By apb on 23/12/2003
December 24 2003

Ideal conditions for running rugby? Well, perhaps, but having played myself the day before, I think the cold may well have been a factor - when you can't feel your finger tips, its much easier to knock the ball on...

The Match

Leeds started the first half brightly enough, but there was plenty of lateral movement with not much penetration across the gain line in the opening few exchanges. With David Rees going off after only three minutes, and a couple of simple penalties for Henry Paul to put Gloucester in the lead by six points, things were beginning to look like it might be one of those days. But fourteen minutes in, Leeds forced a penalty close to the 22, and - perhaps surprisingly - Gordon Ross kicked to the corner. It was an inspired move however, since the resulting line-out was caught solidly and rumbled over the line for Matt Holt to touch down. Goggs duly added the extras, and Leeds took a lead that they would never relinquish.

A penalty miss by Paul that would have put Gloucester back in front was punished moments later when Gordon Ross put three more points on the board, the original infringement lost in my notes due to the overreaction from both sides, which resulted in a stern telling off for both captains by Mr. Pearson.

Leeds seemed to take charge, and but for an attempted flick pass by Cardey going forward, they may well have gone in for another try. Gloucester seemed to lack ideas, and Leeds were soon on the attack again, scoring two more penalties as a result of pulling down mauls in the centre of the park. The second of those two was created by a superb dummy and run from Gordon Ross who kept the defence guessing all game, and this infringement also showed Junior Paramore sin-binned. The score now was 16-6, and although not running away with it, Leeds looked good value for that score.

Gloucester came back though, and there were another two further penalties scored for them, leaving the half-time score much closer at 16-12. The second half started pretty much in the same vein as the first had left-off, with Gloucester on the attack, but not really able to make the telling incisions through the Leeds defence. A penalty awarded pretty much on half way for diving over at the ruck was slotted over nicely by Paul to pull Gloucester back to within a point of the lead, but a high-ball after the restart saw two Gloucester players go for it and crash into each other. Whatever the ref. was about to award was turned into a penalty for Leeds 10m further down the pitch for a bit of lip, and Goggsy duly scored to put the lead back to four points. Handling in the ruck on the 10m line allowed Paul again to pull Gloucester back to within a point, and a chance to go into the lead when Mr. Pearson's "helicopter" signal was eventually indicated as a penalty to Gloucester - for what I couldn't tell! (but perhaps the "coming together" of Phil Christophers and Marcel Garvey when chasing down a kick to the corner might have had something to do with it...)

The kick, though, was badly missed, and at one point it looked as though Leeds would try to run it out from behind their own goal line - they certainly didn't touch it down, but Mr. Pearson insisted on the 22 drop-out anyway. As it turned out it didn't matter since they attempted the short tap in full flight, and didn't do too much with it. Ross's touch kicks became a bit wayward, and Leeds were fairly lucky to regain possession without too much damage done. And they certainly made use of it this time; some cracking interplay and a superb chip kick over the top took them all the way to the Gloucester line, with Garvey having to use his phenomenal pace to take the ball over the line himself, giving an attacking scrum to Leeds. At this point, Matt Salter and Jimmy Ponton left the field, to be replaced by the talismanic Dan Hyde and Tom Palmer - both back from injury.

Palmer might have got over with his first touch, but was manfully kept out by a stout Gloucester defence, only to concede a penalty. Leeds' confidence was sky-high, and they kicked for touch. Another try for Matt Holt was on the cards since the same move was used at the other end of the ground that got the score, but this time the ref. ruled the ball was held up over the line. Wave after wave of attack was kept out by the Cherry and Whites, and the pressure was relieved when Matt Cardey's scything run was spoilt by a knock-on, and Gloucester had the scrum on their own 5 metre line. This was not to be Gloucester's day however, since the solid scrummaging gave McRae a relatively easy and pressure-free clearance opportunity, only to see it hit the posts and go back over the dead-ball line - an attacking scrum to the Tykes! The relatively inevitable offside call gave Ross a chance that he duly took, and the score was 22-18.

Gloucester's heads were well and truly down, and the restart didn't even make five metres, let alone the statutory ten, and immediately Leeds had possession back again. At every opportunity that Gloucester had, Leeds were right in their faces, and mistake after mistake characterised this last five minutes of Gloucester's play. Mr. Pearson's final whistle put them out of their misery, and this excellent, pulsating match finished as a 22-18 win for the Tykes.

The Ref

Regular readers will know that I am not one to pass judgement over referees, who do an incredibly difficult job, in front of thousands of fans who by definition think he's always wrong, and can't be expected to see absolutely everything; and in fact, if he did and called every infringement, there wouldn't be much of a game. A certain amount of common sense has to prevail, and by and large, most ZP refs. do a passable job. Perhaps, however, Mr. Pearson could work on the clarity of his handsignals, so us ordinary idiots who only watch ZP and play fourth XV rugby can try to understand what he's on about!!!

The World Cup

The World Cup was paraded around the stadium at half-time (much to the chagrin of "Tetley's Bomb" fans), and the record 7,467 crowd that had turned out to see the rugby had a bonus of seeing the trophy too! I myself managed to get within inches of the thing, and despite looking like it had had a few finger marks on it (!), it was a very handsome thing indeed.

At first I thought it was a bit of a shame that the lads that were playing in the half-time interval would be pretty much ignored because of this, but it was fantastic to see one lad making a "pitch length" run that was roared on by the South Stand! Imagine the feeling he must have had when he touched down right under the noses of 5,000 or so cheering fans!

Conclusion

No one in the Leeds team had a bad game. Gary Powell was the official man of the match, and while Christophers always looked dangerous, Snyman and Davies did great work in breaking the gain line all afternoon, and Ross was (nearly) magnificent in bossing the line, I think I have to agree that the forwards did it for us in this one, with Powell being particularly effective in scrummaging and in the loose. With Palmer and Hyde back to fitness, we are now only missing Gavin Kerr (and, dear reader, we do miss him) to enable a full strength squad to go to Welford Road on Saturday - and that will be no picnic!

But let's savour this one for now - a good win, a good spectacle, a good view of the Webb-Ellis, an excellent crowd, and not bad craic in the bar afterwards! Lets hope the 7,467 can bring some more friends for the rest of the season, and then we can really see something big happening.....

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