Oh When the Tykes Go Marching On Together.....
By Loosehead
November 8 2004
Friday night, Bonfire Night saw Leeds record the 2nd home win of the season and the 4th win out of 5 in the ZP which saw them climb briefly to the heady heights of 5th in the table.
Leeds started the game well, and it wasn't long before Ross had kicked his first penaly of the night after Northampton were penalised for the collapsed scrum. It wasn't that long before Grayson levelled the score with a kick of his own, so with 10 mins gone the score was 3-3. Even this early in the game Leeds were looking a very composed and confident side and looked to attack from deep early on, with Springbok Centre Andre Snyman causing the most havoc. Leeds were again awarded a penalty and Ross duly kicked to make it 6-3.
From the kick off Northampton won a line out in the Leeds 22 but Saints scrumhalf Robinson lost the ball, Leeds recyled quickly but instead of kicking to safety Leeds decided to run the ball. Snyman cut through the Saints midfield much like a knife through butter and stole 60 yards with a quick burst. Leeds looked odds on to score but when Snyman fed Balshaw he was marshelled into touch by Cohen. Following the Saints lineout the ball was kicked deep into Leeds terriotry, and with Leeds again penalised Grayson took the kick to make it 6-6.
In one superb indivdual piece of performance in the first half, Balshaw took a quick tap penalty and set off from his own 22 and soon found himself in acres of space. With the Saints defence closing he looked for support and found probably the most unlikely player on hand to take the ball off him none
other than Tykes new South African tighthead (and Tykesrugby.co.uk's sponsored player) Reyno Gerber all 19st 7lb! Players of this size are not renowned for their speed but he appeared on Balshaw's shoulder took the pass and galloped off making quite a distance before he was grounded.
Nevertheless he received a big cheer from the Southstand faithful - a new cult hero has arrived.
Again and again Leeds were looking to run the ball and another clean break saw Scrumhalf Dickens go clear only for him to freeze near the line. With the first half almost up Leeds were again awarded a penalty and Saints All Black flanker was sent to the bin. Ross duly kicked the penalty to go 9-6
up, leaving Leeds slightly ahead at the break. This didn't really tell the story of the Leeds pressure, and one wondered whether this would bode ill for the ultimate result.
So when the second half kicked off, I wondered if Leeds would continue where they left off - looking to run the ball - or would they revert to a different, safer, style. I was soon to find out that it would still be all out attack! From the Saints kick off the ball was caught by Balshaw who duly set off on another long run into the Saints half, and from the tackle and ensuing ruck Northampton were again penalised. This was clearly a penalty well within the range of Tim Stimpson but Leeds opted for the kick to the corner.From the lineout, the Leeds forwards rumbled on but with the ball sent wide Ronnie was on hand to crash over for the Tykes first try.
Shortly after, and with Nothampton now back to 15 men, Snyman burst through the tackle and fed his centre partner Chris Bell for the 2nd Leeds try.
For the next 10 minutes Northampton were camped on the Leeds line, but the defence held firm and the saints were knocked back each time. However it would not be long before Leeds were found guilty of not retreating 10m after an infringement and Regan was sent for a 10 minute rest.
Northampton again attacked the Leeds line, Leeds were again penalised for killing the ball and David Rees was asked to keep Ronnie company for 10 minutes.
During their 10 minute break the Saints crossed twice against the 13 men, but Leeds kicked apenalty to make the score 26-21, keeping the pressure on.With the return of Ronnie and Rees, the Tykes defence held firm even though the referee played nearly 10 minutes of injury time, and Leeds held on to a deserved win.
In an interview with Dave Craven of the Yorkshire Evening Post, Phil Davies heaped praise on Andre Snyman for his perfomance in this match, and treated him to a visit to the Millennium Stadium for the Wales v South Africa test match. "I think he deserves a drink and I'll be buying him a beer after that performance.", said Davies. "I'm really pleased with him. We changed his style of play last night. He's been taking a lot of ball up the middle recently but we decided to move the target areas around a bit. Andre could still do that but we've looked at a couple of things in training to get him a bit more space and it worked."
So, Friday was the day when the South African connection came good for Leeds, and was not so good for the visitors of Northampton. We shouldn't get too heady about this performance however -the missed opportunities in the first half are a concern, but the fact that there were opportunities at all is something of a refreshing change at Headingley. Lets enjoy this one, and look forward to the team getting better and better and better.....