Tykes 17 – 18 Pirates (CUP)

But first a gentle respite with the cup.  I made a selfless offer to any travelling Pirates to meet them for drinks in the afternoon, and was taken up on the offer by Dotcom.  Dotcom had match duties to attend to later, but by then we’d been joined by some other Cornish supporters.  They were, in turn, replaced by others.  And too late I realised they were working in shifts to get me drunk so I couldn’t support my team effectively.  Hic!

The match itself was played in atrocious conditions with a heavy blizzard and gale force wind making things difficult for both teams, and for supporters too (those few who could get there).  It wasn’t a pretty match, and is best remembered for the thirteen, fourteen, and even fifteen man rolling mauls by the Pirates. These may not have been good to watch (from a Tykes point of view) but they were mightily effective.  Leeds attempted more flowing attacks, and tries from MacDonald and Biggs looked to have sealed the win, but an incredible nine minute stoppage time display from those Pirate mauls finally resulted in a converted try to steal the result and dump Leeds out of the cup.

Doncaster 16 – 30 Tykes

What a pleasant set up they have in Donny.  Very welcoming, bit of a party atmosphere all day, good clubhouse and the cow pies can’t be beaten.  As you can tell, I enjoyed the day…  On top of all that, Leeds played a good game of rugby and won quite easily, despite a closely fought first half ending 6-9.  The second half belonged to Leeds despite an early try from Doncaster.  Welding and Hepworth both scored tries, and Holtby claimed a third after showing strength to get back to his feet after being tackled and scamper over the line.  There were concerns after Dunbar was carried off the pitch with a seemingly severe leg injury, but these were banished later as a sheepish looking Jon made his way into the bar with not so much as a limp. 

Moseley 6 – 29 Tykes

Moseley, second bottom, were next on the agenda.  A bonus point in was expected.  But they’d fought hard at Headingley – would they be a push over?  Well, they put up a decent effort, but in all honesty it was only the bonus point that was in doubt on the day.  Leeds were dominant all match, particularly Snyman who seemed able to punch holes through the Moseley defence at will.  It was only a number of handling errors, and a succession of minor injuries breaking up the play, that prevented the Tykes from scoring more tries.  The first half saw a couple, one for Hepworth, the other for Biggs.  Oakley scored the third try early in the second half , but then play was held up for a while after a nasty ankle injury to one of the Moseley players, resulting eventually in the air ambulance arriving and landing just behind the pitch.  Once things had calmed down again, Leeds pressed for the fourth try, and it finally arrived courtesy of Danny Paul.  Moseley stuck at it, and pushed Leeds back in the last few minutes, but the job was done – five more points.

Tykes 66 – 0 Waterloo

I’m not going to go into the details of who, when, how the tries were scored on this one.  Waterloo were clearly out of their depth in this division, but credit to them for the victories they did achieve – especially over the Pirates, who were pretty much on a par with us in all three of our meetings.  But today, as in the away fixture earlier in the season, they were simply outclassed, out-muscled, and outplayed.  It was champagne rugby from the home side, but it was against weak opposition. 

Ok, for the record, the tries went to Hinton (2), McDonald (2), Biggs, Snyman, T Rock, Tuilagi, Schusterman, Hooper.  Happy?

Tykes 25 – 18 Exeter

Again it was time for a match against strong opposition.  Exeter may have dropped out of the reckoning for the title by this point, but they were still considered one of the toughies in the division.  And so it proved as the visitors cored a converted try within five minutes of the kick off.  Worse was to follow a they added a penalty moments later, leaving Leeds facing a ten point deficit very early on.  But after half an hour of battling, things began to click for Leeds, as Hinton first scored a penalty, then a converted try to level the scores.  Schusterman added a further try before half time to give the Tykes a 17-10 lead.  Biggs added a try in the second half, but Exeter came back with one of their own, and this along with a couple of penalties shared between the teams, narrowed the gap to seven.  With Rawlinson in the sin bin, and Exeter pressing for the draw, the South Stand played it’s part.  Exeter, with seconds remaining, found themselves with an attacking lineout.  The South Stand raised the volume, the hooker couldn’t hear the call.  The volume rose to previously unknown levels, the hooker still couldn’t hear the call.  The ref became fed up with him, and awarded a free kick to Leeds – the game was won – and we all patted ourselves on the back.  It was us wot won it!

Coventry 11 – 55 Tykes

Kicking in windy conditions was today’s lesson.  Leeds (Mr Vasey & Mr Hinton) could kick with and against the wind, Coventry couldn’t.  The number of times Coventry kicked the ball up in the air only to have it land behind them, or alternatively see it fly miles off the pitch, was astounding. 

The first half was quite a close affair.  Leeds edged it, but Coventry put up a good fight – in more ways than one.  A large scale brawl broke out at the conclusion of a first half which saw tries from Biggs and McDonald.  After things died down and the players were cleared from the pitch, we all waited to see how many would return for the second half.  As it happened, nobody was missing, so the referee must have deemed it all to have been handbags (though to have seen Myall’s determined look as he drew back his arm to wallop the guy he had hold of round the throat, you’d have said it was a mite more serious).  The second half was one way traffic.  Leeds were rampant and tries came in from Snyman, Hinton, Hepworth.  Mike Aspinall then scored his first try for the Tykes, and clearly enjoyed the sensation as he went on to get another shortly afterwards.  Richard Welding brought up the half century of points with a final try.

Otley 12 – 40 Tykes

It was a glorious April day for the visit to Otley – a town of  wonderful public houses and beer.  Well, the day was glorious for other  reasons too of course, but more of that later.  In bright, warm sunshine, the game itself was a fragmented affair with plenty of errors from both sides, and a certain element of gamesmanship by the home team.  Biggs scored an unconverted try first, but Otley took the lead with a long distance interception try.  Oakley regained the lead by half time, but again Otley came back immediately after the break with a try of their own.  From there on in, Leeds dominated and added tries through Biggs, a penalty try, Tuilagi and finally Welding.

The five points were in the bag, now it was a waiting game to hear how Rotherham had got on against Donny.  After what seemed an age, the crowds milling around the squad on the team were given the news they’d dreamed of – Rotherham had lost and the Tykes had won the league!  Party time!!!

Tykes 29 – 32 Rotherham

This was supposed to be the title decider.  This was the clash of the… hang on, they are the Titans.  Not fair.  Anyway, after the previous round’s results, none of this mattered.  Leeds were here to celebrate winning the division and to see Andre Snyman ride off into retirement, and local rivalry could just go hang.  Not likely!

Rotherham came to spoil the party and do the double over the Tykes.  Well, they won the game and fair play to them, it was a good performance and a decent match.  But I think we all managed to cope with our immediate disappointment as the celebrations and presentations took place on the pitch.  In fact, looking back on the day it was pretty good really – it’s always good to win, even if you lose!

Plymouth 22 – 22 Tykes

Party time!  What a wonderful weekend down on the south coast (practically a foreign country!) with glorious sunshine, copious alcohol, seaside atmosphere, and some ‘result not vital’ rugby to end the season with.  What bliss.  There’s pictures of some of the guilty available somewhere on the interweb thingy, but to the match itself it was an open, almost barbarians style running game.  Leeds looked relaxed (especially the non-playing players on the terrace. Hic!) and threw the ball around with pleasurable ease.  Plymouth were up for the same style of play, so naturally mistakes were as numerous as good moves.  Plymouth opened the scoring, before McDonald the try machine, Biggs and Welding replied for Leeds.  Some sort of invisible force-field prevented Hinton adding the conversions, as they did pretty much all match for both sides at that end of the pitch.    The second half saw a blitz from Plymouth which netted them two tries, and the lead, in the first few minutes.  Stuart Lancaster then made a host of changes, bringing on all seven replacements in two waves just a minute apart.  The new blood quickly led to a try for Lock.  The only penalty kick of the match then levelled the scores for Plymouth, and that’s how it finished despite a feverish end to the match by Leeds, now playing with 14 men after Vasey left the field injured.  But despite the valiant finale the draw was a fair reflection of an entertaining game.  And then it was time to go back to the drinking.  Hurrah!

Roll on Next Season

So, there you have it.  Leeds Tykes crowned National Division 1 champions.  Promotion to the Guinness Premiership secured.  A team of young, committed players who want to play for the club in place.  And a belief amongst the team, the coaches, and the supporters that the club is stronger, fitter, healthier than it was during the dark relegation season. 

Now the challenges of next season have to be faced.  We have to adapt to a new owner and identity.  We need to strengthen the squad without damaging the club ethos.  We need to get behind the team when the struggles occur next year, and there will be struggles – the Guinness Premiership is a big step up.  But perhaps not as big as once it was, and the club has made that step up before with some success.  Now, with even more experience, there’s a chance to evolve and improve.  Now is the time to justify our place at the top table.  So bring it on!

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