Even my head is beginning to rule my heart because I put two Leicester players in my GP Fantasy Team for this weekend’s match - but in my defence our mini league at work involves rugby & football but the participants are mainly footy supporters and I would not take too kindly to one of them winning the rugby section. Proudly I can say I am top of the works GP league but even more proudly I am bottom of the wendy ball league with a considerable cumulative score albeit a  negative number.

And so to the game, and what a start with good interplay seeing Fosi crashing over after just one minute, converted by Di Bernardo. Both sides continued to play an expansive game with Leeds probably looking the more dangerous apart from one good break by Humphreys. The game ebbed & flowed with Fourie very noticeable with a couple of turnovers and some good yardage in offence.

More points ensued from a Di Bernado penalty in front of the sticks and then the same player dropping a goal. I pinched myself 0-13  up after about 20 minutes against Leicester.......am I dreaming ? However, normal service was quickly restored from the re-start when a Satala knock-on gave Leics a scrum on our 22 metre line. A few driving phases later former Tyke Jordan Crane was crashing over from a scrum virtually under the posts. Within 5 minutes a speculative long pass from Hepworth intercepted by Varndell gifted Leics their second try which was not converted. 

However, Leeds were still in the game despite two school boy errors and the forwards were holding their own with Balding very much to the fore gaining hard yards with some powerful charges and big hits in defence, but I just started to get the feeling they were getting the upper hand.  A silly penalty not long before half time saw Humphreys give Leics the lead. A reckless challenge by Satala for which he was promptly yellow carded saw Leeds finish the half with 14 men.

In summary, a decent first half by Leeds but the signs that Leics were about to move up through the gears were ominous. Leicester Tigers 15 Leeds Carnegie 13

Damn! Those feelings were quickly confirmed at the start of the second half, the Leics forwards steadily drove upfield resulting in a scrum near our line. We struggled to win the scrum and a poor clearance which they ran back resulted in another scrum 5 yards out – the scrum capitulated - not sure why - but Mr Rowden with no warning or second chance awarded a penalty try (similar to Quins away) converted by Humphreys.

Leeds kept plugging away and were rewarded with a penalty which Di Bernado kicked to make the score 22-16. A poor pass from Di Bernado to Tuilagi when trying to run from deep gave Leics a scrum and after a few drives resulted in Johne Murphy diving over to make the score 27-16. On came Harry Ellis for the loudest cheer of the day. It was good to see him back and I think England missed him in the world cup.

The game was probably now more about damage limitation than winning and as we have done for virtually all of this season we stuck at it gamely. With serious endeavour and commitment in defence we only allowed them one further score when Humphreys coasted through a tiring defence to score near the posts. Back came Leeds and the forwards battered the Leics line for a good few minutes, Di Bernado screaming for the ball to release the backs but it did not come. The forwards eventually lost possession and Leics cleared only for Leeds to come back again. This time the ball did come out wide and Hepworth was able to round Corry to score in the corner. The conversion was missed and the final whistle blew.

Another defeat, but this was an improved overall performance. Lanny will once again be talking of ‘taking positives’ and ‘ruing silly mistakes’, but there probably are some positives to be had. We defended pretty well for the full game although our defence wider out is a little suspect. The forwards stuck at it manfully, Fourie was excellent and my man of the match, closely followed by Balding. Tuilagi made some big tackles and ran hard. At times we put great phases of play together but we cannot sustain the pressure on teams as they can on us. The wider backs saw a little more of the ball than they have in recent games and we never stopped trying to play heads up rugby, but errors and mistakes on basic core skills let us down at crucial times. Mistakes at this level rarely go unpunished and we make too many.

So we now move on to Bristol, Worcester and Newcastle. Might I suggest that three wins are now a requirement to even to have a chance of survival......

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