West Leeds RUFC 45-18 Acklam RFC
West Leeds welcomed former England under 20’s captain and English Premiership player Joe Bedford back to the fold, Joe began his career in West Leeds Juniors, writes Glenn Broadbent.
Visitors Acklam sit rooted to the foot of Yorkshire Division One and at the start the hosts in third. If you didn’t know who was who you would have thought it the other way around on the evidence of the first 15 minutes.
Wests were never in it and a strong Acklam side went ahead with a penalty on four minutes 0-3.
Almost immediately they added a try, the conversion hitting the post 0-8.
It wasn’t until the 17th minute that West Leeds showed any intent resulting in a converted try 7-8.
This stimulated the home side and they were back into their stride, adding two converted tries in the next nine minutes for 21-8.
Acklam hit back with a penalty on 36 minutes following indiscipline 21-11.
Wests added their own in first half added time. HT 24-11.
Acklam challenged with well drilled moves and but Wests defence stood strong, play was equally shared in the 2nd half the difference being the home side made the most of their chances.
A great catch from Marshall saw him break for a great individual try on 58 minutes 31-11 and West’s backs showed off their handling skills on 67 minutes 38-11.
West Leeds were down to 14 men with eight minutes left and Acklam took advantage in the 72nd minute with a quick thinking tap for 38-18.
The final try of the game came in added time when full length of the pitch move resulted a further 7 points for West Leeds taking the score to 45-18.
West Leeds move to second place in the table and Acklam remain at the bottom. On this performance it is hard to see how they are down there, other teams should not underestimate them.
