A Tale of Two Halves
By Tyke Steve
October 25 2005
Leeds went down to Heineken Cup defeat at the hands of the Cardiff Blues at the weekend. Having had the better of the opening half, leading 6 – 13, they went on to lose out 40 – 13 to a seemingly different Blues side that turned up in the second 40 minute session.
It was not a good start to Leeds Tykes bid to turn the season around after a poor start in both the Guinness Premiership and the Powergen Cup, losing out the Cardiff Blues. It had all started so well, the Tykes looked to be playing well and holding off a rather lack lustre Cardiff Blues side in the first half. Early attacks from the Blues saw them take a 3-point lead through a penalty from Nicky Robinson. However, Leeds weathered the storm and a nice try from Snyman following a break from Marshall gave Leeds the nudge and a 3 – 7 lead. Craig Quinnell tried his level best to get sent from the field holding onto Justin Marshall behind a ruck, however, the referee Rob Dickinson (who had a poor first half) did nowt. Further penalties were swapped and Leeds went in at half time with a 6 – 13 lead, though, if I am honest, the Ross penalty did look as if it drifted just wide, the Blues fans felt the same, shame they then took it out on further attempts at goal by Leeds thereafter.
The second half is best forgotten. It was a bit of a blitz. The Blues put 4 tries from Gareth Williams the hooker (who got a pair), Robin Sowden-Taylor and John Yapp. There was some element of “assistance” to some of these, for example the ref was in the way of Marshall for one, but it’s by the by. I don’t think that lady luck made enough difference for us to claim we were robbed. I joked to some Blues fans about five minutes before the final whistle saying “Right, you’re about to see the best ever rugby come back!” and rubbed my hands together. I knew I was deluding myself.
Many things didn’t seem to go right for us, but what went well, or at least okay?
Richard Parks played very well. However, there is a theory espoused by Timofe (I think?) that his haircut is the cause of all the troubles for the Tykes. Remember Samson, he of Delilah fame? Well, the loss of his hair could be why the Tykes aren’t doing too well, the strength in the team, or whatever it is, skill perhaps, or just plain winning, might be why we’ve been losing! Time for the miracle hair-grow stuff to come out of the closet and be sent to Richard! Anyway, he sniped in the loose and showed he was back on form.
The line out wasn’t too bad this time, from what I can remember from my last experience at Wuss.
Sadly, that was about it as far as I can think. The scrum was to say the least, pretty poor in the second half, we lost at least two against the head. Heads seemed to go down once we were behind. I wonder if there’s an “Oh no here we go again” mentality beginning to creep in? Tackling poor on occasion… I could go on.
So, what are the answers? For me it’s a win! Calvisano up next at home, surely this must be a win?
On the social side a splendid time was had by all! Beers before and after the game with Timofe, Oxenhoper (“My did I have a sore head on Sunday morning, can't remember the last time I drunk so much”), his wife, my wife and several Welsh friends made it a splendid occasion with lovely hangovers the next day.