Leeds win puts Geordie nerves on edge

The Falcons have it all to do in the second leg of the playoff semi-finals after an opening leg defeat at Headingley this week.

In front of over 4,000, a fair percentage of whom were backing the away team in the Yorkshire heat, Leeds turned the tables on the promotion favourites and go into Sunday's return at Kingston Park with a five-point lead.

There was a selection surprise with Tane Tu’ipulotu in the centres for his first game in almost four months, while Tom Catterick was left out of the 22 completely in favour of Ryan Shortland. Chris Pilgrim returned from a cruciate injury to take a place on the bench.

The early stages of the match were intriguing, Tu’ipulotu almost getting onto a dribble from Jimmy Gopperth into the short in-goal area, which turned out to be too short. Both teams threw themselves into tackles and hits and with a vocal crowd creating a great atmosphere, I was surprised to look at the scoreboard after ten minutes and see that the score was still 0-0.

Leeds were the first on the scoresheet with a break in their own 22, and with the Falcons’ defence slow to retreat Fred Burdon isolated Alex Tait and handed off to Stevie McColl, who ran under the posts unopposed. Joe Ford knocked over the conversion.

Gopperth hit a penalty off the post and crossbar and the onrushing Falcons were unable to capitalise, but the second kick went through the posts to reduce the deficit to 7-3.

Ford hit two penalties himself though and the scoreline had a rather worrying look to it: 13-3. Not a position we’ve been in too often this season.

However, after the half-hour the Falcons got back into the game as Gopperth was hauled into touch metres from the Leeds line on the far left. Leeds messed up the lineout and Ally Hogg dived towards the corner to touch down just inches in play. The TMO had little hesitation in awarding the try, which Gopperth converted.

The fly-half scored a second penalty on the half-time whistle and the teams were level at 13-13 at half-time, or 0-0 after a quarter of the tie.

The second half was not quite as exciting, but Leeds continued to take the game to the Falcons who will need to produce something better to make the final. Ford missed an early penalty, as did Gopperth with his first effort of the half.

Seeing that tries were not going to come easy, if at all on a day when our backs struggled, Gopperth kicked two penalties to give us a 13-19 lead in the final quarter.

The away fans breathed a little easier but Leeds did not lie down. Ford equalised with two more penalties of his own, and finally with the minutes ticking away, the Cardigans stole the ball and stormed forward. Replacement Ryan Burrows broke through the Falcons’ defence and scored the leg-winning try on the far right. Ford’s missed conversion means that the deficit going into this weekend’s return match at KP is less than it might have been, but any player suffering a hint of complacency must be brought into line or left on the sidelines on Sunday.

We are potentially 80 minutes away from another season in the Championship, but the tie is still alive if the Falcons come to their senses are able to do what they need to.