By apb
December 3 2004

Here we are again, looking forward to another Sunday when this time Leeds Tykes take on Valladolid RAC in the European Shield. This is the "third tier" competition in Europe, designed to enable the lesser teams on the european stage to gain experience in international competition. Winners of the shield are automatically qualified to enter next year's Challenge Cup, and winners of the Challenge Cup are automatically qualified to enter the Heineken Cup. So, in theory, the minnows from Rumania, Spain and Portugal have a route - albeit over three years - to the very top of world club rugby.

Given this, Leeds Tykes can realistically expect to do well in this tournament. This has been a stated goal of the management - disappointed by the loss in the Challenge Cup to Grenoble - to bring back silverware. On this basis, Phil Davies will be taking no chances and will name a strong team for the match at Headingley, hoping to put a shedload of points over the Spanish part-timers.

The club itself is putting on a themed Spanish day, and hopefully the crowds will get into the spirit of the day, dispite what promises to be a particularly chilly December afternoon in the "frozen North". The travelling supporters from Valladolid can expect a warm welcome, however, and will no doubt be cheering on their team in the best way possible. I know the Leeds fans that are making the long trip abroad next week are looking forward to it, and the VRAC supporters club are looking after them very well indeed!

What of the match? I have perpetual difficulty in predicting the style and the result of matches from week to week, but I feel on relatively safe ground on predicting a Leeds win. No disrespect is meant to a VRAC team that contains two spanish internationals, but with a Leeds team at just half-strength, there are still a number of internationals and former internationals that can take to the field, and with the ZP widely acknowledged as the toughest league outside the Heineken Cup and Super 12, there should really be no contest. The recent autumn internationals with England vs Canada, Scotland Vs Japan and Wales vs Japan should give us a clue as to what to expect.

The manner of the victory, however, is something a little more tricky to predict. Will we see dynamic running rugby with outrageous side-steps and miss-moves? Will we see tough, uncompromising forward play with nothing left to chance or taken for granted? Will we see crash-ball from the centres or dancing gazelle-like out wide? Will we see a heady mix of all of these elements? Its difficult to know, but Phil Davies is on record as having said that he wants to try a few things to incorporate into the ZP games when the Christmas holiday is over. Perhaps we'll see some things working and tries, tries, tries, and other things not working and knock-on, knock-on, knock-on.

It'll be an interesting game to see, and - hopefully - an interesting atmosphere to boot.

I wish I were going......