Tykes on Tour: Leeds Tykes v Petrarca Padova

Brief come back
By Skibum (14/10/02)
October 14 2002

First lets’ set the scene. Half hour to go to kick off approx 30 Tykes fans stocked up with lager, fruit juice (for the junior Tykes), cartons of quality red wine and Pringles all purchased from the local Lidl just round the corner from the stadium. That was it just 30 Tykes, no Italians.

At kick off however circa 500 Petrarca fans had arrived and also a Petrarca team, most of whom looked amazingly like Octavio Bartolucci, let’s hope they play like him.

A very scrappy start for both teams, Petrarca got the best of the early exchanges, but Marco Bergamasco was only able to convert the first of 3 three early penalties, and also failed in a drop goal attempt. Leeds got onto the scoreboard after twenty minutes Phil Murphy pinched a Petrarca line out set off down the left wing, fed Chris Hall up in support, Hall was stopped 5 yards out, Petrarca knocked on, from the resulting scrum the ball came loose, as usual Cammie Mather was the first to react, he picked up and dived over for the try. Gordon Ross kicked a good conversion from wide on the left, Petrarca 3 Leeds 7.

The try seemed to spur Petrarca on, after 22 minutes they made a good break down the left. Choosing, for once, to keep the ball in hand rather than kick it away, Baroni was fed by Elisara but threw a loose pass to Bergamsco who knocked on 5 yards out.

Following the early pattern of kicking, after 24 minutes Franchesio tried another speculative long range drop goal, this time pulling it well to the right.

A minute later there was another good break from the big Kiwi, Elisara, he was obviously the main playmaker for Petrarca, most of the time he appeared at stand off, and was the main outlet for all of their attacking ideas.

The shining light for Leeds was the performance of Albanese, he looked very dangerous every time he got the ball, after 28 minutes following a good break from Hegarty the ball was fed out to Albanese who made 50 yards down the left touchline, before his inside pass was knocked into touch off a Petrarca hand, from the lineout, an infringement by Petrarca gave Ross an easy penalty.

After 30 minutes Petrarca again keep the ball in hand, and after some good attacking phases in midfield they break and Elisara scores a good try wide right. The try is converted by Franchesio, a change of kicker, Petrarca 10 Leeds 10.

37 minutes Petrarca turn the Leeds scrum on our own 20 meter line, Bergamsco makes the break down the right from behind the scrum, feeds Barbini who scores a well worked try, again converted by Franchesio.

The half ends with a couple of good breaks from Craig Emmerson and Diego Albanese, but a strange decision not to allow a penalty right on half time means half time score is Petrarca 17 Leeds 10.

1 substitution for Leeds at half time the Murphy brothers swap places, this was probably due to the knock that Phil got midway through the first half, he seemed very dazed following a tackle from Tumiti.

2 minutes into the 2nd half Leeds get a lucky break, a very poor kick forward gets 2 lucky bounces away from Bergomasco and Barbini and Chris Hall gets an easy touch down under the sticks, Ross converts.

Petrarca’s first opportunity of the half comes after 5 minutes, when Bergomasco makes a great break down the right, a superb ankle tap tackle from Sennillosa stops him 10 yards short of the line, they re-cycle the ball and after a couple of passes across the field they try a long pass to the left wing Emmo goes for the interception, just misses, fortunately the pass misses Franchesio as well.

After 8 minutes Chris Murphy gets, what looks like a serious knock to the ankle, and is replaced by Zak, Carl Hogg moves from No.8 into the 2nd row.

2 minutes later Petrarca get a penalty in front of the posts, converted by Franchesio 20 –17 to Petrarca.

Straight form the ruck formed after the restart, Hegarty made a great break down the left, had Jamie Ponton inside in support, chose not to use him and was tackled into touch.

18 minutes into the half and Leeds make 2 tactical substitutions, Scott Benton makes a welcome return as replacement for Derek Hegarty and Senillosa makes way for George Harder. Scott only managed 4 minutes on the pitch before being forced off with what seemed to be a serious ankle injury. Replaced by Tom Rock, Albanese moves to scrum half, Chris Hall to full back and Tom Rock onto the wing.

23 minutes, George Harder made a great break through the middle, fed to Jamie Ponton, Jamie on to Cammie Mather who passes wide to Tom Rock who tried to pass to Albanese on the wing when he could maybe have scored himself on his European debut.

26 minutes Franchesio for Petrarca kicks another penalty to extend their lead to 23 –17.

3 minutes later, following a lovely pass from Ross to put Chris Hall through a gap, Leeds attack the Petrarca 20, Petrarca are a mile offside, and a quick tap penalty from Tristran Davies sends Chris Hall in for his 2nd try. Gordon Ross converted to make 23 –24 to Leeds.

34 minutes Chris Hall tries a speculative drop goal from half way, that doesn’t miss by much, then Ross tries one from a shorter distance but doesn’t make very good contact, and it ends up as a grubber kick.

Leeds then squander a couple of good opportunities with knock-ons over the try line, before Chris Hall completes his hat-trick. A brilliant break from Albanese after 44 minutes passes to Hall on the right wing, who gets a good ball away to Emmo, Emmo is tackled 5 yards out but gets the ball back to Hall for a great try. Gordon Ross misses his first conversion of the day. But Leeds had done enough to secure the victory despite some late pressure from Petrarca.

Final Score: Petrarca 23 Leeds 29

For further insight into The Tykes on tour, please see Andycap for a report on the finer points of using an Italian toilet!!

Petrarca Padova
15. Marco Bergamasco, 14. Marco Baroni, 13. Matteo Barbini, 12. Rocco Salvan, 11. Sebastian Franchesio, 10. Soler, 23. Trovagli, 1. Piergiorgio Menapace, 2. Bartolusso, 3. Michel Mattaralia, 4. Lauts, 5. Daniele Tumiti, 6. Roberto Rampazzo, 22. Alessandro Cenedese, 8. Caine Elisara

Leeds Tykes
15. Albanese, 14. Hall, 13. Senillosa, 12. Davies 11. Emmerson, 10. Ross, 9. Hegarty, 1. O’Keefe, 2. Rawlinson, 3. Holt, 4. P Murphy, 5. Campbell, 6. Mather, 7. Ponton, 8. Hogg