 6-3 lead and for the first 20 mins everything seemed OK. The Scrum looked solid the line out appeared to be working. There were a few impressive driving mauls, Uys and Popham were taking the ball up well and getting over the gain line. Glaws were lucky not to have a man in the sin bin early for repeated infringement and Glaws were first to strike for the try when Shed favourite Terry Fanaloua scored a try under the posts, with Paul kicking the extra to put Glaws into a 10-6 lead. Leeds looked to strike back, and taking the ball in to the Glaws half they moved the ball around, but the Glaws defence held firm. After one too many infringements, Azam paid the penalty and was asked to take a 10 minute rest. With a penalty on the Glaws line the Tykes instead of opting for the easy 3 points instead went for a 5m scrum - presumably figuring that the Tykes 8 man scrum should get the push over the Glaws 7. Not so! Glaws wheeled the scrum and took the ball against the head and cleared the line. Leeds came away with nothing and went in at half time 6-10 down. In the second half Leeds had plenty of ball and opportunity to get back in the game but seemed devoid of any ideas. The lineout started to go wrong, and when Captain Palmer was substituted just after the hour things didn't look like going the Tykes way. Gloucester scored again in the 80th minute through Simpson-Daniel and it looked like Leeds were not even going to come up with a bonus point for being 7 points adrift. But referee Steve Lander found nearly 8 minutes of extra time and after some sustained pressure prop forward Gavin Kerr crossed for his first try for the Tykes in quite a while ( 2 years I believe). Because of this tenacity, Leeds managed to earn a bonus point. Final Score Leeds 16 Gloucester 21 One of the only few positives to come out of the game was the emergence of Tom Biggs on the wing. This was his first team debut, marking the elusive Marcel Garvey and he didn't let the side down; he tackled hard and on the few occasions he got the ball made a few good breaks. There was not much else really to brag about for those that saw the game, PD has promised things will get better. With the Tigers up on Saturday and with them having lost their opening game 26-19 away to Sale, the Tigers will be looking to get their season back on track and Leeds who have yet to win away at Welford Road. A hard game looms ahead.