Connacht face Leeds in the first perseason game
Connacht
By LDTT
August 6 2008
Who are Leeds then? Yeah, I'm more than a little ashamed to admit that I hadn't a Barney Blue who Leeds were or even what division they are/were in. So I did a little research and found out about this Northern Union side, from one of the Heartlands of Rugby League.
Leeds RUFC was founded in 1991 after the merger of Roundhay and Headingley. When the amalgamation came in 1991-92 both clubs were in National Division Three. The proposed league re-organisation made it logical that the two clubs should become Leeds RUFC.
In 1997-98, promotion was made from the newly-formed Jewson One to Premiership Two, finishing runners-up to Worcester.
They were renamed Leeds Tykes in 1998 when Leeds Rugby Ltd was formed, merging the Rhinos and Tykes under one umbrella. Since then they have climbed through the divisions and were promoted to the Premiership in 2001.
The Tykes survived their first season after finishing bottom of the league when the National League One champions were denied entry into the Premiership in 2002 (Champions Rotherham Titans were refused promotion to the Zurich Premiership for the 2002/03 season due to facilities failing to meet Premiership criteria). The next season Leeds finished fifth in the table and made their Heineken Cup début in December 2003. In their four seasons in the Zurich Premiership they finished an average ninth and had reached a couple of domestic cup semi-finals.
And right about now you are saying that you could have read all this on Wikipedia if you were all that interested, and yeah, I suppose you could have! But Leeds had a rough of season last season, and got relegated after winning only two of their 22 league games this season. Rough stuff, but then again, Connacht fans will know how the fellas feel right?
Anyway, next Saturday is the start of a brand new season and hopefully it'll see Connacht close out the games we have come to lose in the final 20 minutes, and hopefully finally get a place in the Heineken Cup.
Well, Paddy Power has us at 150 to1 to win the Magners League, and those Leinster prats are tipped at 5-2... some things never change right!
Ok, will save it for the article!
Quote:LDTT
Actually, I know a bit more about London-Welsh as there is a Connacht connection there. A lad from out past Ballinasloe, played there for the last few years. Colm Hannon joined in 2004 I believe. Not sure what he's at now.
Ok, will save it for the article!
Thanks for sticking up the Leeds article LDTT, much appreciated (been a bit busy..).
I'll leave the London Welsh article in your capable hands then, unless you can't do it...
I see the future, and it's Green again...
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.
Quote:Leeds Carnegie signed flag
You should know a bit about us you got one of our best No.8's in Colm Rigney was a great worker for us
Correction - Colm was only on loan to you before he came back home......
I see the future, and it's Green again...
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.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:08:09:20:43:22 by datz.
Andy Dunne was running the show and Leeds looked out of their depth but whatever happened at ht Leeds came out and gave a fine second half display yet that shouldn't gloss over the fact that we once again self-destructed spectacularly.
From a leeds point of view they probably ended with a better side than they started and improved ten fold in the second half but a fair degree of that was down to our failings I'd say.
Nathan was brought on at ht at full back and was found out within a couple of mins with a harmless chip over the top for Leeds try and from there to the 70/75th minute Connacht made elementary mistakes all over the shop.The scrum was pushed off our own ball for one of leeds tries.
Basically the props were out of their depth as even in the first half we blew numerous try scoring opportunities with scrums under their posts.
While the result mightn't matter to some the way we capitulated in the 2nd half was worrying.
Searching for positives-lineout okish,Frank Murphy looked good once he settled(lovely floating passes),Andy Dunne looked good in the first half,Bibo did ok when he came on,Roberts looked like he might offer something.Danny showed glimpses.Mike Mcarthy wasn't bad.
Carr didn't get a touch in an attacking sense most of the night,ok in defence,kieran campbell did nothing wrong.Andrew Farley made a couple of acrobatic catches and the good news is we have time and the players to sort out the issues that arose tonight but do we have the coaches????
Who played well for Connacht:
Andrew Farley (We would be screwed without him)
Andy Dunne (Looked like a different class, had a great outing)
Mike Roberts (New signing from Wasps looks like the real deal)
Ray Ofisa deserves a special mention for leaving everything on the pitch.
Of the rest, all in all it was a poor performance.
Summer rustiness and so forth, etc...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:08:09:22:00:08 by LDTT.
same ol connacht by the looks of things!
bottom of the heap agin this year !no prizes down there!!!!
john
At least I now know where to set my expectations for the season - go and enjoy being at a live rugby match with some excellent players on show with the same expectation of a Connacht victory as there is of the sun shining in Galway for more than a day or two at a time
