Leeds Tykes vs London Wasps
By apb
September 16 2005
On a player by player basis, Leeds Tykes are a match - in fact better than a match - for most teams in the Premiership. A sound policy of nurturing local talent has seen the rise of Tom Biggs and David Doherty.
Recruiting well into the academy from outside - Jordan Crane, now already a member of the England senior training squad for one - has shown the strength of Stuart Lancaster's set-up at Kirkstall. Good recruitment too in the likes of big name signings Justin Marshall, Gordon Bulloch and Kees Lensing to name but three shows the ambition of a club proudly representing the whole of Yorkshire in the Premiership. With highly respected coaches and back-room staff, there is no end to the potential of Leeds Tykes as a club.
So why the poor start to the season?
Iain Balshaw seems inadvertently to have put his finger on it. In talking to the Official LeedsRugby site he is quoted as saying: "We are trying to play a different style this year and we have done a lot of work with Daryl Powell who has stripped the game right back to basics and working on core skills like catching and passing". It seems the Tykes are going back to Daryl Powell's basics. Now while this may be exactly what is needed, it seems a pretty odd time of year to be doing this. With the extremely limited pre-season programme that was arranged this year, this back to basics philosophy is being tested out during the regular season, with, so far, disasterous consequences. I know its a well worn claim of Rugby League afficionados that the skill levels in the Premiership are below those of SuperLeague, but is this the right time to be deconstructing - again according to Balshaw - "the habits of a lifetime" ? After all, we mustn't forget that these habits were the ones that won the Powergen Cup and led the Tykes out of relegation danger with six straight wins at the end of last season. Its a high risk strategy. It cannot be allowed NOT to succeed.
So Can we beat Wasps this weekend?
Stuart Barnes on Rugby Club apparently thinks we can! It seems to me to be all about "whether it clicks" or not. As I said above, man for man we have the beating of almost all teams in the Premiership, and if Powell's new regime is to work, what better time to make it pay than when facing the reigning Champions in a well-attended Headingley?
Previous match reports tell a tale of missed and wasted opportunities, with poor skills letting the team down in the final third of the field in attack, and weak tackling in defence. But its not all doom and gloom. Balshaw has been praised, and has made it through two games without a career threatening injury (touch wood), and the young lads out wide have been praised for their work rate, fitness and endeavour. We have news also that, although not ready for the first team on Sunday, Rayno Gerber is nearing fitness and will be turning out in the 'A' league the following day. This should make the front row look to their laurels and make sure they raise their game - they were pushed all around the park against Saracens, and that will not have pleased anyone. So, turn those opportunities into points, and turn that tackling into crunching truck stoppers, and we can be a winning team on Sunday.
The end of last season, the Tykes showed that they CAN be a force to be reckoned with in Premiership Rugby. They reached the zenith of mental preparedness, where going behind for the odd score did not destroy the entire game for them. They came back stronger. Now they - and we - have to do this on a grander scale. We are two games in to the season. There are points to be had out there, and the Tykes have the personnel and the coaches to ensure they take them.
We the fans can only cheer them on.
| Leeds Tykes | London Wasps | |
| Mike Shelley | 1 | Tim Payne |
| Rob Rawlinson | 2 | Ben Gotting |
| Gavin Kerr | 3 | Jon Dawson |
| Chris Murphy | 4 | Simon Shaw |
| Tom Palmer | 5 | Richard Birkett |
| Jon Dunbar | 6 | John Hart (c) |
| Richard Parks | 7 | Jonny O’Connor |
| Jordan Crane | 8 | Joe Worsley |
| Justin Marshall | 9 | Matt Dawson |
| Roland De Marigny | 10 | Alex King |
| David Doherty | 11 | Tom Voyce |
| Andre Snyman | 12 | Stuart Abbott |
| Chris Jones | 13 | Fraser Waters |
| Tom Biggs | 14 | Paul Sackey |
| Iain Balshaw (c) | 15 | Mark Van Gisbergen |
| Michael Cusack | 16 | Raphael Ibanez |
| Gordon Bulloch | 17 | Peter Bracken |
| Stuart Hooper | 18 | Martin Purdy |
| Scott Morgan | 19 | Mark Lock |
| Danny Care | 20 | Eoin Reddan |
| Gordon Ross | 21 | James Brooks |
| Tim Stimpson | 22 | Ayoola Erinle |