West Leeds 1st XV v Sheffield Medicals
West Leeds 1st XV made the journey to Sheffield Medicals in the Yorkshire Division 2 fixture hoping Jeremy Hunt’s prediction of poor ‘medics’ cover at the weekend were correct, writes Glenn Broadbent.
However the Medics were busy both on and off the field and Mr Hunt was wrong.
Wests took the lead after just 3 minutes with a try from Danny Booth, storm Desmond denying the conversion.
Desmond continued to have a major influence on the game making kicking almost impossible.
The first injury of the day saw influential captain Sam Neave leave the field and he played no further part in the game.
James Dammaral added an unconverted try to take the game to half time 0-10.
Prop forward Rob Maddocks then suffered a sickening injury, a suspected broken leg.
Play was delayed for a number of minutes while Rob received treatment to make him safe before being taken to hospital.
Wests forwards continued to make the game theirs but over-elaboration and a tendency to move onto another phase rather than release the backs cost them on a number of occasions.
The visitors added more points through a Dan Bird try, converted by Dale Breakwell who went on to add a penalty conversion to his points tally for the day.
With depleted West Leeds tiring Sheffield added tries in the 78th minute (converted) and the 6th minute of injury time.
The game ended 12-20, no bonus points this week but West Leeds remain top of Division Two.
Players, officials and supporters of West Leeds would like to thank the South Yorkshire Medical staff for their prompt and dedicated attention to Rob Maddocks.
West Leeds 2nds v Keighley, North & West Yorkshire Championship Merit Table
With the referee stuck in the now notorious Leeds traffic (50 mins from Thornbury to Wortley) it was left to Hamish Pratt Keighley’s 1st team forwards coach and qualified referee to take charge of the game.
Keighley’s 1st team game was off due to a waterlogged pitch so West Leeds faced a strong and well drilled opposition.
West were quick off the mark with a Harry Foskett try on 3 minutes which went unconverted, Desmond doing his stuff again.
Five minutes later Keighley were guilty of not releasing and a quickly taken penalty lead to a home try 10-0.
On the 18th minute Keighley were back in the game with a pushover try 10-5.
A great Gez Assante try which was converted by Phillips took the lead to 17-5.
By this time most of Keighley’s forward momentum was as mainly a result of Ste Anderson and the vocalisation of his thoughts. The referee was having none of it and marched Wests back a total of 50 meters during the first half.
If Mr Anderson behaves like this when he visits the Panto next week he will be in the car park by the interval.
In the second half Keighley with the wind on their backs and Wests with a man in the sin bin narrowed the gap to 17- 12 on 47 minutes following a strong run from their number 13.
A penalty by the eccentric Tom (Cipriani) Philips on the hour took the score to 20-12. Keighley hit back with their own penalty 16 minutes from time.
Both teams continued to push for more points but the final score remained 20-15.
The quality of play in this game reminded your correspondent just how much the game has improved of the last few years. Both teams would hold their own in Yorkshire Division 3.
Next week the first team entertain Ripon while the 2nds make the journey up the A1 for the reverse fixture. The home game will be preceded by a sold out fundraising luncheon.