Inspired Ross Sinks Bath
Inspired
By apb
January 10 2006
Leeds came out of the cold for a terrific win at Headingley against relegation rivals Bath. Gordon Ross kicked twenty points in a great display that would have got the visiting selector from the SRU scribbling hurredly in his notebook.
On this form, Ross will be going to the Six Nations party, and I wouldn't be surprised if he got the nod to start the first game against France on 5th February.
But back to Sunday's game, and when you hear in match reports "twenty-five points, of which twenty were kicked by the fly-half", you are inevitably drawn to the conclusion that there was once again no cutting edge and it must've been a dull game. Not true, if you weren't there (and the question has to be raised; Why NOT?) you would have seen some entertaining phase-play from both sides, but for the Leeds supporter it will be good to hear that it was Leeds that did the majority of the good stuff.
The game started with Bath gaining possession, and pressed quite well up to the Tykes twenty-two until a fumble allowed Rob Vickerman to pick up and chase down the field. Unable to evade the final tackler, he offloaded to Chris Bell who raced in - sporting the winger's no. 11 shirt for the first time at Leeds - to score. Gordon Ross put over the conversion, and Leeds were 7-0 up with barely two minutes gone!
Bath were not to be disillusioned quite so easily though, and some good attacks - bravely repelled - brought only a solitary penalty for their efforts, which moments later was nullified by a Gordon Ross penalty at the other end.
Now it was Leeds' turn to do the attacking, and wave after wave of play pressurised the Bath line. The forwards and backs mixed it up nicely, and finally Kees Lensing dived through for a classic props' try. Except the linking pass from Justin Marshall was judged forward (from my vantage point some sixty yards away at an acute angle it looked perfectly fine to me), and the relief on the Bath players and fans' faces was clear to see.
Another Ross penalty on thirty minutes took the score to 13-3, and the Tykes were clearly in the ascendant. Near the end of the half Olly Barkley and that man Gordon Ross again exchanged penalty kicks to lead the Tykes into the changing rooms at half-time with a ten point lead at 16-6, the only notable worry for the Tykes being one of losing a scrum on their own put-in.
John Bentley's comment at half time, that it was "the best half of rugby I've seen here at Headingley" was perhaps a little bit overstating the case, but nevertheless it was a good performance and a good start in the traditional "must win" game.
Rockets were placed in many Bath orifices, however, (or at least, this is the only conclusion I can draw), because at the start of the second half, the game looked to be on the turn, with good pressure from the Bath line, pulling the Tykes defence first one way then the other, before Michael Lipman was sent over to score a simple try. Except it wasn't. Again, a "slight" forwardness in the pass anulled the certain score, and Leeds were saved. Moments later though, Bath redeemed themselves and sent Gareth Delve, Welshman, over the line. This time the ref. was happy with it and the score moved on to 16-11. Barkley was unable to make the conversion, but he brought the "soft southerners" within two points of the mighty Tykes with a well taken penalty to bring the score to 16-14.
Damn! Another blummen' nail biter again!
The Tykes then switched back on again, and took advantage of some wayward kicking from the Bath pairing of Malone and Barkley to continue to pressure Bath, winning a penalty to take the score to 19-14, and could easily have scored a try when Chris Bell chipped over the defence and sprinted down the left side to collect and touch down. Or he would have done but for what looked like a body-check (but could have been simply "standing in the way") from the Bath defender, and the ball was kicked into touch five metres out. Amidst howls of "Off! Off!" from the home fans, Mr. Davey consulted his touch-judge, called over to the defender in question, wagged his finger a bit and called for the line-out. Leeds throw-in, but crucially couldn't win this one and the Bath defence was saved.
However, this was what the Tykes needed, and calmly, relentlessly, they took the ball back down the field, mixing the play nicely, with Gordon Ross all the while sitting nicely in his arm-chair waiting for the service that would deliver him ball for a drop-goal attempt. At the appropriate time and distance it duly came to him, and he slotted it over with what, in the journalistic trade, is called "aplomb". 22-14.
It was now all Leeds, and Bath never looked like coming back, and in fact it was Gordon Ross again who had the last laugh, with another finely taken penalty that left the final score an eleven point lead at 25-14.
Thoughts
Gordon Ross, in stark contrast to his opposite number Chris "Molly" Malone, showed how to control a game with good angled kicks and mixing between kicking and running the ball from fly-half. Bath missed "easy" touches countless times, and it seems clear that the diminuative Mr. Ross has been working on this aspect of his game.
The whole pack clearly worked very hard to ensure that the Bath forwards were given as good as they dished out - in a rugby sense - and the scrums in general had a great deal of solidity; Leeds pushing Bath backwards once or twice, and Bath in return winning one against the head. The line-outs were much more certain than of late (although still not particularly perfect), and one or two of the Bath throw-ins were taken.
Much was said before the match about naming effectively four centres in the Leeds back line, but all four of them, Jones and Vickerman in the orthodox positions, and Snyman and Bell masquerading as wingers seemed to put the willies up the defence and kept them guessing - Vickerman in particular inspiring as he found gaps that didn't appear the exist. All the back line showed great fight in defence, and looked promising in attack, although once again we left Headingley with only one try to show for it - still room for improvement then.
And Jordan Crane.
You have to keep reminding yourself that the lad is just nineteen. He is an awesome player for us just now, and is clearly far and away the form number 8 in the Tykes squad. Lets hope he doesn't get taken away from us for the age-group internationals coming up.
A Word on the Crowd
How is it that so many people - 11,600 at the Newcastle game - can be so quiet, when the 4,500 or so people at this game were so effusive and passionate?
Discuss.