Preview: Petrarca Padova v Leeds Tykes

By Lisa Rowland
January 14 2005

On Sunday the Tykes face Petrarca Padova in the second leg of their European Shield fixture. They fly to Italy with a 16 point lead, but know they must apply the pressure from the very beginning, and take control in the early stages if they are to proceed to the semi-finals.

Petrarca will not be defeated easily and Leeds will have to make the most of every opportunity given to them.

Before last weekends game, the last time the two teams met was 20th October 2002, when the Tykes recorded a comfortable 52-13 win over Petrarca Padova, at Headingley. There was an attendance of 2,665 and Carl Hogg captained the Tykes. The Tykes scored 7 tries in the first round of the Parker Pen, with Alan Dickens scoring two in the first half and Craig Emmerson also getting two in the second. There were also tries for James Ponton, Tristan Davies and Hernan Senillosa on his home debut. Gordon Ross also played well, kicking all seven conversions and a penalty. The Tykes played well and caused Petrarca problems, although, Leeds did find themselves trailing at half time, 17-10. After playing over in Italy Leeds came out of the Parker Pen first round with an aggregate win of 81-36, and went on to play Pontypridd.


Petrarca’s European record shows that they have played 47 matches in total, losing thirty-one and only winning thirteen. Whereas, Tykes have only played twenty, winning twelve, losing nine and drawing in three of their matches.

Leeds will hopefully beat Petrarca on Sunday and proceed in to the next round of the European Shield. They know it will be tough and just need to get stuck in and make the fans proud.


Team:

15. Tim Stimpson
14. Andre Snyman
13. Phil Christophers
12. Chris Bell
11. Diego Albanese
10. Gordon Ross
9. Alan Dickens
1. Mike Shelley
2. Matt Holt
3. Gavin Kerr
4. Scott Morgan
5. Tom Palmer (c)
6. Jon Dunbar
7. Pierre Uys
8. Colm Rigney
16. Rob Rawlinson
17. Michael Cusack
18. Stuart Hooper
19. Chris Murphy
20. Jordan Crane
21. Mark McMillan
22. David Rees