Tykes taking nothing for granted...

By apb
December 17 2004

There have been lots of fine words said over the last two weeks about mismatches. "The Shield should be for up and coming nations to compete for". "Winning 121-0 doesn't do anyone any good". "Where's the spectacle?"

Its true that playing Valladolid was always going to be one way traffic, and many regular fans voted with their feet and didn't go to either of the matches, confident that there would be other, more glamourous ties to attend.
But, after a string of near misses and poor defeats in the ZP, there was a need to take a proverbial breath and fix the problems that were starting to undermine the whole season. Valladolid has given the Tykes a chance to have a match-situation training run, allowing new things to be tried, and to brush up on some of the basics.

This Sunday however sees a step up in intensity, with the arrival at Headingley of the Pertemp Bees in the sixth round of the Powergen Cup. Famous for their giant killing antics against Wasps last year, the Bees will undoubtedly (and deservedly) have a higher profile this year.

Their league form, however, has been disasterous, and they are not looking like the troublesome opponents that Wasps underestimated last year. We at Leeds know all about being underestimated however, and its good to see that Phil Davies and Mark Regan were at their match last Sunday, making sure they gained a good grounding in the Bees style of play - this was Leeds' third visit to the Bees since the tie was confirmed!

So, as I said, there is definitely a step up in intensity from Valladolid, but all the pointers suggest that it should be a Leeds win, and the chance of going as far - if not further - as we did last year, where we were eventually put out by our arch nemesis, Sale. Former Tykes and now Bees prop Martin O'Keefe is certainly expecting a Tykes win: "No one expects us to win on Sunday, and what we need is to put in a performance. As long as we don't get spanked, we can take something out of it. But if we play like we did last week, we will get another thumping" he told the Yorkshire Evening Post this week.

In the team named by Phil Davies today, the pack sees the return of Rayno Gerber to tight-head after his enforced rest - he wasn't registered in time to compete in the European competitions. Iain Balshaw sits it out this time and Tom Biggs takes his place, with Phil Christophers on the other wing. Mark McMillan gets a rare start at scrum-half, and its all change again in the back-row, with Parks at open-side, JD at blind and Riggers takes his place at No. 8. The bench sees the welcome return of David Doherty to the first team, and the re-appearance of controversial full-back, Matt Cardey. But perhaps the biggest surprise is that Rob Rawlinson doesn't make the 22, for the first time in what seems like millennia!

With a line up like that, there is no doubt that Leeds are taking the Powergen Cup - and this tie in particular - deadly serious, and we can and should expect to be in the draw come Monday morning. If this is the case, then we will have had a pretty good run-up to the restart of the Premiership season, where we take on Newcastle on 27th December. Going in to that game on the back of three convincing wins will give confidence that money can't buy, and may well be the springboard for a much needed boost up the Premiership table. After the (seemingly misplaced) optimism at the start of the season, it would be really good to get a winning streak going, and to maintain that over the coming months....


Teams

Leeds Tykes:

15. Tim Stimpson
14. Tom Biggs
13. Andre Snyman
12. Chris Bell
11. Phil Christophers
10. Gordon Ross
09. Mark McMillan
01. Mike Shelley
02. Mark Regan
03. Rayno Gerber
04. Chris Murphy
05. Tom Palmer (c)
06. Jon Dunbar
07. Richard Parks
08. Colm Rigney
16. Gavin Kerr
17. Matt Holt
18. Scott Morgan
19. Dan Hyde
20. Alan Dickens
21. David Doherty
22. Matt Cardey

Pertemp Bees:

TBA