Tykes Humbled at HQ
By Chris The Tyke
October 18 2005
Hopes were high. Leeds had won their last 4 games against Irish and last time they visited HQ, there was a victory. Even the alcohol checks at the Headingley car park didn’t dampen spirits. Sadly, the game itself was about as enjoyable as the coach journey down south.
Please note that it was just under 6 hours long, on a coach with no air conditioning and I slept through most of it. Most of the Leeds fans made it to just catch the end of the first half in the Saracens versus Wasps game. We were presented with a less than average game that was a lot like the Powergen Cup final against Bath. Sarries had all the pressure, Wasps had all the points. We got a glimpse of Leeds old boys, Alan Dickens and Dan Scarbrough and eventually the game ended.
After about an hour wait, the game we had all arrived for started, with a hardly convincing start. Scrum followed scrum and lineout followed lineout. A ruck was set up on the Irish 10 metre line where Gordon Bulloch passed the ball out to Justin Marshall who in turn passed it down to Chris Jones. Jones sort of then, what can only be described as him wafting his hands and the ball bouncing off them into the arms of Tom Biggs who ran 30 metres and crashed down in the far corner 7 minutes into the match. Ross, who’s kicking was inaccurate and sloppy the whole game, missed the conversion.
After the restart Tykes decided to perform like they did at the beginning, middle and most of end of last season. A missed tackle from Jones let a London Irish player run down the middle and was only stopped by Balshaw, who seemed to get himself injured but then got back up again, to much relief of the Leeds fans. When Leeds got the ball back down into the Irish half, Scott Morgan decided he didn’t like Oliver Magne and the two entered a scrap. The penalty was given in favour of the Exiles and Barry Everitt hoofed it down field. The lineout was stolen by the Leeds pack and was presented to Marshall who spun it out to Ross who kicked (sloppily) down field. London Irish returned the kick to Balshaw, who kicked and this was also returned, this time to Tom Biggs who did the right thing and ran it. Thing is, he ran it into touch. Play started again and Irish were given a penalty which Everitt slotted over, 5 – 3. Only minutes later, Irish were at the Leeds line when Delon Armitage delivered a perfected placed grubber kick, which Leeds only just beat him to. Ross kicked the drop out and Irish attacked but eventually lost the ball and Leeds were given the penalty, which Ross slotted over giving Leeds a 5 point advantage.
After the restart and another not straight lineout from Bulloch, the Exiles were on the attack again with another grubber kick from an Irish player that bounced out onto the try line flag, Leeds were lucky once again. This luck didn’t last. Irish stole the ball and Rod Penny ran through the middle of the Tykes defence and scored under the posts, with Everitt converting. Which followed the infamous London Irish Mexican waves and the wavers were most displeased that the Tykes fans didn’t join in. On the pitch meanwhile, Ross responded with a penalty kick making it 11-10. However, Delon Armitage had the last say scoring in the corner on 42 minutes. Ross had another penalty shot but this drifted just wide. Half Time.
The second half started badly for Tykes after Chris Jones knocked on off the restart. Irish did well in the scrum and passed it out wide. Irish favourite Mr. Nobody received a pass when it looked like another Exiles try. Lineout Leeds. Tim Stimpson replaced Roland de Marigny but Bulloch’s poor throwing stayed on and London Irish first stole but then knocked the ball on. Leeds pulled a penalty out of the mess but didn’t make much of it, with Ross slicing it and gaining less than 5 metres. Irish got a penalty from Richard Parks holding the ball in the ruck and Justin Bishop ran through the Tykes defence for a try, which Everitt failed to convert. When play restarted, Leeds found themselves knocking on Irish’s door and when prop Michael Collins was sin binned, a try had to come but unsurprisingly, the ball was turned over and Barry Everitt cleared the line. This signalled the entry of Rawlinson, Cusack and Murphy, with little effect on the game. Balshaw got a good break when his new nose sniffed out the try line but for a reason no one around me knew, Irish were awarded a penalty kick. This was collected up and Leeds found themselves on Irish’s try line, surly a try had to come but Dunbar and Marshall seam to have some kind of new scrum idea where Dunbar flicks it up to Marshall who passes it out. Dunbar could hardly control the scrum even without having to release to pass it out so as you can imagine it all fell apart and before everyone knew it, Irish had broke away and scored another try with Everitt failing to convert. Full Time.
The team just didn’t seem interested and it was clear the absence of Shelley and Bell were big blows to the side. To sum up the day, the most exciting things that happened were a person spilling beer on my bag, spotting a cloud that looked like Abraham Lincoln and me overhearing Timofe saying a naughty word. Final score, Leeds 11 – London Irish 27.