Yorkshire Carnegie
Clowns to the left of me,Jokers to the right!
Centre of controversy
By Rockmeister
September 20 2010
To paraphrase a speech from Churchill (the PM not the dog, although I did spend most of my time going "Oh No!") "Never in the field of Rugby Union was so much owed by so many Saracens fans to one referee."
Early reports from Headingley were that the rain was persisting it down and that Leeds new found attacking play may have to be shelved in place of the old fashioned stick it up your jumper game from last year. The pre-match talk was about a possible victory and hope that the promise showed through some of the opening two games could be achieved for the full 80 minutes today.
Entrance into the stadium raised one very important question.......what has Terry been eating recently as he certainly is now more prop than winger!
The Leeds team handed home starting debut's to World Cup winner Steve Thompson, youngster James Tincknell and, fresh from his exciting debut at Kingsholm, Christian Lewis-Pratt. The rest of the team had a more expected ring to it, a pack consisted of Big Mac, Wine Gums, Dents, Marco, Kearnan, Shrek and the impressive Dan Browne. The back-line consisted of Mathie, Vinyl (the tykesrugby.co.uk half backs), Barrow, Tinkerbell, Semi, Blackett and Stevo. The Sarries team had a very attacking backline but the thought was that this would be tempered by the weather with Strettle, Barritt and Goode being the main ones to keep an eye on.
From the 1st minute the ringmaster for the circus stamped his "authority" on the game by pinging Leeds for offside, with another minute gone he was at it again. This time it was for lying on the wrong side and Sarries were off the mark with a penalty from Hougaard. Leeds put pressure on Saracens and after 5 minutes Vinyl had his first opportunity to get his name on the Headingley score sheet but he failed to take this opportunity and the score remained 0-3.
Leeds continued to pressurise Saracens and with 11 minutes on the clock, they went on the attack but Davey failed to allow advantage when Leeds attacked the Sarries backline, Denton dropped to the ground and popped the ball to Wentzel who would have waltzed in unopposed if it wasn't for the shrill blast of Davey's whistle. With 14 minutes gone things got worse for Leeds when Vinyl, the star of the show against Gloucester last week, took a knock whilst defending and was limping. He was eyeing up the subs bench but carried on as the lack of depth at 10 came to the fore again.
The lack of consistency from our good friend "Wavey Davey" (thanks Tim) was infuriating the inhabitants of the South Stand (and I am sure the North Stand too) with the new breakdown law being at the heart of things. Sarries seemed to be lying all over the ball and getting away with it and yet the presence of 1 Leeds player anywhere near the breakdown led to Mr Davey getting blowy.
With 25 minutes gone Hougaard put through an excellent positional kick which led to a lineout for Leeds but deep in our own 22. Thommo's ball was straight and true and was secured by Leeds (just) and it the decision was to run it from our own line. This turned out to be a far from good idea and, as per usual with Leeds, the handling errors crept in at the worst possible moment where the ball was timidly surrendered. Sarries secured the ball and a neat kick through let to Strettle scuttle over the line in the corner for his second try in 2 games. Hougaard slotted the difficult kick taking the score to 0-10.
After this score I would like to offer up a little quiz to all the Leeds fans out there, lets see how many of you get it right.
Q - Scott Mathie is at the base of a ruck and the ball is waiting to be distributed, does he....
a) Snipe around the fringes to make the yardage and retain posession,
b) Distribute the ball to the back-line and support the next breakdown with quick ball,
c) Box-kick ad nauseum.
If you answered c, well done, for extra points what would you suggest the backline do when Scott does this. It is a 50:50 choice, follow up hard or jog. When you follow up hard you see tackles like Semi Tadulala, when you don't you get players like David Strettle tearing through your defence. A box-kick can be an excellent defensive play and when used in attack it can open up a team, unfortunately if you rely on it at EVERY SINGLE BREAKDOWN IT LOSES ITS EFFECT!!!!! (hint, hint)
Sarries were awarded a penalty by Davey when Leeds were penalised at what seemed to be a fair contest at the breakdown (apart from a bit of holding on by Saracens). The kick was pushed wide and Leeds the score remained 0-10. Vinyl's injury was throwing off his game, having seen him play he can fizz the ball out to the backs and set them going, today, the balls were loose and sometimes too high which checked the runs from attackers and led to us getting knocked back. The first half seemed to be petering out but Davey had it in mind to give us another bit of action before the intermission. Shrek was pinged for infringing at the breakdown near half way and was sent for a 10 minute rest and Hougaard slotted it through to take the score to 0-13 with not long left to play.
From the kick off Leeds were pinged as they, fairly, competed at the kick off. Sarries put in a good touchfinder to secure the lineout, nothing came from it but the last play sums up the "Leeds attacking brand" of rugby. The ball was shipped up and down the line but made no real progress and it ended with a knock on.
Half-Time - Leeds Carnegie 0 - 13 Saracens
If I was to use one word to describe this first half it would be frustrating although I used a whole lot of other words during that half, most of which would not be published.
Leeds began the second half hoping to turn around this deficit and there were some sparks of interest with Blackett making a searing break from the Leeds 22 to the Saracens 22, the ball was recycled and there was an overlap which was butchered. Davey's arm had still not adjusted from the first half and he gave a penalty to Leeds for offside. The injured Vinyl stepped up and slotted the ball through registering our first points of the afternoon, the score now stands at 3 - 13 with 45 gone.
Leeds 'blitz' defence worked at moments but for every one that worked there were several occasions when it didn't and our defence was cut open. With Sarries on the attack Davey gave them a penalty and instead of opting for the points they ran the ball. Scrambling defence managed to force a knock on and Leeds cleared the ball. The first main substitutions came with 11 minutes of the second half elapsed, with 3 Saracens replacements including the effervescent Brits joining the fray.
Leeds had their scrum from the knock-on, the broken record that was Vinyl was replaced with new father Leigh Hinton taking his position at full-back which led to a full rejig of the backline. Barrow moved from inside centre to fly half, Blackett moved to inside centre and Stephenson took up his place on the wing. Leeds managed to win a penalty from the scrum and Hinton kicked well with the ball just creeping over the line on halfway. From the lineout Leeds won another penalty as Davey spotted a Saracens player on the wrong side and Hinton slotted the kick to take the score to 6-13 and Leeds were within 7 points. Myall and Wine Gums were subbed with the fresh legs of Oakley and Swainston replacing them. 2 minutes later being within 7 points was a memory as Leeds were pinged for offisde and Hougaard put the kick through taking the gap back to 10 points. 6-16. From the re-start ring rustiness took its part and Hinton kicked the ball dead from the restart, Sarries caught the same illness with a loose kick from the scrum going straight out.
With 20 minutes to go Leeds had a great opportunity, the team were crabbing but Browne broke through the line and offloaded, unfortunately it went forward and the opportunity was squandered. More substitutions for Leeds with Dents. Thommo and Semi getting subbed for Hohneck, Titts and Fa'afilli.
With less than 15 minutes to go Leeds were awarded a penalty which Hints again dispatched and we were back to within 7, with the score now 9-16. Following the kick Hardy and Fury came on for Big Mac and Mathie.
From the restart there was another Saracens attack and, in defending, Wentzel was penalised and another penalty was awarded, back chat pushed it back 10 and left Hougaard an easy kick. The displeasure was evident in the south stand and a very happy stadium cheered as the kick was pushed wide.
A scrum in the Sarries half was the next bone of contention, a good Leeds scrum competed well and the whole thing disintegrated. Browne picked up the loose ball and was on his way to the line with Blackett in support, however Mr Davey found fault with this and penalised Leeds for the flankers slipping their bind.
From the penalty Hougaard put in another excellent kick which went out near the 5m line, from this lineout the old catch and drive led to a try for Brits, Hougaard converted and the game was far from winnable. 9-23 with 7 minutes to go.
From the kick off the ball went dead again, the lack of a seasoned 10 on the pitch was hurting Leeds. Fury was showing his talent and made some good runs into the heart of the Saracens defence. This new technique, running instead of kicking, seemed to pay dividends as Tinkerbell was put in at the corner for his first try. The conversion was just pushed wide taking the score to 14-23, a deficit of 9.
Leeds took to this running thing well in the last few minutes with Titts making a great break, this was stopped through a hard tackle. Sadly Leeds could do no more and the game ended with Hougaard putting through the posts to leave the score as 14-26.
Full Time - Leeds Carnegie 14 - 26 Saracen
Again, the inability to play the 80 minute game has cost Leeds dear, too many errors and mistakes have led to another defeat. Sarries were poor, Leeds were worse, a decent performance would have put this side away. Unfortunately that seems beyond this team at the moment and it isn't going to get easier with a journey to Leicester in store next week.
The attendance was poor and, with performances like this, you can see why less than 5000 people turned up to watch. If it continues like this the attendances will keep decreasing.
There were a few bright spots from Leeds, Tinkerbell showed that he has some magical steps (sorry for that) and has enough strength to break the tackle but is still a raw talent and needs to learn when to use support. Barrow played well at 12 and Myall put himself about. The new law interpretations are hurting Hendre and leading to us conceding a lot of penalties, this needs to be addressed as we cannot keep giving easy points away.
Leeds: Stephenson; Blackett, Tincknell, S. Barrow, Tadulala; Lewis-Pratt, Mathie; MacDonald, Thompson, Gomez, T. Denton, Wentzel, Myall, Fourie, Browne.
Replacements: Fa'afili for Tadulala (61), Hinton for Lewis-Pratt (52), Fury for Mathie (65), Hardy for MacDonald (65), Titterrell for Thompson (61), Swainston for Gomez (55), Hohneck for T. Denton (61), Oakley for Myall (55).
Sin Bin: Fourie (37).
Saracens: Goode; Strettle, Ratuvou, Barritt, Wyles; Hougaard, de Kock; Carstens, Reynecke, Nieto, Borthwick, Kruis, Melck, Burger, Joubert.
Replacements: Tagicakibau for Goode (46), Wigglesworth for de Kock (52), Parr for Carstens (61), Brits for Reynecke (52), Du Plessis for Nieto (52), Smith for Kruis (61), Mordt for Melck (73), K. Brown for Burger (67).
Attendance: 4,774
Referee: Sean Davey (RFU).
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20/09/2010 18:37
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Referee: Sean Davey (@#$%&).
But a good write up all the same!
Cheers
(d) Pick up the ball and pass it, but only after running 2-5 metres sideways to give the defenders an opportunity to rush defend and competely muller the poor stand off receiving the pass.
This is another aspect of Mathies game which needs sorting - can't we get Paul McKenna to hypnotise him so every time he touches the ball it 'burns' his hands?!
The annoying thing was that I was more frustrated re-reading my notes from the game than I was at the stadium.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:09:21:08:50:30 by Rocky The Tyke.
Let's be honest about this, we've still got major problems without Davey adding to them. It's a shame CLiPper was carrying a knock as we could have done with some incisive kicking to the Sarries 22 to peg them back a bit. I'd settle for an in-form Gordon Ross at the moment!
Miserati - and Proud to be!
Quote:Bobba
Good, honest report.Shame it has been edited as the edited bits could well have reflected the true views of at least 4500 of the crowd.
Whilst driving home after the match I thought about what to write, to be honest it would have consisted of S@*! and B&*"*@£ and also a lot of a^$(£^"% *&"^£^& &^£* !"(* !^^"% £&"^!
Quote:Rocky's Dad
Rocky
Behave yourself I didn’t bring you up to use language like that
3 years at Uni in Leeds had a profound effect on me!
Some say he has a Tykes flag with team signatures on.
Others say that he's doing the same to the Carnegie flag,
All we know is that he's called Leeds carnegie signed flag.
Quote:Tufty the Tyke
Mr Davey had a poor day at the office as well. (You won't get any more out of me on refs!!).
Jeez! Now I KNOW Davey had a poor display when even Tufty comments.....!!!
Miserati - and Proud to be!
Sid the Sexist
Sean Davey
Miserati - and Proud to be!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:09:22:10:24:16 by Mark_C.
Sid the sexist is mildly entertaining - don't confuse him with that &*^&%^
Wildwillie - just retouch this to cover this week's performance. Saves someone having to type up how s*** we are again.
