Tykes steal a win in the Steel City
Leeds Tykes’ players and supporters alike left the outskirts of the Steel City knowing their team had put in a real shift against a more than capable opponent.
The first-half was a question of defensive resolve for the visiting Leeds side: unsurprisingly Pete Seabourne’s men were up to the task. Countless phases were repelled as Tykes’ failure to respect the ball made them architects of their own demise.
The only score of a seesaw first-half came when the hosts eventually got the better of the maul battle, dotting down out wide through Rhodri Campbell a shade before the half-hour mark. Elliot Fisher struck a fine conversion to give the hosts a lead that was befitting of their territorial dominance.
In one respect, from a Tykes standpoint, you could view the game as a classic ‘game of two halves.’ This is because the entire squad responded collectively as if they knew their first-half display fell well below their own expectations, particularly in attack.
As such, Leeds started to make immediate headway, going harder into collisions, and asserting their dominance around the ruck. As confidence grew, they began to string several examples of their now synonymous free-flowing patterns together. At the same time, Sheffield’s pack became visibly tired, as by contrast, the Tykes’ forwards began to rise to the challenge of the task at hand.
With quick hands aplenty, gaps started to appear in the outside channels for the Tykes’ backs to become more influential. Successive penalties gave Leeds field position as they trusted their previously faltering driving maul to deliver. Just as the drive was brought down inches short of the line, the ball was shipped to the short side, leaving Charlie Venables to eventually muscle his way over in the corner. Seremaia Bai Turagabeci pulled the conversion narrowly wide to keep the hosts ahead at 7-5.
When the home crowd fell silent, realising Leeds had now come to the party in a big way; the visitors engaged a ruthless streak to turn the tide fully in their favour. As is commonplace in these keenly contested Yorkshire derbies, Sheffield also adopted a firm rearguard action approach. Handling errors were regular for both sides as frustration grew in the crowd, who could sense how important a win might be for either side.
Adam Brown crashed over 15 minutes from time to give Tykes the lead for the first time in the game. Replacement James Watts missed his attempt at the extras.
With the game now locked at 7-10 to the visitors, Sheffield went full throttle for the win. Many thought they had done just that when substitute Matthew Adcock found his way over. However, the decisive conversion went wide.
Tykes showed a further example of their togetherness by refusing to go down without a fight. As the Leeds replacement forwards began to do a number on their weary counterparts, the referee started rewarding their industrious actions. Not to beset by his earlier misfire, James Watts grabbed the ball confidently and gestured to captain Brown his desire to have a go for goal. Admiring such gumption, the hooker backed his man. Justifiably so as it turned out; the offseason acquisition did not let his new teammates down. He struck the ball sweetly from the tee and it sailed through the uprights with ease. The away fans were sent into pandemonium as their troops’ lead was restored. The superstitious amongst us might say that finishing with thirteen points is unlucky, but on this occasion, it was the exact opposite.
Our South Yorkshire neighbours fought bravely to the last whistle. However, as they struggled to muster the energy to go again, there discipline started to let them down. This was apparent when Sheffield’s captain Dominic Parsons saw yellow moments from time for giving the official his considered opinion one too many times. Leeds kicked the resulting penalty to touch as Sir called time on a pulsating encounter.
Speaking pitch side, Tykes Chair, Alastair Da Costa, highlighted what a good advert for National 2 North rugby the game was, saying: “I doubt there will be a better, more evenly matched game across all the National 2 divisions this weekend. That is a credit to both sides.
“We still have several players to come back from injury over the next couple of weeks, and after grinding out the win in difficult circumstances against what could turn out to be our closest rivals; I’m confident that we’ll have enough to be a pretty awesome outfit come the end of the season.
“There’s obviously always room for improvement in certain areas that did not function so well today, like the lineout. However, that is all part of the development of the team going forwards.”
On a performance front, Director of Rugby Seaborne added: “It was a tough game today which we are naturally pleased to come out on the right side of. They are a side packed with quality, so our defensive performance was excellent. I thought we were poor in several facets of the game, but we will take the win and move on to next week.”
Echoing the thoughts of his bosses, Head Coach Pete Lucock said: “The performance was all about the sheer grit and determination we showed to get the job done. That cohesion and fighting spirit is there for all to see but we cannot rely on that getting us out of every sticky situation we find ourselves in.
“The way we spoke after the game in the huddle shows me that we know collectively that our eighty-minute performance wasn’t good enough. We need to find a way of respecting the ball better to minimise our need to defend so much. Hopefully, you will all see a more complete performance next week when we return home to face Preston. We will be looking to lay down another marker before ending this intense block of games and enjoying a well-deserved week off.”
⌛ Final score 12-13
⏳ (HT 7-0)
👈 Your Leeds Tykes scorers
ℹ️ Match centre
✍️ Thanks to Ben Cropper for our match report
