A Jolly Little Trip to Welford Road.
A hard winter beckons
By LCSF & TartanTyke
September 26 2010
Let’s start with a positive. The sun is shining as we set off for Welford Road. On our arrival at Headingley we are greeted by the car park mafia who inform us that only Rhinos fans are allowed in the car parks today. A short walk to the ticket office and Sian is on the case. All park in car park E and the unlucky thirteen take to the road.
With Bobba in charge of the fun bus anything could happen. A welcome break at a service station followed by a picnic in the sun. In the meantime Russell was trying to hitch a ride to the Isle of Wight in a motorhome. A happy start to the day!
Leeds are with Leicester right up until the referee blows the whistle for the kick-off and that is it really! The opening exchanges went well for Leeds with an early penalty in the first five minutes. However, sloppy tackling from the restart by Blackett and Thomas led to a try for Leicester by Scott Hamilton. 5-3. Following the restart and a few good passages of play Leeds find themselves defending their line at a scrum. The one previously good aspect of Leeds play went to sleep today and the Tigers pushed them over the line for a try scored by Thomas Waldron after twenty minutes. Leeds are 12-3 down but seem to do OK from the restart. Shortly after that Leicester are penalised and an easy kick at goal brings the score to 12-6…..and that folks is the last time Leeds get on the scoreboard with 13 minutes of the half still remaining. Leeds try to run the ball, side to side with no sign of anyone going forward then, as usual, lose the ball. Penalty to Leicester who take advantage as Tom Croft runs in the third try. 17-6. Close to halftime Leeds give away more ball and Tuilagi scores the fourth and bonus point try.
Best halftime comment goes to Mark who reckons “That lot couldn’t tackle a crossword”. If you think that was bad then things were about to get a whole lot worse. Those of a nervous disposition should look away now. Within 2 minutes Leeds have given away a penalty for pulling down and Tuilagi goes over for his second. 29-6. From the restart Leicester knock on so Leeds have the ball. You know what is coming next? Yes Leeds lose the ball as Oakley knocks on.
At this point Leeds bring on the bench which brings about another try for Leicester scored by Matt Smith. 36-6. Leicester are really running riot now with easy ground upfield and with Leeds showing little or no effort to tackle. Leicester score again. This time the honours go to George Skivington. 41-6. Leeds get the odd penalty but do nothing with it. This is shown as Leeds lose the ball and with por defence leading to the final try by young Tuilagi. Final score 48-6. Had Billy Twelvetrees kicked all the points on offer the score would have been well over fifty.
The old Leeds “never give up” spirit has gone and there are some serious problems to sort out. Back and Key are aiming for a top 6 finish but if the first 4 games are anything to go by then Leeds will be lucky to finish the season with 6 points!
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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.
Those of us on the official coach, despite the debacle that we had the misfortune to witness, somehow managed to retain our sense of humour on the return journey to Leeds.
On Saturday it will be my fourth visit to the Madejski Stadium to watch Leeds beat the Exiles. I have not seen Leeds lose at the Madejski and I fully expect that run to continue.
My cup is still half full!